Nicodemus National Historic Site

In the years following the Civil War, formerly enslaved African Americans left the South and moved west to Kansas as part of post-Civil War migration and western expansion. Kansas was a free state, part of the Underground Railroad and home to abolitionist John Brown. It was here that Nicodemus, the oldest and only remaining historic Black settlement west of the Mississippi River, was founded in 1877.

By the mid-1880s Nicodemus was a flourishing town with two newspapers, three general stores, and several churches. The town had small hotels, an ice cream parlor, bank, and livery. The community had their sights on a possible railroad through the town, bringing goods and services, and further growing the economy. But when the hoped-for railroad bypassed the town, combined with years of poor harvest, Nicodemus experienced an economic downturn. Before its decline, nearly 1,000 people lived in this bustling community. To this day, Nicodemus is still home to descendants of the original settlement.

Nicodemus was designated a National Historic Site by an Act of Congress in 1996. Following the designation, Trust for Public Land helped protect the African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Church, built in 1885, as one of five historic buildings on site. Despite its historical significance, Nicodemus National Historic Site has never had a permanent visitor center. To remedy this, TPL partnered with the National Park Service and the Nicodemus community and, in 2022, secured a site for a future visitor center.

Once open, the visitor center will tell the story of the Nicodemus settlement through the eyes of the community and provide a starting point for visitors and community members to explore the important story of Nicodemus. Through education and conversation, visitors will have an opportunity to engage in the past, present, and future of Nicodemus.

Important places, like Nicodemus, tell meaningful stories. By preserving them, we enshrine our history and culture for future generations.