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: 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: Photograph showing a house that was used as station on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "One of the Winder Houses north of North Lewisburg where slaves were harbored [sic]." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Thomas Winder, a Quaker, was an operator who helped escaped slaves in the North Lewisburg, Ohio, area along with other members of his family. Quakers were strongly opposed to slavery and offered help to slaves seeking their freedom as early as the late 1700s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_001_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses; Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania
Places: North Lewisburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "The Alexander Doty home, one of the stations on the Underground Railroad and harbor of refuge for Udney Hyde." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or over the border to Canada. Udney Hyde was a well-known operator on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. While aiding escaped slave Addison White, Hyde went into hiding from the federal marshalls, staying for a time at this home. The home has since been torn down. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_002_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses;
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "James Hunt home on East Sandusky Street." 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. 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: SC1338_005_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses;
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing an Thomas L. Gray standing in front of his house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The handwritten caption at the bottom reads: "Thomas L. Gray and His House at Deavertown, Morgan County, Ohio, a station on the Underground Railroad." Born in 1815, Gray earned his living as a harness maker in Deavertown in Morgan County. Besides his economic pursuits, Gray was also active as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. It is believed that Gray helped as many as five hundred fugitive slaves in gaining their freedom. His home served as a safe house for runaway slaves who had crossed the Ohio River between Marietta and Portsmouth. Upon leaving Gray's home, most fugitives then made their way to Zanesville. Gray remained an active conductor on the Underground Railroad until slavery's demise with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. During the American Civil War, Gray also warned his neighbors of General John Hunt Morgan's approach, giving his neighbors time to hide their horses and valuables. Gray died in 1899. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_007_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses;
Places: Deavertown (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio);
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Another of the Winder stations in North Lewisburg." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Thomas Winder, a Quaker, was an operator who helped escaped slaves in the North Lewisburg, Ohio, area along with other members of his family. Quakers were strongly opposed to slavery and offered help to slaves seeking their freedom as early as the late 1700s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_003_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses;
Places: North Lewisburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio);
 

Description: Photomechanical reproduction of Levi Coffin's home that was located in Fountain City, Wayne County, Indiana, and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Levi Coffin (1798-1877) and his wife Catharine (1803-1881) were reputed to have harbored more than two thousand slaves from the fall of 1826 to 1846. Coffin was even referred to as the "President of the Underground Railroad." Coffin later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he continued to offer his home as an Underground Railroad stop. The person in the photograph is not identified. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. On the photograph written in the left hand corner is: "MARetts Prep" Next to the figure in photograph is written: "Under Ground Railway Hotel. Fountain City Ind [Indiana]" Next to the tree in the photograph is written: "Built 1839" The sign on the building reads: "HOTEL" View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03010
Subjects: Siebert, Wilbur Henry, 1866-1961; Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877; Underground Railroad--Indiana
Places: Fountain City (Indiana); Wayne County (Indiana)
 

Description: The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Aaron L. Benedict's house, an underground station in Alum Creek Settlement." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in the north. Aaron Benedict was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Alum Creek. Ohio. He was born on January 21, 1817, in Alum Creek, and eventually inherited his father's farm property. As a devout abolitionist, he was known for assisting fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Slaveowners eventually established a $1000 reward for Benedict's capture. On several occasions, Benedict hired attorneys for accused fugitive slaves. He once convinced a slaveowner to free a slave mother and her four children, whom the owner had recaptured near Alum Creek. Benedict threatened the owner with arrest, convincing him to leave the five fugitives alone. Benedict also helped another fugitive, John Green, to free family members still held in bondage in Kentucky. Unfortunately for Green, slave catchers eventually seized his wife and children and returned them to slavery despite Benedict's efforts. Following the American Civil War, Benedict began to raise and breed bees. He became widely respected for his bee research and eventually moved to Kelleys Island in Lake Erie, where he opened an apiary. Benedict died on February 17, 1905. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_006_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses;
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Morrow County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fugitive slaves used these caves in Salem Township, Washington County, Ohio, to hide as they fled to freedom in Canada on the Underground Railroad. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03184
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Salem Township (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: J.J. Jordan concealed fugitive slaves in the timber lot pictured here, located behind his residence in Des Moines, Iowa. It was then filled with a thick undergrowth. The rail fence appears as it did in Underground Railroad days. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03034
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Iowa; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Des Moines (Iowa)
 

Description: Rev. Thomas C. Oliver, b. 1818, was an agent on the Underground Railroad between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Jersey City, New Jersey. The photograph was taken ca. 1870-1890. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03084
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Underground Railroad--New Jersey; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Jersey City (New Jersey)