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James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Upper Arlington

Ohio

Basic Information

Type of Place
Suburb
Metro Area
Columbus
Politics c. 1860?
Don’t Know
Unions, Organized Labor?
Don’t Know

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Surely Not

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930 3059 48
1940 5370 103
1950 9024 39
1960 28486 28
1970 38630 38
1980 35199 91
1990 33201 86
2000 33686 200 35 1185
2010 33771 269 36 1665
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Realtors
  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black
  • Jewish

Comments

A former resident claims that the town may have used restrictive covenants to prevent minorities from moving to the area. Another email correspondent attests that “Upper Arlington for a fact used restrictive covenants barring minority people.” Yet another email correspondent states that “before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 they used to not allow Jews to buy homes there.”
Restrictive covenants was upheld in Upper Arlington even after it was banned by the US government, as this story of a house that made history (in 1970) indicates: http://www.unshovelingthepast.com/2011/10/case-of-race.html.

* Of the 28 African Americans reported in 1960 27 were women.

7/2007

One resident found that there was a restrictive covenant on her original deed for her house built in 1947.

She also said, however, “We’ve been slowly, but steadily increasing the racial mix for several decades now. The population in the high school
has increased from one black family when I went (class of 1989) to 5-10
families now. It is only a five to ten fold increase & we have a long way to go, but there is some progress. One of the elementary schools is almost 30% Asian.”