Cities In Ohio With The Most Historic KKK Members


The cities in Ohio with the most historic KKK members are Smithfield and Clinton for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Historical KKK locations in Ohio research summary. We analyzed research using Saturday Night Science from the 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 Ohio.

  • The city in Ohio with the most number of Klaverns was Cincinnati with 5 Klaverns.
  • The city in Ohio with the most number of Klaverns per capita was Smithfield with 0.0013 Klaverns.
  • There were historically 67 Klaverns in Ohio.
  • There were a total of 50 places in Ohio 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 Ohio 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.

Most Racist Cities In Ohio Map


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


A quick history lesson on the KKK

What is the KKK? In a nutshell, the KKK was formed back in 1865, and there have been three separate movements, all three of which were supposedly ‘purification movements’ in America. The 1865-1870s movement sought to overthrow Republican state governments.

The second movement (1915 – 1944) saw millions of members of the KKK form, which was opposed to immigration into America, especially against Catholics and Jews.

The most memorable movement of the KKK started in the 1950s, which was involved in the Civil Rights movement and targeted the black population in America.

The number of active members of the KKK is much smaller these days.

The cities below are the places where there were Klans back in the day and where the number of Klans per the current population is high. This means the number of racist members of the community has historically been the highest, according to the math.

The 10 Most Historically Racist Places In Ohio

  1. Smithfield
  2. Clinton
  3. Lewisburg
  4. West Alexandria
  5. Middleport
  6. Crooksville
  7. Minerva
  8. Blanchester
  9. Bellaire
  10. Sebring

This report is an analysis of the locations of historic KKK organizations divided by the number of people who currently live there.

For more Ohio reading, check out:

Methodology: How We Measured The Most Historically Racist Places In The Buckeye 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.

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

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

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

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

The cities with the largest number of KKK klaverns per capita were Smithfield, Clinton, Lewisburg, West Alexandria, Middleport, Crooksville, Minerva, Blanchester, Bellaire, and Sebring.

For more Ohio reading, check out:

Cities With Hisoritcally High KKK Membership In Ohio

Rank City Population Klans Klans Per Capita
1 Smithfield, OH 796 1 0.00125628
2 Clinton, OH 1,149 1 0.00087032
3 Lewisburg, OH 1,611 1 0.00062073
4 West Alexandria, OH 1,799 1 0.00055586
5 Middleport, OH 2,320 1 0.00043103
6 Crooksville, OH 2,463 1 0.00040601
7 Minerva, OH 3,793 1 0.00026364
8 Blanchester, OH 4,182 1 0.00023912
9 Bellaire, OH 4,239 1 0.0002359
10 Sebring, OH 4,360 1 0.00022936
11 East Liverpool, OH 11,065 2 0.00018075
12 Nelsonville, OH 5,596 1 0.0001787
13 Hillsboro, OH 6,570 1 0.00015221
14 Logan, OH 7,314 1 0.00013672
15 Hubbard, OH 7,787 1 0.00012842
16 Orrville, OH 8,389 1 0.0001192
17 London, OH 9,924 1 0.00010077
18 Cambridge, OH 10,558 1 9.471e-05
19 Salem, OH 12,214 1 8.187e-05
20 Conneaut, OH 12,836 1 7.791e-05
21 Fostoria, OH 13,003 1 7.691e-05
22 Fremont, OH 16,555 1 6.04e-05
23 Niles, OH 19,028 1 5.255e-05
24 Norwood, OH 19,170 1 5.216e-05
25 Portsmouth, OH 20,320 1 4.921e-05
26 Ashland, OH 20,421 1 4.897e-05
27 Alliance, OH 22,196 1 4.505e-05
28 Mansfield, OH 47,150 2 4.242e-05
29 Athens, OH 24,151 1 4.141e-05
30 Zanesville, OH 25,444 1 3.93e-05
31 Barberton, OH 26,375 1 3.791e-05
32 Garfield Heights, OH 28,492 1 3.51e-05
33 Springfield, OH 60,216 2 3.321e-05
34 Bowling Green, OH 31,366 1 3.188e-05
35 Massillon, OH 32,224 1 3.103e-05
36 Canton, OH 72,668 2 2.752e-05
37 Marion, OH 36,791 1 2.718e-05
38 Lima, OH 38,432 1 2.602e-05
39 Warren, OH 40,925 1 2.443e-05
40 Dayton, OH 141,776 3 2.116e-05
41 Newark, OH 47,744 1 2.095e-05
42 Middletown, OH 48,256 1 2.072e-05
43 Cincinnati, OH 297,117 5 1.683e-05
44 Hamilton, OH 62,366 1 1.603e-05
45 Lorain, OH 63,885 1 1.565e-05
46 Youngstown, OH 66,013 1 1.515e-05
47 Toledo, OH 283,932 4 1.409e-05
48 Cleveland, OH 392,114 4 1.02e-05
49 Akron, OH 198,492 1 5.04e-06
50 Columbus, OH 811,943 2 2.46e-06
About Chris Kolmar

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.