Nicodemus
(pictures)
W. R. Hill, a white man, came up with
the idea for a town called Nicodemus. Hill had come to Western
Kansas from Indiana during the summer of 1876. He settled in Graham
County and started making plans that fall for the county seat
of Hill City. It was around this time that he thought of setting
up an all-black community in the area. He talked with a group
of African-Americans who had migrated to Topeka from the South.
They liked the idea of the town and started organizing and planning.
In June 1877, Hill selected the town site, and by June 18, Nicodemus
had its first settler, Reverend Simon Roundtree. Roundtree sent
out a circular dated July 2, 1877, which invited all black people
to come live in the "Great Solomon Valley of western Kansas".
This circular contained a poem that
explained the name of the colony. It was not from the biblical
Nicodemus, but from a legendary slave who arrived in the second
slave ship to America. He purchased his freedom later. He was
believed to be a prophet as the poem says:
Nicodemus was a slave of African
birth
And was bought for a bag 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 wise,
For he told of the battle to come;
How we trembled with fear, when he rolled up his eyes,
And we heeded the shake of his thumb.
The colonists added a chorus to fit
the colony:
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,
On the Great Solomon Valley
At the first break of day.
(Schwendemann, 1968)
Another source, the Bogue Messenger
dated February 25, 1932 stated "that the leaders of the colony
were righteous men, hence the name was taken from the scriptures.
It relates too that Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, came to
Jesus by night". (Belleau, 1943)
Around thirty settlers had taken up
residence by July 30. Included were W. H. Smith, the president
of the newly-formed Nicodemus Town Company; Z. T. Fletcher, the
secretary of the company; Roundtree; Jerry Alsup, Jeff Lindsey,
and William Edmunds, who were all trustees of the company. Fletcher's
wife was the only woman until a large group of colonists, under
the leadership of W. H. Hill, arrived in mid-September from Kentucky.
Hill had spent the month of August
in Kentucky recruiting African-Americans to come to Nicodemus.
He recruited nearly 300 former slaves from Lexington, Kentucky,
and they arrived at Nicodemus on September 17, 1877. This date
has been celebrated as the founding of the colony.
In the spring of 1878, a large group
of settlers came from Georgetown, Kentucky, to settle in Nicodemus.
There were about 200 colonists who finally made it; other had
found opportunities along the way that were better for them or
they decided to not go on to Kansas. Two ministers came with the
group: the Reverend Silas M. Lee and the Reverend Daniel Hickman.
Lee founded the Nicodemus First Baptist Church, and Hickman founded
the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, which was located near Hill City.
Arrivals continued to come throughout
the rest of 1878 and into 1879. By 1880, the population was between
500 and 700 people. There were two different census reports which
is why there was such a difference, but there was no reason given
for having two reports done.
Many settlers left the colony between
1877 and 1880 because of the rigors of frontier life. The first
thing the settlers had to do was build some shelters. They built
dugouts along river banks or small hills. This led to the sod
house, which was built three or more feet into the ground and
topped with sod blocks from the prairie. Another problem the settlers
faced was that of an inadequate food supply because of the lack
of money. There was no way to get work in a community that was
just starting.
These African-American settlers, like
their white counterparts, had to cope with Indians, hot winds,
droughts, and blizzards. It was not unusual for a settler to plant
his crops and lose them to nature's fury. These settlers, black
and white, had a tough life, but with a true pioneer spirit, they
stayed with it.
The African-Americans did not have
much farming equipment. They were farming with spades and grubbing
hoes. Two men, who had an implement used to turn the prairie sod,
came into the area in the fall of 1878. They offered to turn the
sod at two dollars an acre, and many farmers in the area took
advantage of their offer. By the time they finished, there was
an average of almost five acres of cultivated land for every homestead.
By 1881, that average was up to ten to fifteen acres.
Nicodemus residents presented a petition
to the commissioners of Rooks County in the summer of 1879. The
petition, signed by twenty-five Nicodemus residents, asked for
the status of a township. The sheriff of Rooks County called an
election in which three African-American leaders were elected
to township offices.
While the people of Nicodemus were
making political progress, the town itself was progressing. By
1881, Nicodemus had thirty-five buildings, both residential and
commercial. there was a general store, a drug store, a meat shop,
three hotels, a lumberyard, two livery stables, two churches,
one four-room schoolhouse, and numerous houses. The houses were
being built with wood instead of sod blocks.
The people of Nicodemus like to celebrate
during the 1880's. Holidays included the Fourth of July, Emancipation
Day (August 1) and the day the colony was founded (September 17).
Emancipation Day celebrated the liberation of the West Indies'
African-Americans. The people also enjoyed their social life.
By the mid-1880's, the town had a literary society, a baseball
team, an ice cream parlor, several lodges, and a benefit society.
All of these things were an indication that the business center
of the town was growing. In 1887, the town had four general stores,
two druggists, a grocery store, a lawyer, three land companies,
two hotels, a blacksmith shop, two livery stables, and a harness
and boot repair store. Also, in 1887, a bank was established,
which made Nicodemus a prosperous commercial center.
A lot of the town's prospering business
came from reports that two railroad companies were going to build
through Nicodemus. The Union Pacific was building to the south
and would have to cross the Solomon River to get to Nicodemus.
A better chance of getting a railroad was offered by the Missouri
Pacific. This railroad would come through Stockton and be built
to Graham County, via Nicodemus. Unfortunately, both plans fell
through. The Union Pacific built its line south of the river,
crossing to the north bank to go to Hill City. The Missouri Pacific
stopped the laying of its tracks at Stockton.
The businessmen began to leave to go
to better places, but the other people stayed in Nicodemus. In
fact, the population of Graham County increased. In 1880, there
were 484 African-Americans living in the county, and the number
continued to grow until 1910, when the population reached its
peak at 595. The number declined as the years went on, and in
1960, there were only 195 African-Americans livings in Graham
County. In Nicodemus Township, there were 453 African-Americans
in 1883, but the number continued to drop to 284 in 1891 and went
back up by 1907 to 501. By 1910, the population was 409.
Between the dates of 1878 and 1953
(when the post office closed), Nicodemus lived and prospered for
seventy-six years. According to Schewendemann, the Atchison Weekly
Champion, in its September 1, 1883, issue gave a fine
tribute to the town:
"The writer noted that someday
Nicodemus might become no more than a name, "the waning and
fading designation of spot where men once lived; but to those
who know the truth of history," concluded the writer, "the
name will always recall the bravest attempt ever made by people
of any color to establish homes in the high plains of Western
Kansas."
Nicodemus is a spot along Highway
24 between Hill City and Stockton. There are between fifteen and
twenty residents living there today. A federal housing project
was built there in the early 1970's. Nicodemus was also well-known
as the home of Ernestine's Barbecue, which recently reopened in
Bogue under the management of Angela Bates-Tompkins.
The National Park Service, in1976,
designated Nicodemus as a National Historic Landmark. Nicodemus
became incorporated because of a bill signed by Governor John
Carlin on April 14, 1981. The law exempted Nicodemus from another
law that states a community has to have 300 residents before becoming
incorporated. On November 12 of 1996, Congress established the
Nicodemus National Historic Site. Click here to visit the official
web site:
http://www.nps.gov/nico/index.htm
The black migration to Kansas, whether
it was with the Kansas Fever Exodus of 1879-80 or the gradual
migration before 1879, made an impact on the state. Kansas was
a land of freedom, and the freedom that the African-Americans
longed for was found in this beautiful state. The people of Kansas
reached out to help the African-Americans, and in return for their
help, the African-Americans came here to live a better life. Nicodemus
stands by itself on the prairie, a symbol of the black migration
to Kansas, and her residents (and non-residents) have every reason
to be proud of her history.
The above essay is an
excerpt from a paper written by Patty Nicholas, Special Collections
librarian, in 1981
for a history class at Fort Hays State University. Some information
has been updated.
The following information contains the sources
used in writing the paper.
Sources
Athearn, Robert G. In Search
of Canaan: Black Migration to Kansas, 1879-80. Lawrence, KS:
The Regents Press of Kansas, 1978.
Belleau, William J. "The
Nicodemus Colony of Graham County, Kansas." Masters thesis,
Fort Hays Kansas State College, 1943.
Federal Writers' Project of
the Works Projects Administration for the State of Kansas. Kansas:
A Guide to the Sunflower State. New York: Viking Press, 1939.
"History of All-Negro Town
Traced: Nicodemus Nearly Deserted." Hays Daily News,
20 February 1972, p. 35.
"A Kansas Negro Colony."
Kansas City Star, 26 January 1905, p. 3.
Miller, Nyle H. and others. Kansas:
The 34th Star. Topeka, KS: Kansas State Historical Society,
1976.
"Nicodemus Bill Awaits Carlin
Signature." Hays Daily News. 3 April 1981, pg. 3.
Painter, Nell Irvin. Exodusters:
Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Richmond, Robert W. Kansas:
A Land of Contrasts. St. Charles, Missouri: Forum Press, 1974.
Schwedemann, Glen. "Nicodemus:
Negro Haven on the Solomon." Kansas Historical Quarterly.
34 (Spring 1968),
pg. 10-31
