New Philadelphia, Illinois

New Philadelphia is a nationally significant site that adds to our understanding of racism during the antebellum era.  The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to make the story of New Philadelphia part of the national public memory.

Follow these links or scroll down the page to learn more about this project.

•  The Making of New Philadelphia
•  Archaeological and Historic Research at New Philadelphia
•  Organizations and People Working to Rediscover New Philadelphia
•  Also read "A History in the Making," a recent article in the Illinois Times (17 April 2003) by  Roberta Codemo.

Please also visit the following websites for more information:

•  Rebirth Of New Philadelphia

•  Maps and Survey of New Philadelphia, Illinois Founded by Free Frank McWorter

•  The McWorter Family: Selected Documents about an African American Family

Recent Research on New Philadelphia:

•  Census Data from New Philadelphia 1850-1880 (compiled by Charlotte King)
•  "New Philadelphia Project Field Walkover Survey" - an interim report by Joy D. Beasley and Tom Gwaltney
•  Deed research for New Philadelphia (Data collected and compiled by Robin Whitt and formatted by Charlotte King)
   

This summer (2004) the Center for Heritage Resource Studies, together with the Illinois State Museum–Research and Collection Center, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, the History Department of the University of Central Florida and the New Philadelphia Association will host the first Summer Fieldschool in Archaeology and Laboratory Techniques.  This fieldschool is sponsored by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program and will take place from May 25 through July 30.

The Making of New Philadelphia

The story of New Philadelphia begins with Frank McWorter, an African American who hired out his own time and established his own saltpeter mining operations while enslaved in Kentucky.  With the money he earned he purchased his freedom, and in 1836 McWorter acquired lands in a sparsely populated area known as Pike Country, Illinois, situated in the rolling hill region between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.  He incorporated a town and subdivided it and sold lots.  McWorter used the revenue from these sales to purchase the freedom of family members.

Both whites and blacks purchased property in New Philadelphia and the town existed as an integrated community well into the twentieth century. New Philadelphia stood 20 miles from the Mississippi River where the slave trade prospered and the McWorters and other black members of the community were always under the threat of being kidnapped and sold “down river.”  McWorter’s activities as town founder, proprietor, promoter, and developer foreshadowed the direction that other African Americans would take on the nation’s frontiers after the American Civil War.

After the Illinois frontier closed, racism set limits to New Philadelphia expansion.  County planners lobbied to have the railroad routed adjacent to another community.  By the 1880s the town was unincorporated, and by the early twentieth century only a few houses survived.  Today, all signs of the town have been removed from the landscape and the fields are planted in prairie grass and wheat.

Archaeological and Historic Research at New Philadelphia

During three long weekends in October and November (2002) and March (2003) Dr. Shackel led an archaeology survey team to located New Philadelphia.  The survey team included UM graduates Cheryl LaRoche, Robin Whitt, Joy Beasley, and Tom Gwaltney (HistArc).  Terrance Martin (ISM) and Lynn Fisher (UI-S) coordinated the field effort that included volunteers from the Illinois State Museum, Illinois College, Hannibal-LaGrange College, UI-S, Lincoln Land Community College, and the New Philadelphia Association.  The project was initiated and is also supported by the New Philadelphia Association with Mr. Philip Bradshaw as its president.

Without any visible signs of preexisting landscape features the research team used historic and topographic maps and aerial photographs to determine the general location of the town.  Local farmers plowed the fields and the archaeological survey consisted of a systematic walkover of original 42-acre town.  The archaeology team located pieces of ceramic, window glass and nails in discrete concentrations that indicate the location and remains of domestic houses and commercial enterprises.  All of the archaeologically documented sites appear to cluster around the town’s known commercial district.

Plat lines of historic New Philadelphia superimposed over the modern landscape.	Plot of the locations of domestic artifacts recovered during the archaeological survey.

Terrance Martin (ISM) is directing volunteers who have logged about 350 hours cleaning, labeling, and rebagging the artifacts from the survey.  After being processed at ISM the artifacts will be catalogued in the spring of 2004.

One of the current caretakers of the property, the New Philadelphia Land Trust, also sees the importance of preserving and studying the property.  This group, along with the research team, believes the story of New Philadelphia is unique because it is about the personal struggle of an African American to exist in a racist society while incorporating and settling in an integrated town on the western frontier.  They hope that one day the story of New Philadelphia will become part of the national story by designating it a state or a national park.

For more information on Frank McWorter, see:

Organizations and People Working to Rediscover New Philadelphia