Insurance Map of Nicodemus Kansas

20th century fire insurance map of a historic African-American town.

This scarce, possibly one-of-a-kind, plat map shows the majority of the small town of Nicodemus, Kansas. It was drawn and shaded, by hand, on a blank Kansas Inspection Bureau insurance map template, indicating it was previously included as part of a 20th century fire insurance atlas. A rubberstamp in the upper right corner offers an original date of early 1938, but the presence of the Light Plant indicates updates were made through the 1950s (when electrification was first introduced).

A handful of structures are labeled amid an orderly street grid. The buildings are colored according to their construction material – blue = brick, stone, or concrete; yellow = wood. They include the Baptist church, general merchandise store, M.E. (Methodist Episcopal) Church, and the school, located 3 blocks south of Washington but seen in an inset in the upper right.

Nicodemus was the first Black community west of the Mississippi, established in 1877 as part of a broader migration of newly freed slaves from the South to the Midwest during the Reconstruction Era. Thanks to incredible resilience, strong leadership, and effective boosters, a town was built from the ground up and thrived for several years. By the time this map was issued, the local population had declined precipitously and was likely less than 50 people.

The lack of a nearby railroad, the financial effects of the Great Depression, the agricultural ruin of the Dust Bowl, and racially motivated state policies hindered development and many buildings fell into disrepair and disuse. As a result, it was not commercially viable to lithograph and print fire insurance maps of the town, making this an incredibly scarce depiction of the historic community.

Fortunately, the importance of Nicodemus to the narrative of postwar America was realized and, in 1976, the entire town was designated a National Historic Landmark. Several buildings, including the A.M.E. Church, Township Hall (not pictured) and a new Baptist Church, can still be visited today.

While printed maps of other Graham County, KS communities (Hill City, Safford, Thatcher, Solomonville) were published commercially by the Sanborn Map Company, I have been unable to identify other manuscript fire insurance maps of Nicodemus. Topographic maps of the relevant quadrangle were later created by the U.S.G.S. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but even these mass-produced representations are uncommon and located in less than 10 institutions in OCLC.

Sources: National Park Service (1); National Park Service (Map); Kansas University Library;