Here are two maps. The first shows where racial restrictions were added to property records in the decades before 1968. Legally binding, the restrictions barred people of color from buying, renting, or occupying property. More than 2,000 properties were legally restricted in Kitsap County. Zoom for a closer look and click on any parcel to see the restriction. Do not assume that areas without marks were unrestricted. Neighborhoods without covenants often practiced racial exclusion by other means, as demonstrated in the second map which shows patterns of racial exclusion/segregation in 1980.
The map below shows where Black families lived and were not allowed to live in 1980, demonstrating that restrictive covenants were not the only means of racial exclusion. The numbers indicate the total number of Black residents in a census tract (average population about 5,000 residents). Many areas that show no deed restrictions in the top map, excluded Black and Asian people by other means. Click to go to an interactive version of the map with full demographic data.
These are preliminary findings and subject to revision. We have identified restricted properties by combing through Kitsap County deed books located in Puget Sounds Regional Archives. We are still adding and confirming data.
When you click on a property, the pop-up displays address, subdivision (plat), the language of restriction, developer, initial date of restriction. Documentation can be either a deed, plat document covering all properties in the subdivision, CCR (separate document filed by developer covering the subdivision), petition filed by a group of owners covering their listed properties. The last possibility is "Sanborn rule." In the 1925 Sanborn V. McLean case, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that restrictions could apply even if not mentioned in a deed of sale provided the developer had routinely imposed them in earlier sales. Courts in other states followed this rule of "implied covenants" which usually meant that an entire subdivision was covered by a restriction imposed by the original developer. Where we have found many deeds restricted by the original developer, we assume that the rest were similarly restricted under the Sanborn rule.