The first public building(s) in Nicodemus was(were) [originaltext]

News Item 1
    This is Nicodemus, the first all-black pioneer town, established on the prairie 128 years ago. Every summer this tiny town holds a homecoming with a gathering and parade to celebrate its heritage.
    In 1877 freed slaves came to a barren spot in Kansas to make a place where they could determine their own lives. They had been encouraged to come to the barren prairie by unscrupulous land agents. Living in earth-covered huts the settlers used their determination and farming skills and a town began to take shape. Some of the original structures remain. (6) First built were two churches, then a schoolhouse and later a small hotel and a town hall.
    Today, Nicodemus is like many struggling mid-western towns where the young people leave for the cities. It is now a National Historic Site and tourists and African-Americans from all over come to see where black pioneers built their own town from the ground up.