The "Bedsheet Boys," as they are popularly referred to in song, have made a habit of burning crosses and ghosting about in the local night, even claiming they represented the return of the Bible to local schools in the 1920s.
The Darwinian theory of evolution was commonly thought to be a challenge to the Bible's story of The Creation. This religious furor led to the famous Scopes May 1 "Monkey Trial" and any number of other odd flights of fancy.
The Live Wire newspaper reported in 1924 that Dr. Bruce Brown, pastor of South Park Christian Church of Los Angeles, spoke at Downey High School Auditorium in May of that year in behalf of the Klan, relating the group's philosophy to Bible texts, and affirming his belief in the group.
The same month another Live Wire story reported the organization of a United Church Brotherhood in Downey's Baptist Church, which Rev. James Robertson assured the congregation "was not to combat the Ku Klux Klan, an organization of which is being perfected in Downey."
Four Downey churches were filled with Klansmen in May of 1924, during a large rally. More than 2,000 Klansmen arrived and filled the Christian, Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches.
In 1925 local newspapers reported a huge gathering of Klan members had conducted services at Miller Funeral Home for a man who had been mistakenly shot in a confrontation with two sheriff's deputies.
One of the mostly popular admonishments the Klan used in these years was the return of the Bible to the public schools.
The history of the First Baptist Church mentions a visit by the Klan in 1929. It refers to their occupancy of the church as "rather startling", and relates how on a Sunday morning the ushers of the church were asked to clear one side of the sanctuary and the Klansmen then marched in wearing full Klan regalia. The plate was passed and each Klansman contributed a dollar, amounting to one of the largest contributions the church received in decades.
The congregation was then asked to remain seated and the Klansmen then filed out. The robed men then burned a cross on the front lawn of the church.
As recently as 1982 the Klan formally requested approval from the City Council to move to Downey. But representatives of the Kiwanis Club and the Downey Ministerial Alliance went on record as opposing such recognition or approval.
The Mayor, Milton Mackaig, told the Hearst Community Newspapers he had not heard of nor seen the Klan letter to the Council and could not comment on whether it would ever make it to the public agenda.
The ministerial fellowship said it expected the council to take a public stand "in opposition to what the KKK represents."
The alliance noted that in November, 1981, members of the KKK based in Norwalk to positions along two major Downey highways, Imperial Highway and Firestone Boulevard, and Distributed Klan fliers while indicating to anyone who would listen that they expected a Klavern would soon be formed in Downey.
Later, the Klan even staged public recruiting drives in front of Stonewood Plaza, to the consternation of many residents who complained to the local police.
Rev. Rhoda Lee of Emmanuel Gospel Temple was quoted in local newspapers as calling the city "an island of bigotry and racism in need of spiritual awakening," and she called on fellow church members and leaders to join her in dealing with the blight.