Brooklyn (popularly known as Lovejoy), is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located just 2 miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and 3 miles northeast of Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated in United States by African Americans. The town's name has nearly slipped into oblivion as a result of Mayor Evans dedicating the town's new post office (October, 1891) with the name Lovejoy (after abolition...
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Brooklyn (popularly known as Lovejoy), is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located just 2 miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and 3 miles northeast of Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated in United States by African Americans. The town's name has nearly slipped into oblivion as a result of Mayor Evans dedicating the town's new post office (October, 1891) with the name Lovejoy (after abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy).The current mayor is Nathaniel O'Bannon, Jr.
In 1829, led by "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore, a group of eleven families composed of both fugitive and quasi-free Blacks fled slavery in St. Louis, Missouri, crossed the Mississippi River, and established a maroon community in the wilderness of the American Bottoms. In 1837, five white abolitionists platted the land and created an unincorporated nearly all-black town. On July 8, 1873, Brooklyn, Illinois was incorporated. When in 1886 the overwhelming African-American majority...
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