Residents try to repopulate first all black settlement with tiny homes

Off of Highway 24 sits a little Kansas town.
“Nicodemus means everything to me,” resident JohnElla Holmes said.

And one with rich history.

“It was founded in 1877,” she said. “My great-great-great grandparents were one of the first families to come.”

Nicodemus was founded by African American ex-slaves moving west.

“The slaves came from mainly Kentucky and Tennessee,” Nicodemus contractor Steven Jones said. “They got on a train and came to Ellis and walked to Nicodemus.”

At one time, over 900 people called Nicodemus home.

They built their own churches, schools and homes.

But when the depression hit in the 30’s, and the promised railroad never appeared, the town couldn’t survive.

(Read more: Top Stories | KSNW)