Cities In Illinois With The Most Historic KKK Members

The cities in Illinois with the most historic KKK members are Stanford and Shabbona for 2026 based on Saturday Night Science.

We analyzed research using Saturday Night Science from Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped Klaverns by city from 1915-1940. This report analyzes the locations of historic KKK organizations to see where they were the most prevalent in Illinois.

The city in Illinois with the most number of Klaverns was Chicago with 28 Klaverns. The city with the most number of Klaverns per capita was Stanford with 0.0017 Klaverns. There were historically 94 Klaverns in Illinois, across 57 places in Illinois with at least 1 Klavern during the period of reference.

Hate groups can be hard to measure because, typically, there’s no record of where they exist. But there is data on where there were distinct Klaverns of the Ku Klux Klan in each state. These cities have historically been the most racist in Illinois based on the number of KKK Klaverns.

This report does not speak to the current people who live there or the current state of the KKK in the same towns or areas.

1

No. 1 most historically racist place in Illinois

Stanford, IL

603 people
1 Klaverns · #1 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in McLean County, Illinois
2

No. 2 most historically racist place in Illinois

Shabbona, IL

877 people
1 Klaverns · #2 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in DeKalb County, Illinois
3

No. 3 most historically racist place in Illinois

Mount Pulaski, IL

1,257 people
1 Klaverns · #3 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Logan County, Illinois
4

No. 4 most historically racist place in Illinois

Assumption, IL

1,266 people
1 Klaverns · #4 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Christian County, Illinois
5

No. 5 most historically racist place in Illinois

Erie, IL

1,594 people
1 Klaverns · #5 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Whiteside County, Illinois
6

No. 6 most historically racist place in Illinois

Winchester, IL

1,644 people
1 Klaverns · #6 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Scott County, Illinois
7

No. 7 most historically racist place in Illinois

Venice, IL

1,751 people
1 Klaverns · #7 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Madison County, Illinois
8

No. 8 most historically racist place in Illinois

Farmer City, IL

2,054 people
1 Klaverns · #8 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in De Witt County, Illinois
9

No. 9 most historically racist place in Illinois

Lexington, IL

2,213 people
1 Klaverns · #9 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in McLean County, Illinois
10

No. 10 most historically racist place in Illinois

Nokomis, IL

2,358 people
1 Klaverns · #10 most historically racist in Illinois
Located in Montgomery County, Illinois

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Illinois’s statewide median.

City Population vs IL
1 Stanford 603
2 Shabbona 877
3 Mount Pulaski 1,257
4 Assumption 1,266
5 Erie 1,594
6 Winchester 1,644
7 Venice 1,751
8 Farmer City 2,054
9 Lexington 2,213
10 Nokomis 2,358
City Klaverns vs IL
1 Stanford 1
2 Shabbona 1
3 Mount Pulaski 1
4 Assumption 1
5 Erie 1
6 Winchester 1
7 Venice 1
8 Farmer City 1
9 Lexington 1
10 Nokomis 1
City Klaverns /100k vs IL
1 Stanford 166
2 Shabbona 114
3 Mount Pulaski 80
4 Assumption 79
5 Erie 63
6 Winchester 61
7 Venice 57
8 Farmer City 49
9 Lexington 45
10 Nokomis 42

On the map

Where Illinois’s historic Klaverns were

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How We Measured The Most Historically Racist Places In The Prairie State

While there are surveys and public polls on what places might be the most racist, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from where KKK organizations have existed.

Specifically, we analyzed research out of Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped the Klans in each area and gave a history of their recruitment from 1915-1940.

  • Number of historic KKK Klaverns (1915-1940) per current resident

Using Saturday Night Science, we analyzed the locations of historic KKK organizations per capita using current population data.

The full plate

Cities With Historically High KKK Membership In Illinois

Click any column to sort. Search by city name.

RankCityPopulationKlavernsKlaverns /100k
1Stanford6031166
2Shabbona8771114
3Mount Pulaski1,257180
4Assumption1,266179
5Erie1,594163
6Winchester1,644161
7Venice1,751157
8Farmer City2,054149
9Lexington2,213145
10Nokomis2,358142
11El Paso2,582139
12Newton2,872135
13Oregon3,592128
14West Frankfort8,247224
15Kewanee12,694324
16Marseilles4,832121
17Auburn5,004120
18Shelbyville5,211119
19Pana5,601118
20Litchfield6,913114
21Clinton6,931114
22Princeton7,698113
23Murphysboro8,189112
24East St. Louis26,697311
25Mattoon17,906211
26Olney8,997111
27LaSalle9,537110
28Monmouth9,565110
29Harvard9,829110
30Chatham12,13118
31Lincoln14,38217
32Sterling15,20817
33Ottawa18,99215
34Jacksonville19,31515
35Charleston22,06515
36Maywood24,14814
37Lockport25,06314
38Harvey25,22514
38Freeport25,22514
40Belvidere25,71314
41Oak Park51,98824
42Wilmette27,34514
43Alton27,51714
44Galesburg31,89813
45Danville32,48313
46Pekin33,92813
47Bloomington77,88323
48DeKalb44,09212
49Elgin110,90622
50Berwyn56,76212
51Joliet147,78621
52Decatur75,08811
53Waukegan88,67111
54Chicago2,712,608281
55Peoria115,71811
56Springfield116,81511
57Rockford151,29011

Source: VCU Mapping the Klan, 1915-1940; current population data. 57 cities with at least one Klavern.

Summary

There You Have It – The Most Historically Racist Cities In Illinois

When you’re looking at the places in Illinois with the highest number of historical KKK Klaverns per capita, this is an accurate list.

Below is a chart that lists all cities in Illinois with at least one KKK organization from 1915-1940.

The cities with the largest number of KKK Klaverns per capita were Stanford, Shabbona, Mount Pulaski, Assumption, Erie, Winchester, Venice, Farmer City, Lexington, and Nokomis. Not sold on Illinois? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.

Questions and answers

Historic KKK Presence In Illinois FAQs

What is the most historically racist city in Illinois?

Stanford had the most KKK Klaverns per capita of any Illinois city between 1915 and 1940, which puts it at the top of this historical ranking. The measure is historic Klan chapters, not anything about residents today.

Which Illinois city had the most Klaverns overall?

Chicago had the most Klaverns in Illinois outright, with 28. Our ranking uses Klaverns per capita instead, so smaller towns with heavy Klan presence rank ahead of big cities on raw counts.

How many Klaverns did Illinois have?

Illinois had 94 documented Klaverns across 57 cities during the 1915-1940 period. Those are the cities that appear in this ranking.

Does this mean Stanford is racist today?

No. This ranking maps where the KKK organized a century ago, and says nothing about the people who live in Stanford now. Treat it as history, not a review of the current community.

Where does this data come from?

The numbers come from a historical archive of Klan chapters, called Klaverns, documented between 1915 and 1940. We divided each city’s Klavern count by its population to get the per-capita ranking.

Chris Kolmar
About the author

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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