Nicodemus on the Web
Nicodemus in Song
The best known historically black town in Kansas, Nicodemus was named for a legendary figure who came to America on a slave ship and later purchased his freedom (Soul of America). In 1877, a small group of emigrants from Kentucky and Tennessee....arrived in Graham County, filed homestead claims, and laid out a town (Frazier). The town of Nicodemus was a planned community devoted to Black settlement in the years after the U.S. Civil War (Nicodemus, Kansas --Negro Settlers of the West). Founded in 1877 by a White town planner and a Black preacher, Nicodemus was settled primarily by freed slaves from Kentucky (Nicodemus, Kansas --Negro Settlers of the West). W.R. Hill, the white planner, filed 160 acre town site plat with the government land office in Kirwin, Kansas, on June 8, 1877 (Time Line). The town site was located on the N.W. quarter of Section 1, Town 8, Range 21 in Graham County, Kansas, in the great Solomon Valley, 240 miles west of Topeka (Lesson Plan). Nicodemus was the first and primary black rural settlement in Kansas and was the first community in Graham County (Nicodemus, Kansas History). The Reverend Simon P. Roundtree was the first settler. He arrived on the town site on June 18, 1877 (Time Line).
Rev. Roundtree invited "Colored People of the United States" to come and settle in the "Great Solomon Valley" in a circular (Time Line). Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, a black carpenter from Nashville, could not read or write, but he traveled all over distributing the circulars (Frazier). Other circulars were produced by the Nicodemus Town Company. They portrayed Nicodemus as a place for African-Americans to establish Black self-government (Nicodemus (#2)). Singleton distributed so many circulars and the circulars were so successful in enticing Blacks to emigrate to Kansas that he was sometimes called the "Moses of the Colored Exodus" (Frazier). Between 1870 and 1880 was the period of the "Exodus" of blacks from the deep south to the promised land of Kansas when their numbers in the state increased from 17,108 to 43,107 (Nicodemus, Kansas History). The Blacks who decided to emigrate soon acquired the name "Exodusters" (Frazier). The movement started because many recently freed slaves were poor, mistreated by whites, and disappointed that freedom was so little of an improvement (Frazier). In Southern states where Democrats had returned to power, blacks had just lost the vote (Frazier). Some white Southerners, opposed to Reconstruction, were not convinced it should be a serious offense to shoot blacks (Frazier). These conditions in the South combined with the sales pitches on the circulars indeed made Kansas sound like the promised land. Another reason the Exodusters chose Kansas was its association the Underground Railroad and the fiery abolitionist John Brown (History).
All the historical research indicates that the winter of 1877 was a harsh one for the new settlers. The reasons given for the difficult winter vary. Ian Frazier, in Great Plains, says it was due to their arrival too late in the season to put in crops that first year. The Graham County On-Line website indicates that the settlers lacked sufficient tools, seed and money, but they managed to survive the first winter by selling buffalo bones or working for the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Ellis, 35 miles away (Nicodemus). The Soul of American website indicated that had it not been for food, firewood, and other staples received from Osage (Indian) Nation, the settlers would have perished that first year.
By 1880, Nicodemus had a population of almost 500 (Frazier). As the town began, Governor John St. John made a speech welcoming the new arrivals (Frazier). Then, possibly at the urging from S. J. Gilmore, land commissioner for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, who said of the blacks, "Indications are that we will be over run with them next year," Governor St. John began to discourage black immigrants and said that conditions in Kansas were not as promising as the blacks had been led to believe (Frazier). In the spring of 1887 Nicodemus was a flourishing small rural town. At that time it could boast of four general stores, a grocery, two druggists, three land companies, a lawyer, two hotels, a blacksmith shop, a harness and boot repair store, an ice cream parlor, two newspapers, a baseball team, a literary society, a benefit society, a band, and a music teacher (Time Line). Z. T. Fletcher, an early resident of Nicodemus, was the first postmaster,....he also became the first entrepreneur , having established the St. Francis Hotel in 1880 (Nicodemus, Kansas: African-American Mosaic). His wife, Jenny Smith Fletcher was the first postmistress and school teacher in Nicodemus (Nicodemus, Kansas: African-American Mosaic). By 1880, a small, one-room stone sanctuary had been erected at the same site of a dugout that had served the community as the First Baptist Church (African-American Mosaic). Edward P. McCabe, who arrived in the "colony" in 1878, served two terms as state auditor for Kansas, 1883-1887, the first Negro to hold a major state office (Nicodemus). Another successful resident was Anderson Boles, who arrived in Nicodemus without resources and became the owner of a local hotel, 75 acres of grain and 19 hogs (Soul of America). At the Boles House Hotel a good Kentucky dinner and a bed for the night cost fifty cents (Soul of America).
In March of 1887 the voters of Nicodemus Township approved the issuance of $16,000 in bonds to attract the Missouri Pacific Railroad to the community (Time Line). In May of that same year the Union Pacific surveyors run a line through the town while plotting another route elsewhere. Nicodemus is eventually bypassed by the Union Pacific (Time Line). Nicodemus residents had seen other towns bypassed by the railroads wither and die (History). Despite the bond issue, the closest a railroad ever came was just south of the Solomon River; Nicodemus lay to the North (History). When businesses fled to the other side of the river to a Union Pacific Railroad camp that later bacame the town of Bogue, Nicodemus began a long gradual decline (Nicodemus (#2)). The Black population of the county reached its peak of 595 in 1910 (Time Line). In 1938 a community center was built, that now hosts a National Park Service ranger, historic displays, and a gift shop (Nicodemus, Kansas - Negro Settlers of the West). The community center was a WPA project during the depression and was built from locally quarried limestone (Soul of America). By 1950 Nicodemus is reduced to 16 inhabitants and the necessities of life had to be purchased in nearby Bogue (Time Line). The Post Office closed in 1953 (Time Line). Current residency in the town is less than 40 individuals (Nicodemus, Kansas - Negro Settlers of the West).
August 1, 1881 marked the first annual celebration of Emancipation Day. Despite its decline in numbers it lives on in spirit and place as a reminder of the many African-Americans who ventured far. Emancipation Day continues to this day, now called "Homecoming" (History). People of all races from nearby communities and around the Nation join in the celebration with a parade, fashion show, food, drink, and much more (Nicodemus (#2)).
"In 1976 Nicodemus was elevated to national recognition when it was designated as a National Historic
Landmark. Recent efforts resulted in Senator Dole introducing the 'Nicodemus National Site Bill' to Congress,
on January 23, 1996. The Bill passed on October 3, 1996 and was signed into law by President Clinton on
November 12, 1997. This legislation will provide for the preservation of Nicodemus. Not only will the few
remaining historical structures be restored and maintained, but the entire history interpreted through programs
open to the general public. - The Nicodemus Historical Society" (Nicodemus, Kansas). "It [Nicodemus] stands
today as the only entirely African American community in Kansas. Nicodemus national Historic Site preserves,
protects, and interprets the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the
Reconstruction Period (1865-1877) following the Civil War" (Soul of America). In 1998 the A.M.E. Church,
which was established in 1885 and constructed in 1907 reportedly from native limestone blocks salvaged from
the original First Baptist Church, was conveyed to the National Park Service and is currently undergoing
stabilization (Soul of America).
Ian Frazier, in Great Plains, tells of his travels and research into the people and places of the American Great Plains. On one of his trips he heard of Nicodemus as being, "once-prosperous town that is no more." He decided to go check out the ruins. Much to his surprise he discovered a busy little town. He had arrived the weekend of "Homecoming" events. Here are some of his recollections and comments on his visit. (Frazier, pp 166-174)
Along the main street, people began to bring lawn chairs from their houses and set them up. For a while, being there felt like horning in on a family reunion. Then the crowd started to grow. Local white people and black people called out greetings to each other with the distand heartiness of ship captains hailing... Soon everybody went into the township hall to see a program... The crowd was more black than white; in front of me, a white rancher with a creased neck and a straw Stetson hitched up his jeans and sat on his heels. In the center of the floor, a seven-year-old girl and a twelve-year-old girl began a dance that looked impromptu. "What I want to see is some of this here break dancing," the rancher said to a girl beside him.
Next came a fashion show of ladies' hats designed by Billie Singleton of Topeka. The hats were big, in dramatic shapes....Mrs. Avalon Roberson modelled them. She put on each hat and strolled around the room so everybody could see it...Then Mrs. Juanita Robinson, of Nicodemus, introduced her daughters Kathleen, Karen, Kaye, Kolleen, Krystal, and Karmen. Her other daughter, Kimberleen, who was pregnant, watched from the audience...When they were all lined up, they held that pose for a moment. Then the song, "When Doves Cry," by Prince began to play on the loudspeaker, and they began to dance. I looked past the people sitting on chairs against the wall, the women with their pocketbooks on their knees, past the portrait of Blanche White, who was like a mother to the kids in town, through the tall open window, past the roadside grove of elms which Blanche Whites 4-H Club planted in the 1950s, past the wheat-field horizon, and into the blank, bright sky. Suddenly I felt a joy so strong it almost knocked me down. It came up my spine and settled on my head like a warm cap and filled my eyes with tears, while I stood there packed in with everybody, watching Mrs. Robinson's lovely daughters dance. And I thought, It could have worked! This democracy, this land of freedom and equality and the pursuit of happiness-it could have worked! There was something to it, after all! It didn't have to turn into a greedy free-for-all! We didn't have to make a mess of it and the continent and ourselves! It could have worked! It wasn't just a joke, just a blind for the machinations of money! The Robinson sisters danced; prince sang about doves crying; beauty and courage and curiosity and gentleness seemed not to be rare aberrations in the world. Nicodemus, a town with reasons enough to hold a grudge, a town with plenty of reasons not to exist at all, celebrated its Founders' Day with a show of hats and a dance revue....For a moment I could imagine the past rewritten, wars unfought, the buffalo and the Indians undestroyed, the prairie unplundered. Maybe history did not absolutely have to turn out the way it did...
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Nicodemus in MemoriesThe History website for the Spirit of African American Self Determination and Perseverance in the American West recounts the following story of a woman arriving in Nicodemus in 1878.
It seemed to young Willina Hickman that a terrible scene of desolation mocked her once hopeful anticipation of arriving in the "Promised Land" of northwestern Kansas. As an old woman many years later, she recollected her feelings upon first spotting Nicodemus in spring 1878.... "When we got in sight of Nicodemus the men shouted, 'There is Nicodemus!' Being very sick, I hailed this news with gladness. I looked with all the eyes I had. I said, 'Where is Nicodemus? I don't see it yet.' My husband pointed out various smokes coming out of the ground and said, 'That is nicodemus.' The families lived in dugouts....The scenery was not at all inviting, and I began to cry." As Willina cried, she gazed upon the unfolding of an important story of our nation's relentless march westward, the first western town planned by and for African-Americans.
The Stephanie Dispatch website on "A Trip Home Revels More than Just the Family" has excerpts from a recent interview she had with Ora Switzer (referred to in the community as Grandmother Switzer), at 97 years of age, Nicodemus' oldest living resident.
"I was born right out there," she pointed at the prairie behind her small, brick home. "I had 13 brothers and sisters. They all left but me. When I was 18, I married a man who wasn't going anywhere, so I stayed here and had seven kids, 20 grandkids and I can't even tell you how many great-grandkids."
"The worst was the '30s," she shook her head at the memory of the dust storms that plagued western Kansas. "It'd get so black, we couldn't see. I had to put sheets around the windows to keep the dust from coming through and getting at the children. Them was the days."
Grandmother Switzer said she had to travel at least 20 miles for food or clothing, and she estimated the town's population at about 60. "We're short on children," she remarked. Yet, she wouldn't have changed her upbringing for the world. Since the bulk of Nicodemus' residents were African American, Grandmother Switzer never experienced the racism and prejudices so many of her people had to endure in other parts of the nation. "We never did have any trouble here," she said.
Before we [Dispatch and Switzer] parted company, she passed on one of her many life lessons: "If I'd a known when I was a young 'un that I'd be a piece of Nicodemus history some day, I sure would have asked more questions."
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Nicodemus on the Map
All maps locatable on the web from Mapquest.com
Map 1: Regional Location of Nicodemus, Kansas
Map 2: Location of Nicodemus within Kansas
Map 3: Map of the Town of Nicodemus, Kansas
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Nicodemus on the Web
You can find out more about Nicodemus, its inhabitants, and buildings at the following links.
Nicodemus, Kansas: African-American Mosaic Exhibition (Library of Congress) This site has some old county maps and atlases of Nicodemus and Graham County. It also has some photos and brief descriptions of some early inhabitants and buildings.
Nicodemus, Kansas This web site is part of the Lest We Forget web site. It has a brief summary of recent legislation that brought Nicodemus to National attention, directions for finding Nicodemus, and some links to related sites.
Nicodemus This web site is under Graham County On-Line. It provides a brief history of Nicodemus as well as links to find out more about the towns connection with "The Buffalo Soldiers", which this report did not touch on.
Time Line This site lists by year and sometimes month events from 1861 to 1996 that happened in or had an impact on Nicodemus.
History This site by the Nicodemus National Historic Site, and subtitled "The Spirit of African-American Self Determination and Perseverance in the American West", gives fairly detailed information on the founding, growth, and decline of Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, Kansas History This site is a short two paragraph history of Nicodemus.
Nicodemus (#2) This second site by this name is almost identical in information to that of the History site. This site has more images.
Nicodemus, Kansas - Negro Settlers of the West, Historic Site This site has a brief description of the town and its history with photos. Some details are not found in other sites.
Soul of American - Black Resorts: Kansas: Nicodemus This site provides history and photos of many of the town's buildings, it tells of one resident not mentioned in other sites, and describes the ongoing programs that are available in and about the town.
Stephanie Dispatch This site is a trip log and interview from Stephanie's visit to Nicodemus. She introduces you to 97 year old Ora Switzer, the towns oldest living resident.
LASR - Graham County, Kansas - Nicodemus This site gives a brief history of Nicodemus with a couple of antecdotal pieces not found elsewhere.
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Nicodemus in the Classroom
Lesson Plan, Handout 1 - Black Towns in the West: A Case Study of the Exodusters. This is a web site that has lesson plans, handouts, and classroom activities for a teacher to use in a classroom to teach about Black immigrants to the American West.
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Nicodemus in Song
Nicodemus
Nicodemus was a slave of African Birth,And was bought for a bag full of gold;
He was reckoned a part of the salt of the earth,
But he died years ago, very old.
Nicodemus was a prophet, at least he was as wise,
For he told of battles to come;
How we trembled with fear, when he rolled up his eyes,
And we heeded the shake of his thumb.
CHORUS: Good time coming, good time coming,Long, long time on the way;
Run and tell Elija to hurry up Pomp,
To meet us under the cottonwood tree,
In the Great Solomon Valley
At the first break of day.
(Found on Lesson Plan web site)
The Land That Gives Birth to Freedom
...we have held meetings to ourselvesTo see if we can't plan some way to live.
(chorus) Marching along, yes, we are marching along,
To Kansas city we are bound.
(Frazier)
Home on the Range -verse two
Oh, give me the gale of the Solomon valeWhere life streams with buoyancy flow,
Or the banks of the Beaver,
Where seldom if ever,
Any poisonous herbage doth grow.
(Frazier)
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Bibliography
Frazier, Ian; Great Plains; Penguin Group, Penguin Books, New York, NY; 1990
History, http://www.nps.gov/nico/History/body_history.html
LASR - Graham County, Kansas - Nicodemus, http://www.lasr.net/leisure/kansas/graham/nicodemus.html
Lesson Plan, Handout 1 - Black Towns in the West: A Case Study of the Exodusters, http://www.ssecinc.org/less/Pg_ho1_black.htm , SSEC, May 1999.
Mapquest: Maps, http://mapquest.com/maps/main.adp ,
Nicodemus, http://www.ruraltel.net/gced/nicodemus.htm , Graham County Economic Development, Inc. Hill City, Kansas, 1997
Nicodemus (#2), http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/vines/5320/nicodemus/nicodemus.html, D & M Consultants, Hill City, Kansas, 1998
Nicodemus, Kansas, http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/places.htm
Nicodemus, Kansas: African-American Mosaic Exhibition (Library of Congress), http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam010.html
Nicodemus, Kansas History, http://www.ku.edu/~hersite/kcn-4/hillcity/nicodemu.html
Nicodemus, Kansas - Negro Settlers of the West, Historic Site,http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/bigrocks/Nicodemus.html
Soul of America - Black Resorts: Kansas: Nicodemus, http://www.soulofamerica.com/resorts/nicodemus.html , Research Credit: Lysa Allman-Baldwin, Morris Turner III, Design Consultant: Kenneth Associates, Webmaster: Robins Design
Stephanie Dispatch, http://www.ustrek.org/odyssey/semester1/122000/122000stephnico.html
Time Line, http://www.nps.gov/nico/body_home.html , March 2000
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