Quincy Herald Whig

Snapshots in time: 'Faces of New Philadelphia' offers peek into town's past, present
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
By Deborah Gertz Husar

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Lucy McWorter's dark eyes pierce the visitor from the photograph, seemingly inviting a closer look into her world.

A nearby photo shows a field school student sifting fill at New Philadelphia, working to unearth more of the story of the community established by McWorter's husband, Free Frank McWorter, in 1836.

Images from the past juxtapose with images of today in "Faces of New Philadelphia," an exhibit of photographs sponsored by the New Philadelphia Association in conjunction with Hannibal-LaGrange College and the Illinois State Museum.

The exhibit opened Tuesday night and continues through April 28 in the main lobby of the Burt Administration Building on the HLG campus.

The 14 photographs feature "not only the people working on it now, but the people there in the past, archaeologists, New Philadelphia Association members, interested visitors who might be descendants and faces taken from artifacts," said Terry Martin, Illinois State Museum curator of anthropology.

New Philadelphia Association Vice President Natalie Armistead said the exhibit will be expanded and will be available to travel to colleges, libraries, businesses and other sites.

"It's a way to get out to places where the public can see the faces of what we're finding," she said.

"I grew up with this, but it's nice to share," said Sandra McWorter, a great-great-great-granddaughter of Free Frank who lives in Chicago.

It's also essential to stage the exhibit in Missouri, "a very important state for the McWorter family," McWorter said. Free Frank "founded the town in Illinois, but from the time that happened, it was a continuous move west. It's the American story."

One of Free Frank's grandsons, who held patents on flying machines in 1914, was living in St. Louis, while other descendants settled in Kansas City, where McWorter graduated from high school, and other communities.

A photo collage featured in the exhibit shows Free Lucy, descendants and, possibly, Free Frank.

"We don't know we actually have a photo of Free Frank. We think we do," Armistead said.

Free Frank bought his wife's freedom in 1817, his own in 1819 and eventually for 14 family members.

"It's a love story, the most beautiful I ever read," New Philadelphia Association member Pat Likes said.

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What was New Philadelphia?

* New Philadelphia was a town located in Pike County near Barry.

* It was founded in 1836 by Frank McWorter, a former slave.

* It is the first known town in the United States to have been established and platted by an African-American.


CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

* The McWorter Family: www.mcworter.net

* Center for Heritage Studies: www.heritage.umd.edu

(follow links to the New Philadelphia Project)

* New Philadelphia Association: www.newphiladelphiail.org