Browse Items (42 total)

Samuel Patterson was one of the earliest operators of the Underground Railroad. He began hiding freedom seekers as early as the 1820s. This home was built in 1841 and still remains, just north of Westerville, in a small community that was later named…

Hanby was the 15th Bishop of the United Brethren in Christ Church. He served as editor of the church newspaper, The Religious Telescope. He was an abolitionist and opened his home as a station on the Underground Railroad. Bishop Hanby was co-founder…

Built in 1846 at the corner of Main and Grove Streets, the Hanby family occupied the house from 1853-1870. It has been moved twice, most recently during the 1930s, to its present site which is just one block west of the original location.

Rev. Lewis Davis was one of the earliest presidents of Otterbein University. He and many other Westerville residents were strong believers in the abolitionist movement. He hid freedom seekers in his home that was near the university.

The Stoner House at 133 S. State St. in Westerville was used as a stagecoach stop by George Stoner and also as a hiding place for freedom seekers.

A natural route for freedom seekers to take to freedom was along natural waterways. Alum Creek was used for this purpose. Freedom seekers traveled by foot or by skiff from Columbus along the creek to Central College and Westerville. This route led to…

Livingston began his work in the Underground Railroad in 1843 in Reynoldsburg. He was tasked with moving freedom seekers to Granville where they would continue north towards Mansfield or Oberlin.

Ward was a major conductor on the Underground Railroad in Columbus and in modern day Whitehall. He credits Shepard Alexander with getting him started as a conductor in 1842.

Because the Underground Railroad was a secret operation, most movement happened at night. In addition to poor visibility, the wagon drivers and freedom seekers had to deal with terrible road conditions. A typical road was muddy and rutted, as shown…

Important conduits in the Underground Railroad were the conductors along long stretches of the National Road that were not yet heavily populated. The stretch from Columbus to Granville was sparsely populated, but some of the earliest freed African…