During the waning days of Reconstruction thousands of blacks fled the rising tide of racism demonstrated by the Ku Klux Klan, and as many as 11 African American communities were established in Kansas. Often the emigrants found they had been sold ‘a bill of goods by land speculators, as the promised land held little milk and honey, and much hardship. Lack of capital and extreme weather conditions forced many black settlers to move on westward.
One town survived to become a symbol of freedom and stands today as the oldest surviving African-American community west of the Mississippi. Established in 1877, Nicodemus was named for a Civil War song about freedom and ‘the good time coming’.
But the good time that faced the first arrivals was elusive.
Billed as “The Largest Colored Colony in America!”, one handbill described the houses, businesses, and picture-perfect farms that could be had. In reality, the town site was undeveloped except for a few dugouts, and the farmland was dry, dusty and far different from the verdant green of the Old South.
Most of the early inhabitants of the community had spent all they had to get to Nicodemus, and many of the men had to take work where they could find it, leaving the women and children to farm the acreage and create homes in the dugouts.
Laying track for the coming railroad or hiring out as laborers as far away as Colorado, the former slaves fell into the familiar pattern of hard work and little reward. But now they were working toward developing a legacy of freedom, and the community flourished.
Located along the south fork of the Solomon River in Graham County, in ten years’ time the Northwest Kansas town had moved out of the dugouts and into buildings made of sod, wood or stone. Churches, hotels, a bank, a newspaper, a two-story schoolhouse, a society hall, and a baseball team called The Western Cyclones had been developed by the 150 permanent residents.
The rapid development of Nicodemus continued as two coal yards came to town in 1887, in preparation for what residents hoped would be the most exciting expansion yet – the Union Pacific railroad. But the promised railway bypassed the fledgling town, and in the hard times that followed, some residents pulled up stakes, while others worked for wages in other towns.
What promised to be a center of commerce and industry became a rural farm town.
Nicodemus continued to grow at a slower pace, and in 1910 the population peaked at 595. However, the Great Depression, drought, and dust storms of the 1930s started a migration from the town that has continued ever since. The 2000 census showed a total population of 52 people, all older residents.
But once a year Nicodemus springs to life, during a three-day celebration on the last weekend in July. Originally scheduled to celebrate the emancipation of the first West Indies slaves, the event is now called Homecoming. Descendants of the first brave settlers who journeyed west in 1877 gather to celebrate their spiritual home and heritage.
In 1996 Nicodemus was designated a National Historic site, and the National Park Service is working with the population of the town to preserve the past.
Thanks to the Western National Parks Association for providing information used in the writing of this story.
For High Plains Public Radio, I’m Nancy Harness in Lawrence KS.
HPH is a production of High Plains Public Radio
