Description: Caption reads "Opening in back porch of house, located at 408 East Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, where slaves are said to have been stored awaiting shipment during slavery days. Photo by Writers' Projects. District #2. 11-12-36." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. White and African-American "conductors" served as guides from place to place for runaway slaves. It remains unclear when the Underground Railroad began, but members of the Society of Friends, who were also known as the Quakers, were actively assisting runaway slaves as early as the 1780s. Some people living in Ohio began to help runaways by the 1810s. Several prominent abolitionists were from Ohio and they played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Beginning in the late 1840s, Levi Coffin, a resident of Cincinnati, helped more than three thousand slaves escape from their masters and gain their freedom in Canada. Coffin's work caused his fellow abolitionists to nickname him the "president of the Underground Railroad." In Ripley, Presbyterian minister John Rankin served as a conductor and opened his home to African Americans seeking freedom. His home stood on a three hundred-foot high hill that overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal runaway slaves in Kentucky with a lantern and let them know when it was safe for them to cross the Ohio River. He provided the runaways with shelter and kept them hidden until it was safe to travel further north. John Parker, Rankin's neighbor, brought hundreds of runaway slaves across the Ohio River in a boat. These men and many other people risked their lives to assist African Americans in their flight to freedom. Once they arrived in Ohio, some runaway slaves who decided to remain in the state. They usually settled in neighborhoods with other African Americans. Many runaway slaves continued on to Canada. At least eight cities, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, and Conneaut, along Lake Erie served as starting points to transport the former slaves to freedom in Canada. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately three thousand miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F05_020_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Suburban section, Cincinnati, Ohio" The photograph depicts a row of nearly identical two story houses with front porches and low stone fences, along a street in a Cincinnati suburb. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F05_022_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Suburbs
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "Number 408 East Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. A slave station of the Underground Railway System, reputed to be 115 years old. Photo by Writers' Projects. District #12." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. White and African-American "conductors" served as guides from place to place for runaway slaves. It remains unclear when the Underground Railroad began, but members of the Society of Friends, who were also known as the Quakers, were actively assisting runaway slaves as early as the 1780s. Some people living in Ohio began to help runaways by the 1810s. Several prominent abolitionists were from Ohio and they played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Beginning in the late 1840s, Levi Coffin, a resident of Cincinnati, helped more than three thousand slaves escape from their masters and gain their freedom in Canada. Coffin's work caused his fellow abolitionists to nickname him the "president of the Underground Railroad." In Ripley, Presbyterian minister John Rankin served as a conductor and opened his home to African Americans seeking freedom. His home stood on a three hundred-foot high hill that overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal runaway slaves in Kentucky with a lantern and let them know when it was safe for them to cross the Ohio River. He provided the runaways with shelter and kept them hidden until it was safe to travel further north. John Parker, Rankin's neighbor, brought hundreds of runaway slaves across the Ohio River in a boat. These men and many other people risked their lives to assist African Americans in their flight to freedom. Once they arrived in Ohio, some runaway slaves who decided to remain in the state. They usually settled in neighborhoods with other African Americans. Many runaway slaves continued on to Canada. At least eight cities, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, and Conneaut, along Lake Erie served as starting points to transport the former slaves to freedom in Canada. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately three thousand miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F04_001_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "Stephen C. Foster. Marker. On Guilford School 4th Str. East of Broadway." Plaque reads "On the site of the school between the years 1846 - 1850 lived Stephen C. Foster - Master of the art of song; Composer of "My Old Kentucky Home", "Swanee River", "Old Black Joe" and many others; in native ballad form and melodic strain distinctively American. He sang of simple joys and pathos to all the world." Stephen Collins Foster was born July 4, 1826 and died January 13, 1864. He was known as the 'father of American music'. As well as the songs listed on the plaque pictured, he also wrote "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer." Foster, originally from Lawrenceville (now Pittsburg), Pennsylvania, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1846 to be a bookkeeper for his brother's steamship company. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. The Guilford School located at 421 East Fourth Street, at the corner of Ludlow Street was a public elementary school designed by Frederick W. Garber and completed in 1914. The four story brick building was named after Nathan Guilford, Cincinnati's first Superintendent of Schools in 1850. There is a D.A.R. marker on site which indicates that this area was once part of the Fort Washington military reservation. The building has since been converted to apartments View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F06_010_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio). Public Schools; Foster, Stephen C.; Garber, Frederick; Guilford, Nathan, 1785-1854; Fort Washington (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Residence on Marion Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio." 992 Marion Avenue, on the corner of Dakota Street, was built in 1890. This 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom home has 12,668 square feet. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_b03f03_007_001
Subjects: Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "D. of A. Marker. On Guilford School. 4th. Str. East of Broadway." Plaque reads "Fort Washington. The ground on which this building stands formed part of the Fort Washington Reservation. 1789 - 1808. This reservation was bounded on the north by Fourth Street, on the east by Ludlow Street, on the south by the Ohio River, on the West by Broadway, which was then the eastern boundary of the city. This tablet placed by the Cincinnati chapter Daughters of the American Revolution in 1913." The Guilford School located at 421 East Fourth Street, at the corner of Ludlow Street was a public elementary school designed by Frederick W. Garber and completed in 1914. The four story brick building was named after Nathan Guilford, Cincinnati's first Superintendent of Schools in 1850. There is a D.A.R. marker on site which indicates that this area was once part of the Fort Washington military reservation. The building has since been converted to apartments. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F06_012_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Fort Washington (Ohio); Daughters of the American Revolution. Cincinnati Chapter; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "The Hinkle Home. Cincinnati, Ohio." More information needed. The Hinkle, Guild & Co was an important mill work supplier who developed apartments on Auburn Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. Many members of the Hinkle family also lived on Auburn Avenue as well, and it is possible that this home is one of theirs. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F04_006_001
Subjects: Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "District #12, October 28, 1936. The scene of Laurel Homes project under construction by the P.W.A. branch of the Federal Government, which is erecting model homes to replace a vast area of unsightly slums occupied by Negroes in Cincinnati's west end. Photo by WPA Art Project's photographer". The Laurel Homes project was located on Lincoln Park Drive in Cincinnati, Ohio, between Linn Street and John Street, covering approximately 16 blocks. The buildings, designed by architects F.W. Garber and Associates, are three story, red brick buildings which were intended to be low rent apartments which would accommodate about 1039 families. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F14_038_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio). Laurel Homes; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Urban renewal
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Cinci., O., Sept. 1937. Peete Street." This photograph depicts Peete Street , at the corner of Antique Street in Cincinnati Ohio as it appeared in 1937. Peete Street is a narrow street near Jackson Hill Park that seems to be mostly residential. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_b03f03_025_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "The Hinkle Home. Cincinnati, Ohio." More information needed. The Hinkle, Guild & Co was an important mill work supplier who developed apartments on Auburn Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. Many members of the Hinkle family also lived on Auburn Avenue as well, and it is possible that this home is one of theirs. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_b03f03_031_001
Subjects: Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Rollman Home, Cincinnati, Ohio." More information needed. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F04_012_001
Subjects: Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Herschede Home. Reading Road, Cincinnati, Ohio." The Herschede Home, located at 3886 Reading Road in Cincinnati Ohio, was designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Samuel Smith Godley for Frank Herschede, owner of Herschede Hall Clock Compnany. The three story residence with red terracotta tile roof was built in 1908, using Indiana limestone, by James Griffith and Sons company. During World War II, the company manufactured observational instruments and optical components for the military, and eventually began making parking meters. In 1973, Herschede Hall Clock Company merged with Howard Furniture and Briarwood Lamps to become Arnold Industries, Inc, which was eventually sold to R&M Imports of Waynesville, OH. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F04_015_001
Subjects: Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)