BROOKLYN, Ill. — Just past the garishly painted gentlemen’s clubs off Illinois Route 3, a team of archaeologists have spent the past week looking for artifacts of this small town’s founding families.
Brooklyn is the oldest and one of the few surviving majority-Black incorporated . It was formed north of East ºüÀêÊÓƵ in 1873 along the banks of the Mississippi, with families arriving there about 50 years earlier.
A team of archaeologists hope to find evidence of those Black settlers in order to help place the town in the National Register of Historical Places, a federal designation that could draw tourism, boost civic pride and generate a renaissance for the 650 or so residents.
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“We have a lot of rich history already,†said Brooklyn Mayor Vera Banks. “That would add another lit candle.â€
The archaeologists, from the , began Monday by digging a roughly 10-foot-by-25-foot hole in the middle of a residential neighborhood on a vacant lot owned by the leader of , Roberta Rogers.
On Wednesday, a few blocks over and near a school, the team started a second site, looking for evidence of Brooklyn’s original cemetery.
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“Sometimes archeology happens in backyards,†said Alleen Betzenhauser, who is leading the dig for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.
Banks, 79, grew up in Brooklyn and remembers when it had multiple grocery stores, pharmacies and a theater. Today, vacant plots dot every other block. The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge can be seen near the dig, at Third and Short streets, but overgrown brush has blocked any view of the Gateway Arch.
The handful of adult entertainment venues belie the town’s rich history. Most visitors now come to Brooklyn to worship at its 11 churches, she said. She credits Rogers, the historical society leader, for spearheading the archaeologists’ return. Rogers was not available for an interview.
The town’s founding matriarch, “Mother†Priscilla Baltimore, used one of the churches, the Quinn Chapel AME Church, as a stop on the Underground Railroad. She wanted Brooklyn to serve as a freedom village, where enslaved people could find refuge.
A marker built to honor the town’s foundations said Brooklyn’s survival through the Civil War and years since “is testament to its proud past, the resiliency of its people, and great hope for the future.â€
The University of Illinois is hoping this week’s dig and the country’s burgeoning focus on social justice will foster the momentum to keep the Brooklyn dig active. A team came here in 2008 to look for antebellum artifacts, but they weren’t able to keep the project going because of funding and competing projects, said Betzenhauser.
“This is an important part of American history,†she said.
The team is using the ground survey it completed in 2008 to search for evidence of a house or structure. They don’t have documents to tell them who may have lived there, but if they can date a building to the 1830s they can use it for the National Register nomination, Betzenhauser said.
The University of Illinois team has already found bits of broken, brightly colored pottery that they sent to their lab to determine if the pieces date to the 1830s. The archaeologists will continue their work through Saturday. The Brooklyn Historical Society is planning to highlight the area’s origin.
Banks, the mayor, said the town is also embarking on creating a comprehensive plan to map out what they want Brooklyn to look like in the next five years. The centennial celebration of Route 66, which runs past Brooklyn, kicks off in two years, and she’s hoping she can tie in a town revitalization with that.
“There’s no place like Brooklyn,†Banks said.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story reported the wrong name of the archaeology group.Â