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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.

Cedar Lake

Indiana

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Don’t Know
Unions, Organized Labor?
Don’t Know

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Surely
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

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
1940
1950 3907 0
1960 5766 1
1970 7589 2 17
1980
1990 8885 8793 2 1
2000 9279 9038 8 2
2010 11560 53 45 29
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black
  • Jewish

Comments

A resident of Northwest Indiana and high school teacher emailed us: “For many years, there was a dance hall called the Midway Ballroom. My grandmother (and other elderly members of my family) clearly remembered a sign posted outside the dance hall that read “Gentiles Only.” This sign would have been present during the 1930s and 1940s, when my grandmother and gradnfather were in their 20s and 30s. There still seems to be a permeable anti-black sentiment in the town, but that is purely conjecture on my part. I can say with some degree of certainty that Cedar Lake was a sundown town as recently as the 1980s. I do remember some African Americans stating that they would not go into Cedar Lake at night for any reason. I would say that the African American population in Cedar Lake has increased since 2000, but I would not state that the town is exclusionary towards blacks.”