Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Kansas City
- Politics c. 1860?
- Don’t Know
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Don’t Know
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Probable
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | 1254 | 0 | ||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 2525 | 11 | ||||||
| 2000 | 5514 | 12 | ||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
testimony of a former resident:
“I grew up in a town just outside of Kansas City, MO in a small farming town named Smithville. With the history of the town, there is/was a large amount of KKK and the entire town was white except for one Hispanic family and one Italian family. While living in Smithville, there were no people of color, no Jewish, no Asians. Just white protestants and Catholics. There was one black student who graduated in 1979, but I would have had no idea because I was only a year old at that time. There would be a black student here or there but they would stay for one day before moving on to the next town north. Most people escaping the city would move as far north as Plattsburg because they would not survive in Smithville. I graduated high school in 1996 and there were only whites in the school district. It was the year after I graduated that a set of black students came to Smithville High School and actually stayed. They were either Sophomore or Junior transfers, but I don’t remember since I was in college. Once Marcus Allen (the football player) moved to Smithville, things started to ease up. The town is still predominately white, by a large margin, but there are finally some people of a different color, heritage and religion (although I still don’t believe that there are any Jewish people). Hope it helps.”