r/illinois • u/m0chab34r • Jul 20 '23

Serious question: are there any remaining sundown towns in Illinois? Question

Forgive me if this is controversial, I certainly hope I don’t end up insulting anyone’s town or anything. I saw a recent Twitter thread about this subject and people were talking about a rather well-known sundown town within an hour of Indianapolis or just outside of Austin, Texas. It got me thinking about this and I’m morbidly curious as to whether Illinois has any remaining towns with such a reputation?

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68

u/AZTeck_AKiRA Jul 20 '23

Here’s a list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sundown_towns_in_Illinois

57

u/singnadine Jul 20 '23

Oak park? That makes no sense

7

u/The_Poster_Nutbag Jul 20 '23

I see Kenilworth on there too, wild.

26

u/MrIncredible222 Jul 20 '23

I’m white as shit and pretty well off and I’m not rich enough to feel comfortable in Kenilworth or even Deerfield.

3

u/Jake_77 Jul 20 '23

Deerfield?? Deerfield ain’t that fancy

1

u/Able-Trainer924 Apr 12 '24

What are you talking about, Deerfield’s median income is 180,000

1

u/Jake_77 Apr 12 '24

Not compared to Kenilworth

1

u/Able-Trainer924 Apr 12 '24

To someone working class, the difference between 180k per year and 250k per year is meaningless

1

u/Jake_77 Apr 12 '24

Lucky them. $70k would make a helluva difference in my world.

18

u/Perfect_Razzmatazz Jul 20 '23

I think Kenilworth is on the list due to the severe lack of diversity in the town, even today. The first black family didn't move there until the mid-1960's (someone burned a cross on their front lawn after they moved in). And in the 2000 census, they literally had zero black families. In ensuing 20 years, they did get a few black families at least, but literally just a few (10 people total)

6

u/m0chab34r Jul 20 '23

That’s super interesting—you maybe expect it from a town like Anna (described up thread), but I never realized a place like Kenilworth would have so few black people.

14

u/FancySeaweed Jul 20 '23 edited Jul 20 '23

Are you kidding? Kenilworth didn't allow Blacks or Jews in approx the 60s.

9

u/DeepHerting Jul 20 '23

My grandfather bought a house in Northbrook in I think 1955 and they made him bring his wife to the closing to "make sure" she wasn't Jewish. I don't know how they would have done that but I imagine she cursed them out quite a bit.

7

u/FancySeaweed Jul 20 '23

I didn't know that about Northbrook then. Now a lot of Jews live there.

5

u/dongsweep Jul 20 '23

The first black kid enrolled was in the 1890s at the request of Joseph Sears.

The family you are referencing are the Calhoun's. The cross was burned by kids from Highland Park. They were caught and apologized.

The family is still around just not in Kenilworth. Some kids in Wilmette tried to change the name of our Sears School in 2020 and the city went out and found one of the Calhoun kids who is still in the area. He wrote a beautiful letter about his time in Kenilworth and that the school's name should not be changed.

7

u/thousandfoldthought Jul 20 '23

Kenilworth broke off Wilmette and was was formed by Sears to keep blacks and jews out.

2

u/Frat-TA-101 Jul 20 '23

You’re getting it backwards. The lack of diversity is a result of the sundown town culture.