Mount Pleasant: A large settlement of black Americans once lived within the city limits of a small plot of land known as Lee Town. Established before the Civil War, the area was set aside as a refuge for "freed" people fleeing the oppressive South. Apparently, local historians claim, as anti-slavery sentiments increased, some landowners, particularly in Missouri, began freeing their slaves. Many of the new citizens moved north into southeast Iowa where northern sympathizers offered them a chance at a new life.

 

In Search of Lee Town

Bordered by the railroad tracks, Cedar Lane and Lee and Cherry Streets, the stand of one-, two-, and three-room houses first occupied by former slaves is the focus of an intense study by the Henry County Diversity Action Team. An outgrowth of the Healthy Henry County Communities initiative, the group started meeting to learn more about an important part of Mount Pleasant's historic past. Team member Betty Mullen has been conducting research and doing interviews to find out who once lived in Lee Town, how they got here, and why they left. "Lee Town was near Salem and the Underground Railroad," she said. "Former slaves came here, found protection and decided to stay." Today, Mullen says, Mount Pleasant has about 50 African American residents. That's a dramatic drop from the 509 known residents during the 1880s. Mullen says her work is really just beginning and many questions remain to be answered. "They came to Lee Town looking for common ground," Mullen said. "But there were a lot of conflicts."

 

Correcting Injustice

Seeking freedom and the opportunity for a better life, black Americans began making the pilgrimage to Iowa long before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Census records of the time show that black populations throughout the state steadily increased from 188 in 1840 to 5,762 in 1870. On October 12, 1844, George Hobson of Henry County introduced a petition with more than 60 signatures at the state convention, asking "to secure to people of color all such rights and privileges, civil, social, moral, and educational, under the same circumstances and upon the same conditions as are secured to others."

Despite appearances, the new residents weren't always welcomed with open arms. The Third General Assembly attempted to pass an act early in 1851 prohibiting black settlers from entering Iowa. Those already living in the state were allowed to stay and own property; any newcomers were ordered to leave within three days or risk imprisonment and a $2 fine for each day they remained.

In order to go into effect, the act needed to run in the Mount Pleasant True Democrat, a local newspaper that just happened to be owned by Samuel L. Howe, an ardent and very vocal abolitionist. Howe had started the anti-slavery publication "The Free Soiler" while living in Ft. Madison. He came to Dover (now New London) in the late 1840s and later moved to Mount Pleasant, where he also started a school. Declaring the enactment "a legislative monstrosity," Howe refused to run the notice, rendering the act null and void. In 1856 students from Howe's Academy in Mount Pleasant also traveled to Lawrence, Kansas, where they helped protect the free soil capital and its anti-slavery residents.

 

Who Built Lee Town?

Local historian Don Young believes Lee Town was possibly laid out on land owned by Alexander Lee, the Mount Pleasant contractor who built Old Main on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College. In an undated newspaper clipping from the Mount Pleasant News, Young says he found references to a "Mr. Lee," a northern sympathizer who reportedly purchased a tract of land upon which to build "small houses for colored people." While researching Lee's background, Young learned he had served in the Civil War and had died in 1864 from a disease contracted at Vicksburg. "In the 1870 Atlas of Mount Pleasant, there is a Lee's addition north of the railroad tracks," he added. "There's also a Lee's addition in the western part of town." A number of black families later lived near Crane's Pond, west of Lee Town, Young added.

 

First School / Church

Built as a Methodist church in 1843 and sold to the African Baptists in 1863, Young says the original wood frame building now used by the Second Baptist Church at North Van Buren and West Saunders streets is probably the oldest building still standing in Mount Pleasant and possibly the oldest black church in Iowa. The "Freedmen's School," or "Frog Pond School," as it was sometimes called, also opened in 1863 near Tracy Lake. "I found a reference to it in an old newspaper article," Young said. "It was started by a group of ministers and operated by the Mount Pleasant School Board." A local branch of the federal government's Freedmen's Bureau, the Mount Pleasant Freedmen's Aid Society, also operated in Mount Pleasant during this time, Young said.

Two years later, in 1865, St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Society organized and purchased St. Michael's Church. After all Mount Pleasant schools were integrated in 1867, the "Frog Pond School" was closed. The structure was moved next to the Winona School and later used as a coal bin, Young said. By 1870, Mount Pleasant had 249 black residents and a total population of 4,000.

Also around this time, the city was the center of a "Proclamation Day" celebration. According to the book, "Highlights of Henry County History 1833-1976," the event was held on Sept. 22. The day began with a 12-gun salute at sunrise and a parade. After a church dinner, a reading of the Declaration of Independence and speeches, former slaves recounted their experiences while in bondage. Young says an estimated 5,000 people from surrounding communities, including Burlington, attended the event.

 

A Glimpse Into The Past

Although all of Lee Town's first residents are long deceased, sisters Evelyn Riley and Ferne Hill believe when they were children they knew a woman who claimed to be a former slave. "She lived across the tracks from us," Ferne explained. "She used to sit on her front porch smoking a corncob pipe." Evelyn said the woman apparently had worked in a kitchen of a southern home. "She told the story of how her son Tommy would put flour on his face so he'd look like the master's son," she added.

Read more about the History of Lee Town.

Read more about the People of Lee Town.