Last updated: July 9, 2026
Place
Nicodemus A.M.E. Church
NPS Photo / Valerie Blubaugh
Quick Facts
Location:
Nicodemus, Kansas
Significance:
Second Oldest Historic Building in Nicodemus
Designation:
National Historic Site
Amenities
5 listed
Audio Description, Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Wheelchair Accessible
The A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church in Nicodemus was a place of worship for many residents. Today, it is a reminder of the importance of faith in this community. The Nicodemus Mount Pleasant Baptist congregation built this church in the 1890s. They sold it to the A.M.E. Church in 1910, which used it until they disbanded in 1967. The restored building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is open to the public during business hours.
While today called the A.M.E. Church, the Nicodemus Mount Pleasant/Second Baptist Church built and first worshipped in this building. Shortly after forming in December 1889, the Second Baptist congregation made plans to build a church. Construction on this church was slow. In November 1893, The Baptist Headlight of Topeka, Kansas reported that the Nicodemus Second Baptist congregation “are erecting a new house of worship 26x42, the walls of which are completed.” The congregation mostly finished and started meeting in the building in 1897. However, some construction continued until around 1904.
In the first decade of the 1900s, membership in the Second Baptist Church slowly declined. This led the congregation to disband around 1910. In July 1910, The People’s Reveille of Hill City, Kansas reported: “We learned that the A.M.E. Church has purchased the Second Baptist Church.”
The Nicodemus A.M.E. congregation added to the church building after they bought it. In the early 1920s, a small vestibule, or entryway, was added to the north wall of the building. Around 1931, a larger vestibule was added on the east side of the building, which is still standing today. The words “A.M.E. Church 1885” were added above this entrance to celebrate Reverend Charles H. Brown. Reverend Brown was responsible for building the Nicodemus A.M.E. congregation’s first church in 1885. Like many other limestone buildings in Nicodemus, the outside walls of the A.M.E. Church were covered in white stucco in the 1940s.
After the Nicodemus A.M.E. Church disbanded in 1967, Nicodemus residents Alvin and Ada Bates bought the church and used it as storage. In 1995 and 1996, National Park Service (NPS) historic preservation crews stabilized the A.M.E. Church. The NPS acquired the building in 1998. The A.M.E. Church required major historic preservation efforts and is now preserved to show how it looked around the 1940s. As of 2021, the A.M.E. Church is open for the public to visit.
Learn more about the two congregations that worshipped in this building.
The five pillars of Nicodemus are five core values emphasized to achieve supportive and viable communities. Often, opportunities to experience these values were previously denied African Americans while enslaved and following emancipation: religion (culture of community), self-government (autonomy and decision-making), education (knowledge), family (extended community), and business (entrepreneurs).