After the Civil War, in 1873, Palmer Elkins, a free man of color, purchased properties known as tracts 8, 9, and 10 for $943.50. Elkins, president of the St. Mary Benevolent Association, helped educate freed men of color. In 1880, he invited several freed men of color to raise their families and receive training for a living in Elkinsville, also known as Freetown. The first nineteen landowners were Palmer Elkins, Abraham Jackson, George Cacher, John Marby, Smith McCutcheons, Frank Peters, James and Ellen Price, Robert Williams, Betsy Cacher, Thorton Alexander, August Freigil, Mary Louis, Stephen Henderson, Nancy Leonce, John Leonce, Antoine Jones, Jacob Banks, Hockley Watts, and Williams Robertson.