Three special days of honor in Peoria and Pekin this month culminated Saturday, 17 June 2023, with the dedication and unveiling of the Costley Monument and the formal opening of Legins-Costley Park in downtown Pekin.
The park’s dedication was the third of three Juneteenth-related events that were held last week to honor the sacred memories of the Peorians buried at the former Moffatt Cemetery and to laud the remarkable and heroic story of Pekin pioneer Nance Legins-Costley (1813-1892), known to history as the first African-American to be freed from slavery with the help of Abraham Lincoln.
The first event was the official naming and opening of Freedom & Remembrance Memorial Park in Peoria on Flag Day, Wednesday, June 14. Peoria’s event was held at the corner of Griswold and Montana streets, across from the new memorial park. Freedom & Remembrance Memorial Park was created to bring back into remembrance the more than 2,600 Peorians who were buried at the former Moffatt Cemetery, which was located just north of the intersection of South Adams and Griswold streets.
The cemetery was closed in 1905, after which it fell into severe neglect for about five decades, until in the mid-1950s the City of Peoria cleared away the gravestones and, claiming all the burials had been removed, rezoned the property to light industrial. In fact, most of the burials are still there.
Nance Legins-Costley of Pekin and Peoria was one of those buried in Moffatt Cemetery, along with her husband Benjamin Costley and son Leander Costley. Their dates of death and burial places had been forgotten, but were rediscovered in 2019 as a result of the research of Robert Hoffer of the Peoria Historical Society.
Over the course of about seven years, Hoffer and a team of volunteers worked with the Peoria Park District and the City of Peoria and numerous community groups to create Peoria’s new memorial park that features three Illinois State Historical Markers and a storyboard that tell the Moffatt Cemetery story, list the names of all 52 military veterans buried at Moffatt, and recalls Nance Legins-Costley’s bravery and persistence that secured freedom for herself, her family, and ultimately for every African-American held in servitude in Illinois.
Among the veterans buried at Moffatt Cemetery was Pvt. Nathan Ashby of Pekin and Peoria, who together with Nance’s eldest son Pvt. William Henry Costley (1840-1888) of Pekin and Peoria, was present at the original Juneteenth in Galveston, Texas, 19 June 1865, when the Union Army proclaimed the end of slavery in the Confederacy’s last stronghold.
At Peoria’s naming ceremony on June 14, Illinois Lieut. Gov. Juliana Stratton delivered a keynote address in which she spoke of the importance of recovering and preserving the memory of those who have gone before us, and drew special attention to Nance Legins-Costley’s story. Nance historian Carl Adams spoke during the event, and Hoffer related the story of the Freedom & Remembrance Memorial Park project, acknowledging the commitment and generosity of the numerous individuals and organizations who had supported the project.
The ceremony included a patriotic acknowledgement of the sacrifices of the 52 veterans buried at Moffatt Cemetery, including posting of the colors and the playing of Taps. Peoria Mayor Rita Ali made a formal apology for the actions of the past Peoria City Council that had desecrated the cemetery, and Pastor Marvin Hightower of the NAACP-Peoria Branch led the assembly in a moment of silent prayer and reflection. (A photo album from Peoria’s event is available at the City of Peoria’s Facebook page.)
The very next day, Thursday, June 15, two Illinois State Historical Markers were erected in the “pocket park” on the north side of the 400 block of Court Street. The previous week, a memorial stone in honor of Nance Legins-Costley and Pvt. William Henry Costley had been placed in the park in advance of the planned dedication ceremony.
On Friday, June 16, the Pekin Public Library hosted a program sponsored by the YWCA Coalition for Equality, featuring talks by Adams, Hoffer, and Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman. Adams delved into Abraham Lincoln’s legal arguments by which he convinced the Illinois Supreme Court that Nance Legins-Costley had always been free. Hoffer presented the saga of Moffatt Cemetery and Freedom & Remembrance Memorial Park. Ackerman spoke of Pekin’s and Tazewell County’s plans for Saturday, June 17, that would at long last memorialize the courage and significance of two of Pekin’s most notable historical figures.
Among those in attendance at Friday’s event was Kiffany Dugger, a graduate student at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, who is working on a graduate thesis on Nance Legins-Costley and her son Pvt. William Henry Costley. Dugger and some of her family drove to Illinois so she could collect footage from Pekin’s Juneteenth 2023 events for her documentary. She was invited to speak impromptu at the end of Friday’s program and again at the end of Saturday’s dedication.
Ackerman emceed the park dedication ceremony in downtown Pekin, explaining the reason for the Costley Monument and the park renaming. “This provides a lasting marker, a lasting tribute. [Nance] did live within our community,” Ackerman said. “She was cherished within our community and appreciated. This is our way of showing she was a Pekinite, a citizen of Tazewell County, and someone we should be recognizing and remembering.”
The program got under way with an address by Pekin Mayor Mary Burress, who reviewed the lives of Nance and her son Bill, and formally proclaimed that the pocket park would henceforth be known as Legins-Costley Park. She was followed by Peoria Mayor Ali, who spoke of the community ties of Peoria and Pekin and the cooperation that led to the creation of the cities’ new memorial parks.
Afterwards, Illinois State Rep. Travis Weaver introduced his chief of staff Jorell Glass, who read Weaver’s Illinois House resolution recognizing and celebrating the spirit and legacy of Nancy Legins-Costley and the creation of the new memorial park in downtown Pekin. The present writer was also called upon to tell of the life of Nance and her family during the 50 years they spent in Pekin, and Adams again spoke about the importance of Nance’s successful struggle and its place in Lincoln’s life and career. Next, Pekin Community High School student Ellie Hill recited a poem that she had written about Nance and her tenacious fight for freedom – one of the works from the PCHS “What Nance Means To Us” project.
The keynote address of the event was a powerful speech by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White, who was introduced by Tazewell County State’s Attorney Kevin Johnson. Holder White explained the significance of the 1841 case of Bailey v. Cromwell, and spoke of the fittingness “of me being the person from the Supreme Court of Illinois here with you today,” saying that it “leaves me humbled and grateful. Nance’s positive contributions to mankind simply cannot be overstated.”
The ceremony concluded with a prayer of benediction from Pastor Marvin Hightower of the NAACP-Peoria Branch, after which Holder White, Ackerman, and Burress unveiled the stone memorial marker inscribed with the names and dates of Nance and her son Bill.
Following the dedication program was a community picnic to honor Pekin’s volunteers, which is planned as an annual event. This year’s picnic took inspiration from Pekin pioneer historian William H. Bates’ statement in 1870 that Nance Legins-Costley’s “presence and services have been indispensible (sic) on many a select occasion.” That quotation from Bates’ 1870 history of Pekin is included on the Nance Legins-Costley state historical marker in Legins-Costley Park.
