New Philadelphia, Illinois
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New Philadelphia Town Site
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Overview from the interpretive site
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| Location | Pike County, Illinois |
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| Nearest city | Barry |
| Coordinates | 39°41′45″N 90°57′35″W / 39.69583°N 90.95972°WCoordinates: 39°41′45″N 90°57′35″W / 39.69583°N 90.95972°W |
| Area | 42 acres (17 ha) |
| Built | 1869 |
| NRHP Reference # | 05000869 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 11, 2005 |
| Designated NHL | January 16, 2009 |
The New Philadelphia Town Site is the original site of the now-vanished town of "New Philadelphia", Illinois. It is located near the city of Barry, in Pike County. Founded in 1836, it was the first town in the United States platted and registered by an African American before the American Civil War. The founder Free Frank McWorter was a former slave who was able to save money from work and his own business to purchase the freedom of his wife, himself and 13 members of his family in Kentucky.
The town site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009.
Free Frank McWorter moved to Illinois in 1830 with his family and founded a town which he thought would benefit from the commerce along the planned Illinois and Michigan Canal. The original town plan consisted of 144 lots in a 12 x 12 square, including 22 crisscrossing named streets. McWorter officially registered his town with government authorities and sold the lots. The town was integrated, albeit with some typical 19th-century segregated facilities, such as cemeteries. There was one integrated public school.
McWorter lived there for the remainder of his life. He made brief visits to Kentucky to purchase freedom for much of the remainder of his family.
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. With emancipation, more settlers arrived in New Philadelphia. Its population peaked at close to 160 shortly after 1865.
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