Last updated: May 2, 2025
Place
Township Hall
NPS Photo / Valerie Blubaugh
Quick Facts
Location:
Nicodemus, Kansas
Significance:
Current Visitor Center
Designation:
National Historic Site
Amenities
18 listed
Assistive Listening Systems, Automated Entrance, Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Benches/Seating, Electrical Outlet/Cell Phone Charging, Fire Extinguisher, First Aid Kit Available, Gifts/Souvenirs/Books, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information - Maps Available, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Junior Ranger Booklet Available, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Restroom, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Wheelchair Accessible, Wheelchairs Available
Built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project from 1937-1939, the Nicodemus Township Hall represents the community-supporting pillar of self-governance in Nicodemus.
From the very beginning, Nicodemus Town Company members intended for the community to be a place where African Americans could freely practice self-governance. By 1877, 12 years after emancipation, African Americans still faced many obstacles to participate in politics, from voting in elections to running for office. By establishing a Black-led independent community, Nicodemus residents could build their community as they saw fit and pursue their own best interests without threats to their existence.
Before the Township Hall was built, Nicodemus residents used several other buildings as community meeting spaces. The First Baptist Church and A.M.E. Church frequently hosted all kinds of meetings and events. From the late 1890s, the Masonic Hall, formerly on the northeast corner of Washington Avenue and Third Street, also served as a meeting space up until the construction of the Township Hall.
The Nicodemus township board at the time—Ace Williams, Alex Alexander, and Pearl Bates—applied to the WPA for funds to build a township hall in the late 1930s. Part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the WPA offered funding for a wide variety of community-improvement projects across the United States, including the construction of several township halls, also providing work for local skilled and unskilled workers. The project was approved, and work started in 1937, employing 12 men who lived in Nicodemus town or the township, including Garold Napue, who was stonemason and head carpenter. The stone used for the building was quarried locally near Webster Reservoir, about eight miles east of town.
While most of the Township Hall was completed in 1939, the township board had to apply for another project in 1940 to finish work on the building, including installing heating facilities, painting, and landscaping. Records from these projects note the high level of detail that went into construction and the quality of the building.
At the dedication of the Township Hall, W. L. Sayers, a Nicodemus descendant and respected attorney in Graham County, delivered a speech noting the importance of this milestone for the community:
"We may well be proud of this magnificent building, and I hope and believe that in constructing this building we have set the standard high and that it will have the effect of producing and developing a feeling of community interest and I may say community pride--in other words that it may produce within us a feeling that when away from home we will be glad to hold our heads high and say I am from Nicodemus."
Sayers’s words seemed to ring true with the community. Once completed, the Township Hall became the center of community activity in Nicodemus. School and church recitals, voting, anniversaries, dances with live bands, “pay parties,” and roller skating were all activities that occurred at the Township Hall. Many Nicodemus residents have fondly recalled the variety of activities for all ages that occurred throughout the year.
“When we was teenagers coming along we used to have pay parties…At the Township Hall, Lois and Buddy Alexander used to run them. We used to have a lot of fun. They had all kinds of records and they had a certain time—I think it was twelve o’clock—That was it. You had to be out of the Hall going home. [laughs] And then they started a skating rink in the Township Hall.”
-Florence Howard, Nicodemus descendant, 1998
Since the 1950s, the Township Hall has also been the center of activity for the annual Nicodemus Homecoming Emancipation Celebration, an event that has happened annually since 1878. During the last weekend of July or first weekend of August, the Township Hall and Roadside Park north of the building see hundreds and sometimes thousands of Nicodemus descendants, friends, and visitors celebrating with events like fashion shows, pancake feeds and church dinners, dancing, and special speakers.
Despite a population decline, the Township Hall has remained in continuous use. In 1998, Nicodemus National Historic Site started leasing the building from Nicodemus Township to use as a visitor center, and since then, the National Park Service and Nicodemus Township share use of the building and maintain it for public use. Inside the Township Hall today are portable exhibits, a theater area for visitors to watch videos on the history and culture of Nicodemus, and a book store. The building is open from 9 am to 5 pm every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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).