The New Philadelphia National Historic Site is the original site of the now-vanished town of New Philadelphia, Illinois, in the United States. It is located near the western Illinois city of Barry, in Pike County.
Founded in 1836, New Philadelphia was the first town in the United States platted and registered by an African American before the American Civil War.[2][3] The founder, Free Frank McWorter (1777–1854), was a former slave who was able to save money from work and his own business to purchase the freedom of his wife, then himself, and over time, 13 members of his family from Kentucky.[4][5] Several of his freedom purchases were funded by the sale of New Philadelphia lots. The town was integrated and reached a population of about 160 near the close of the Civil War in 1865. A few years later, the town was bypassed by the railroad line leading to its eventual decline; the town lots were generally turned into farmland in the late 19th century, although some survived into the 1920s.
Free Frank McWorter purchased a 160-acre tract in Pike County, Illinois in 1830 and settled with his family in 1831.[3] McWorter founded a town, which he thought might benefit from increasing commerce in Illinois due to the planned Illinois and Michigan Canal. He purchased the 80-acre tract from the federal government in 1835.[3] The original town plan consisted of 144 lots in a 12 x 12 square, including 22 crisscrossing named streets.[2][3] McWorter officially registered his town with government authorities and sold the lots to both blacks and whites.[2] The town was integrated, with blacks and whites involved together in community organizations, except only a typical 19th-century segregated cemetery.[7] There was one integrated public school.[8][9][2][10]
McWorter lived there for the rest of his life, apart from brief visits to Kentucky to purchase freedom for much of the remainder of his family.[11] These freedom purchases were largely financed by his sale of lots in New Philadelphia.[8][3]
McWorter died in 1854. Before the Civil War, New Philadelphia had become one of the stations along the Underground Railroad for shepherding escaped slaves to Canada.[2] Escapees from Missouri were known to swim the Mississippi River to reach the town.[8] With emancipation, more settlers arrived in New Philadelphia. Its population peaked at close to 160 shortly after 1865.[11][2]
In 1869, the Hannibal and Naples Railroad was built. It bypassed the town on the north; a station was built in nearby Barry, soon to be followed by transit and commerce. New Philadelphia rapidly declined in population thereafter.[2] A small number of residents turned to farming a portion of the former townsite. Such changes and abandonment were not unusual for U.S. small towns in the late 19th century, especially those bypassed by changing transportation facilities.[11][2]
In 1885 a portion of the town was legally dissolved.[3] It reverted to farmland. Modern archaeological studies discussed below indicate the area was inhabited through the 1920s. However, by the late 20th century, all vestiges of New Philadelphia had vanished save fragments of glass and pottery, and traces of the town's gravel streets.[11]
On January 16, 2009 the Department of the Interior designated the New Philadelphia Town Site a National Historic Landmark based on the significance of its history and archaeology.[17]
A preliminary study conducted by the National Park Service in 2012 found that New Philadelphia had significant archaeological and historical value, but because the sites' remains are buried underground, challenges in providing for public enjoyment and other issues would make it unsuitable as a unit of the National Park System.[19] Despite the NPS's recommendation against a full special resource study, the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 incorporated a bill from Representative Darin LaHood directing the Department of Interior to study the New Philadelphia townsite for possible NPS designation.[20][21][8]
Although the special resource study had not yet been completed,[22] legislation was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 to establish New Philadelphia National Historic Site, consisting of 124.33 acres.[23] The National Historic Site will ensure protection and exploration of the site and education about interracial cooperation in Illinois.[24]
Pike County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located between the Mississippi River and the Illinois River in western Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it had a population of 14,739. Its county seat is Pittsfield.
Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020.
Brooklyn, is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located two miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and three miles northeast of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is one of the oldest known black settlements in the United States. Its motto is "Founded by Chance, Sustained by Courage." The mayor is Mayor Vera Banks-Glasper.
Valley Forge National Historical Park is the site of the third winter encampment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. The National Park Service preserves the site and interprets the history of the Valley Forge encampment. The park contains historical buildings, recreated encampment structures, memorials, museums, and recreation facilities.
This is a list of properties and districts in Indiana that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are over 2,000 in total. Of these, 44 are National Historic Landmarks. Each of Indiana's 92 counties has at least two listings.
This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania. As of 2015, there are over 3,000 listed sites in Pennsylvania. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have listings on the National Register.
A cosmogram depicts a cosmology in a flat geometric form. They are used for various purposes: meditational, inspirational and to depict structure – real or imagined – of the earth or universe.
Free Frank McWorter was an American born into slavery who bought his freedom in Kentucky and in 1836 founded the town of New Philadelphia in Illinois; he was the first African American to plat and register a town, and establish a planned community in the United States. The New Philadelphia town site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009 and made a National Park Service site in 2022.
Fort Mose is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had the fort established as a free black settlement, the first to be legally sanctioned in what would become the territory of the United States. It was designated a US National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994.
The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) is a museum and non-circulating library in the Oakland Public Library system dedicated to preserving African American history, experiences and culture. Located on 14th Street in Downtown Oakland, California, United States, the museum contains an extensive archival collection of such artifacts as diaries, correspondence, photos, and periodicals.
The Old Mobile Site was the location of the French settlement La Mobile and the associated Fort Louis de La Louisiane, in the French colony of New France in North America, from 1702 until 1712. The site is located in Le Moyne, Alabama, on the Mobile River in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. The settlement served as the capital of French Louisiana from 1702 until 1711, when the capital was relocated to the site of present-day Mobile, Alabama. The settlement was founded and originally governed by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Upon the death of d'Iberville, the settlement was governed by his younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The site can be considered a French counterpart to the English colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The settlement site and fort were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1976. The Old Mobile Site was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark on January 3, 2001.
Christopher C. Fennell is an American anthropologist and lawyer, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His first book Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World (2008) received the John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology. Fennell is editor of the African Diaspora Archaeology Network and Newsletter, and an associate of the editorial board of the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ross County, Ohio.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pike County, Illinois.
Paul A. Shackel is an American anthropologist and a Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He joined the Department of Anthropology in 1996 after working for the National Park Service for seven and a half years. His research interests include Historical Archaeology, Civic Engagement, Social Justice, African Diaspora, Labor Archaeology, and Heritage Studies. He teaches courses in Historical Archaeology, The Anthropology of Work, Archaeology of the Chesapeake, and Method and Theory in Archaeology. He is the 2025 recipient of the J.C. Harrington Medal by the Society for Historical Archaeology.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hickman County, Kentucky.
Franklin Court is a complex of museums, structures, and historic sites within Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at the site which American printer, scientist, diplomat, and statesman Benjamin Franklin had his Philadelphia residence from 1763 to his death in 1790.
The Cattle Bank is a historic bank building located at 102 E. University Ave. in Champaign, Illinois. Built in 1858, it is the oldest documented commercial structure in Champaign. It opened as a branch of the Grand Prairie Bank of Urbana, Illinois. Champaign was the southern terminus of a railroad line to Chicago, so cattle raisers from the surrounding area drove their cattle to Champaign to ship them to the Chicago market. The Cattle Bank provided banking and loan services to these cattlemen. The building housed a bank for only three years. During that time, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is known to have cashed a check there. From 1861 to 1971, the building housed several commercial tenants. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and renovated in 1983. Since 2001, the Cattle Bank has been home to the Champaign County History Museum.
Kathleen A. Deagan is an American archaeologist who primarily focuses on excavations in Florida and the Caribbean. Known for her historic archaeology which uncovered the colonial past of La Florida, and work in St. Augustine, she has received multiple awards and honors, including the Award of Merit in 1992 and the J. C. Harrington Award in 2004, both bestowed by the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Robert L. Schuyler is an American historical archaeologist and Anthropologist. He is now Professor Emeritus (Anthropology) and Curator Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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