Nicodemus National Historic Site
The small town of Nicodemus, Kansas sits quietly on the northwest Kansas plains. Founded by newly freed slaves in 1877, Nicodemus was a refuge from the Reconstruction-era South, a reflection of a mass black migration from the South to the Midwest after the Civil War. Nicodemus was the first black community west of the Mississippi River and is the only predominantly black community west of the Mississippi that remains a living community today. An all-black outpost on the frontier, this “unsettled” land offered a chance for black farmers and their families to start anew. Today, a few people and buildings remain from the original township, a testament to the resolve of the people of Nicodemus to build a new life on the prairie. Between the end of the Civil War and the 1880s, many courageous black settlers sought better lives, better land, and better opportunities in the heartland.
Black settlement of the vast plains began largely after the Civil War and was the result of a series of events. The United States bought the land of the territory (and later State) of Kansas as part of the Louisiana Purchase (1803). The later Missouri Compromise intended that Kansas would be a territory in which African Americans would be free. The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, however, allowed popular referenda to determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be free or slave States. This sense of uncertainty did not encourage the large-scale settlement of Kansas by any groups. Political tensions of the early- and mid-1800s deeply divided Kansas and led to a series of bloody conflicts over slavery in Kansas before the Civil War. These conflicts pitted pro-slavery activists against abolitionists in the race to form a State constitution that would set Kansas as either a slave State or a free State. When Kansas adopted an anti-slavery constitution in 1861, the Civil War had begun. The conclusion of the Civil War ended the debate over slavery and opened the West to many settlers who saw it as a land of opportunity.
In the early 1870s, the first groups to move west after the Civil War were the “sodbusters,” so named because of the houses they built from sod cut from the earth. These settlers faced a drought that caused many to return back east soon after arriving. By the late 1870s, though, weather conditions improved somewhat. Charismatic ex-slaves, who championed the supposed boundless opportunities waiting in the West, encouraged black settlers to move west.
The first groups to populate the town in 1877 came mostly from the Lexington, Kentucky area. Moving west to Nicodemus was no small feat, as the town was a distance from rail and stagecoach routes. Upon seeing the remote and somewhat barren location of Nicodemus, some of the original 380 settlers who left Kentucky to establish the town turned around and went back east.
For those who stayed, the first goal was building a town from the ground up. Construction began immediately to provide housing for the new arrivals. After living in dugouts, the settlers built sod houses. In time, they replaced these with frame houses as the community grew and became more financially successful. At one point, the town had a baseball team, post office, ice cream parlor, and two newspapers. As its size increased so did the political power of Nicodemus within progressive Kansas. Its citizens' votes helped to elect mixed-race slates to county positions, as well as the first black politicians in other county and State offices. Rumors that the railroad promised to add Nicodemus as a station helped the town experience tremendous growth. When this promised station stop failed to materialize in 1887, the town’s fortunes turned. Many moved away. Subsequent droughts did little to reinforce the idea of Nicodemus as an ideal place to settle, but even so, the town continued to grow until 1910, when approximately 400 people lived there.
Despite being much smaller today than it was one hundred years ago, Nicodemus remains an enduring monument to African American westward migration. Desperately seeking opportunities that simply did not exist in the South, former slaves moved west with hope. For some, the long march ended in newly platted Nicodemus, Kansas. They built houses, businesses, clubs, churches, and schools and were able to participate in political and commercial life in ways previously denied to them. Today, visitors to Nicodemus can take a self guided or a ranger guided tour to see the exteriors of some of the historic buildings that document what black settlers accomplished, including the St. Francis Hotel, the AME Church, the First Baptist Church, the Nicodemus School District No. 1 building, and the Nicodemus Township Hall. The Nicodemus Township Hall is the only building open to the public. The Township Hall serves as the visitor center, which offers exhibits, short videos, and the opportunity to learn about the history of Nicodemus and Blacks in the West. Nicodemus is still a living town. A few people, including some descendants of the original settlers, live in the town and surrounding area, and descendant families deserve the credit for keeping the community alive.
The land on which Nicodemus and other black communities stood in Kansas was not the most advantageous for agriculture, and natural drought cycles frustrated efforts to raise crops. Even so, in the decades following the Civil War, this part of the West offered African Americans a chance at a life usually unobtainable in much of the South. The courage and spirit that motivated African Americans to leave their homes and move to the Midwest after the Civil War to places like Nicodemus also helped propel them toward equality of opportunity in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas roughly a century later.
The five historic buildings represent spirit of Nicodemus - church, self government, education, home, and business. They illustrate the individual and collective strength of character and desire for freedom of these early pioneers, who established Nicodemus - one of the oldest and most famous Black towns on the western plains. The five historic buildings were declared a unit of the National Park System on November 12, 1996. Nicodemus National Historic Site was signed into law by former President William J. Clinton.
The U.S. Congress, recognizing the importance of Nicodemus' contribution to America’s history, enacted legislation establishing Nicodemus NHS as a unit of the NPS in November 1996. The legislation directs the NPS to cooperate with the people of Nicodemus to preserve its five remaining historic structures—First Baptist Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Francis Hotel, the First District School, and Nicodemus Township Hall, and keep alive the memory of the many roles African-Americans played throughout the American West.
Nicodemus NHS preserves, protects, and interprets the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War. The town of Nicodemus is symbolic of the pioneer spirit of African Americans who dared to leave the only region they had been familiar with to seek personal freedom and the opportunity to develop their talents and capabilities. The site was named for a legendary African-American slave who purchased his freedom.
In May and June 2006, students, under the guidance of Dr. Margaret Wood, Washburn University, conducted archeological testing on the Thomas Johnson/Henry Williams farm site (14GH102), located approximately four km north of Nicodemus, Kansas. The objective of this research was to identify and explore archeological sites related to the settlement period and early occupation of Nicodemus.
Thomas Johnson, one of the earliest settlers to Nicodemus, homesteaded a piece of land just outside of the town of Nicodemus in 1878. He and his extended family farmed the land and adjacent properties for over a decade. Johnson’s grandson, Henry Williams continued to farm Johnson’s original claim until the middle of twentieth century and the property is still in the hands of a close family member. This farm became the focus of archeological investigations during the 2006 field season.
Historic Timeline
1877
April 16 Earliest circular promoting Nicodemus predicts it will become the "Largest Colored Colony in America."
April 18 Seven Kansans form the Nicodemus Town Company, six of whom were Black:
April 24 End of Reconstruction -- the last Federal troops withdraws from Louisiana.
June W.R. Hill selects the Nicodemus town site.
June 8 Hill files 160-acre town site plat with the government land office in Kirwin, Kansas, giving the town site company first option to buy the proposed site.
June 18 The first settler, the Reverend Simon P. Roundtree, arrives on the town site.
July 2 Roundtree invites "Colored people of the United States" to come and settle in the "Great Solomon Valley" in a circular.
July 30 The initial body of settlers, (numbering around thirty) takes up residence in the area. This group includes the town officers and Z.T. Fletcher and wife, the first woman in the colony.
August Hill spends most of the month in Kentucky enlisting recruits for the settlement.
Fall Z.T. Fletcher founds Nicodemus' first business, a general store. Later, in 1878, he adds a Post Office.
September Hill and Reverend M.M. Bell enroll nearly three hundred freedmen from the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky for settlement in Nicodemus.
September 17 The Lexington, Kentucky group arrives in the colony. This date is celebrated as the founding of Nicodemus colony.
Winter The first school in Nicodemus is conducted by Mrs. Z.T. Fletcher in her dugout home with 45 students attending.
1878
Spring A second large body of settlers (about 150) from Georgetown, Kentucky arrives in the colony. This group includes Reverend Silas M. Lee, founder of Nicodemus First Baptist Church, along with Reverend and Mrs. Daniel Hickman, who establish Mt. Olivet Baptist Church near Hill City, Kansas.
March Agents from Nicodemus appeal for subsistence aid in eastern Kansas (Manhattan).
May Another group of approximately twenty-five emigrants led by Reverend Roundtree leaves Kentucky for Nicodemus. About 125 Blacks build homes in Nicodemus and the surrounding area.
Fall Reverend Roundtree makes a successful plea for help for the struggling Nicodemus colonists at the Michigan State Fair. Citizens of Michigan donate several train car loads of commodities to Nicodemus settlers.
E.P. McCabe, a New Yorker who had settled in Nicodemus in April 1878, and A.T. Hall, a journalist from Chicago, establish themselves as attorneys and land agents in the town.
1879
William Green and S.G. Wilson, White businessmen, establish general stores in Nicodemus.
C.H. Newth, an English immigrant, sets up a general store, with a pharmacy included. Later, in 1880, he adds a meat shop.
February A Reverend Goodwin of Norton County, Kansas, conducts fifty Mississippi freedmen, the last large group of settlers, to the colony. This group may have been among the "Exodusters" from Louisiana and Mississippi who were migrating to Kansas in great numbers during this time.
An average of seven acres per homestead was put into cultivation.
April The Nicodemus Town Company was abolished.
June School District #1 is established in Nicodemus.
Summer Citizens of Nicodemus petition (with 25 signatures) for township status with Rooks County commissioners.
November 10 Kansas Governor John P. St. John appoints A.T. Hall to conduct the county census.
December 2 Township elections are held in Nicodemus. Nicodemus designated temporary township seat.
Three Blacks are elected:
1880
The Black population of the County numbers between 500 and 700 (there were two conflicting census reports). The official census of February 1880 counts 700, or 20% of the entire population of the county, being Black. The Federal census of June 1880 reports 484 Blacks, or about 11% of the total county population, with 260 Blacks residing in Nicodemus Township and 224 in Hill City and Wildhorse Townships.
April 1 Governor St. John issues proclamation of organization of Graham County and E.P. McCabe is appointed temporary County Clerk.
June 1 Election of County officers is held. John DePrad of Nicodemus is elected County Clerk.
1881
Statistics for Nicodemus Township include: 275 Blacks, 83 Whites, 31 horses, and 10 mules (averaging one team for every four or five farms). There is an average of 12 acres per homestead in cultivation. Livestock numbers 43 head of cattle, 75 hogs. Crops include 997 acres of corn, 98 acres of millet, 50 acres of sorghum, and 50 acres of rice corn.
Nicodemus contains about 35 structures -- residential and commercial -- including three hotels, two livery stables, a blacksmith shop, a lumber yard, two churches, and two dry goods stores.
August 1 Emancipation Day (an annual celebration which continues to the present) is first observed in Nicodemus.
November E.P. McCabe is elected County Clerk. Later, in 1882, he is elected state auditor of Kansas, possibly the first Black to hold a high elective office in a northern state.
1886
May 13 White businessman, A.G. Tallman, established Nicodemus' first newspaper, The Western Cyclone.
1887
The School District #1 Schoolhouse is erected. Two teachers are employed for a nine-month school term.
A.L. McPherson, White banker, opens the Bank of Nicodemus.
Spring Nicodemus boasts four general stores, a grocery, two druggists, three land companies, a lawyer, two hotels, two livery stables, a blacksmith shop, a harness and boot repair store and an ice cream parlor. It has a baseball team, a literary society and a benefit society, a band and a music teacher.
March Voters of Nicodemus Township approve the issuance of $16,000 in bonds to attract the Missouri Pacific Railroad to the community.
May 2 Union Pacific surveyors run a line through the town while plotting another route elsewhere. Nicodemus is eventually bypassed by the Union Pacific.
May 19 The editor of the Cyclone reports "Real estate in this city is changing hands to a considerable extent and is appreciating in value every day. [There is] a strong, firm and steady tendency which shows the healthy growth of the city."
August 17 White journalist, H.K. Lightfoot, founds a second newspaper, The Nicodemus Enterprise.
Contact the Park›
Mailing Address:
304 Washington Ave.
Nicodemus, KS 67625-3015
Phone: (785) 839-4233
(Link: https://www.nps.gov/nico/learn/historyculture/index.htm)