Program

Illinois State Historical Society

Subject

People, Site

Location

22622 Locust Grove Rd, Thompsonville, IL 62890, USA

Lat/Long

37.849007942892, -88.746878380267

Grant Recipient

Illinois State Historical Society

Historic Marker

LOCUST GROVE

Inscription

LOCUST GROVE

FIRST CALLED AFRICA, LOCUST GROVE WAS AN EARLY ILLINOIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY SETTLED CIRCA 1814 BY FREE BLACKS AND FORMER SLAVES. THE POST OFFICE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1835 AS FANCY FARM AND RENAMED LOCUST GROVE IN 1847. LOCUST GROVE WAS HOME TO THE ALLEN CHAPEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH, A SCHOOL, AND TWO CEMETERIES. SEVERAL NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES LIVED AND HUNTED HERE. DECENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL LOCUST GROVE SETTLERS ARE STILL PART OF THE LOCAL LANDSCAPE.

SPONSORED BY
THE LOCUST GROVE FOUNDATION, WILLAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION, AND THE ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
NOVEMBER 2022