BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for April 18.

The American Nicodemus Town Company is founded.

It is the only remaining western community established by African Americans after the Civil War.

Having an important role in American History, the town symbolizes the pioneering spirit of these ex-slaves who fled the war-torn South in search of real freedom and a chance to restart their lives. 

The townsite of Nicodemus was planned in 1877 by W.R. Hill, a land developer from Indiana, and Reverend W.H. Smith, a black man, forming the Nicodemus Town Company. 

The Nicodemus Town Company produced numerous circulars to promote the town, inviting “Colored People of the United States” to come and settle in the “Great Solomon Valley.” 

By 1880, Nicodemus had a population of almost 500, boasting a bank, two hotels, three churches, a newspaper, a drug store, and three general stores – surrounded by twelve square miles of cultivated land.

In 1976, Nicodemus was named a National Historic Landmark.

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