Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Unions, Organized Labor?
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Unlikely
- 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 | 3,606 | 127 | ||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | 8963 | 69 | ||||||
| 1950 | 10223 | 53 | ||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | 11042 | 119 | ||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 9,124 | 283 | ||||||
| 2000 | 8,789 | 7,973 | 449 | 36 | 210 | |||
| 2010 | 8365 | 446 | 28 | 284 | ||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
- Native American
Comments
While St. Joseph was never all-white, it is an interesting town in its contrast to nearby Benton Harbor. Connected with St. Joseph by a bridge, Benton Harbor was 94.4% black in 2000, compared to 94.6%
white St. Joseph.
According to a resident, the bridges separating the two cities have relevant meanings: “I have lived in the St. Joseph, MI, area for the past 12 years. … interestingly, a few years after moving here a local resident claimed to me that until recently St. Joseph had an unofficial curfew on blacks and would actually enforce it by raising the drawbridges over the St. Joseph river that connect Benton Harbor with St. Joseph, thus making it much less convenient for Benton Harbor residents to get into St. Joseph.” (email testimony from 12/2006)
* In 1970, there is a stark gender imbalance: 83 black males and only 36 females. Also, 45% of the black residents were inmates of an institution.