Here, in this small town of 700 people, is the oldest African-American incorporated town in the United States. Commonly referred to as Lovejoy--named after the abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy of Alton, IL--the town was originally settled in 1829 by a group of families of freed and fugitive slaves fleeing slavery in St. Louis, across the river. With explicit racial covenants in many of the adjacent communities throughout the 19th century, Brooklyn soon became an all-black town and, in the words of one historian, later became a "model for the new type of Black communities that developed in the wake of the 'great migration.'" Based on an 'ideology of separation from the dominant white caste,' the original, small Freedom Village of Mother Baltimore is in the process of applying for designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Contemporary Brooklyn is marked by a few stores and clubs along its strip, most of the adult entertainment variety.