← Back to the 365 Library
Contribution #301 of 365
Solomon McWorter
Cabinetmaker, Furniture Manufacturer and New Philadelphia Entrepreneur
1830s–1860s
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born enslaved in Kentucky in 1815, Solomon McWorter purchased his freedom and developed a skilled career as a cabinetmaker and furniture manufacturer. In New Philadelphia, Illinois, he became a partner in Pottle & McWorter, used his business and property to support freedom seekers, and later received an 1867 patent connected with sorghum processing. His work joined skilled manufacturing, enterprise and community building in one of the nation's earliest towns founded by a Black American.