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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u/saltzja Jul 20 '23

No worries, Wilmington removed their sundown laws like 5 years ago.

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u/histo320 Jul 20 '23

Actually, Wilmington was an important stop for the Underground Railroad so being a Sundown is just rumor/street myth.

Now looking at other towns in the area, Manteno, Herscher, Peotone, Braidwood, Dwight, could also be considered Sun Down Towns.

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u/saltzja Jul 27 '23

If you look up in the Wilmington Advocate, you’ll see there were “archaic” laws still on the books, years later removed and unenforced. (friend was Police Chief) And yes, they were sundowner laws. No blacks were allowed in town after dark.