Help us save New Philadelphia, IL

How you can help
Your tax deductible contribution will help us preserve and protect this unique place of inspiration for future generations with themes important to all Americans: the struggle for freedom, opportunity and love for family.
The New Philadelphia Association seeks to raise $250,000 toward the purchase of New Philadelphia, Illinois, a 42-acre historically significant, privately owned archaeological site that represents abolitionism at work. After acquiring the land, the New Philadelphia Association will donate the property to the National Park Service, which is currently considering the site for inclusion in the National Park System. Protected and conserved as a unit of the National Park Service, New Philadelphia will tell the nation and the world its remarkable story, part of the westward expansion of our country, whose very existence defied the odds and whose founder applied funds earned from property sales to purchase freedom for enslaved family members.

Now an archaeological site, New Philadelphia is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, designated as a National Historic Landmark, included as a member of the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and, through an act of Congress, is currently being considered for inclusion in the National Park Service. A racially diverse community, formerly enslaved and free born African Americans lived here alongside European Americans during one of the most racially turbulent eras of our country’s history.  The New Philadelphia Association has a Letter of Intent to Purchase agreement that must be executed before the land is sold.  The established land price is slightly lower than the  current market value. Under stewardship of the NPS, federal protection laws would protect New Philadelphia from inappropriate use, looting or speculators hoping to capitalize on potential federal, state or private acquisition.
Who we are
The New Philadelphia Association 501 (c) (3), founded in 1996 is a grassroots organization comprised of descendants of Frank McWorter, local citizens, historians, archaeologists and other interested individuals, and is dedicated to the research of New Philadelphia, where archaeological investigation has already yielded information of major scientific importance to our understanding of free, racially diverse communities of the American frontier and to encourage movement beyond traditional archaeological research methods.  Currently there is no resource type in the National Park Service comparable to New Philadelphia.