NPS

NICODEMUS – A proposed expansion of the existing Nicodemus National Historic Landmark (NHL) District is currently available for public review. The review period has been extended through April 16, 2017.

Copies of the document are available at a National Park Service website, http://parkplanning.nps.gov/NICONHL1-23-2017. Comments may be submitted on this same website. A few copies of the document are available at the Township Hall, in Nicodemus and at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site (1515 SE Monroe St., Topeka).

The NHL designation is an honorary designation. Nicodemus was first recognized as an NHL in 1976, as part of a national effort to acknowledge significant African American history during the United States Bicentennial. That 1976 NHL District includes the town site of Nicodemus, Kansas (160 acres), as platted by the Nicodemus Town Company in 1877. Nicodemus was recognized as the only remaining town of those established by African-Americans west of the Mississippi at the end of Reconstruction. The town is symbolic how Blacks participated in Western expansion as they sought personal freedom and opportunity in the West.

In 1996, Congress added a second layer of recognition when they designated individual five properties in town – the Township Hall, St. Francis Hotel, First Baptist Church, A.M.E. Church, and the Schoolhouse – as Nicodemus National Historic Site. The National Historic Site lies entirely within the current NHL and the Site is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service in partnership with the landowners.

Research and oral histories conducted over 20 years has led to a better understanding of the connections and rich story of African American settlement that extended from the town into the entire Nicodemus Township and some outlying areas. The amendment under review proposed the current boundary to include these additional areas.

Under Federal law, National Historic Landmark (NHL) designation does not change the legal right of a private property owner to take any action with respect to a Landmark property that may otherwise legally be taken. It does not require the owner to allow any public access to their property. And it does not indicate an interest in acquisition of the property by the National Park Service (a federal agency).

A National Park Service representative, Superintendent Sherda Williams, will attend the Nicodemus Township Board Meeting on March 9, 2017 (5:00 pm, Nicodemus Villa) to answer questions on this proposed NHL amendment. Ms. Williams can also be contacted at (785) 354-4273 in Topeka.