The Underground Railroad: Making six local stops on the road to freedom

Located on the Eastside of Columbus is the Caroline Brown House at 1200 E. Livingston Ave, a place of refuge for escaped slaves.  Born into slavery on the plantation of John D. Brown in Henrico County, Viriginia, Caroline Brown came to Columbus with her son Edward and daugther Constantia in the 1850s. Edward built this house for his mother around 1854. Built in the 1840s, this house contains a cistern that still runs clear water through it, in addition to a secret room off of an upstairs  bathroom. It was known as the "white house on the bend of the creek." The house located at 2828 Sunbury Rd.also includes a basement tunnel that has collapsed but likely led to nearby Alum Creek.   Neil MansionSet back on a hill on the OSU campus is the former Neil Mansion. Presently the Kappa Sigma fraternity house located at 1842 Indianola Ave., the stately building was one of the stations on the Underground Railroad in Columbus.  Built in 1856, the house was on an estate owned by the Neil family, one of the prominent families in the city’s early history.  Reportedly the house was originally built on top of an ancient Indian burial mound that spanned the entire OSU campus. The house was named “Indianola” as a corruption of the words “Indian” and “knoll” from which the Street on which it is located derived its name.A tunnel, an escape route for runaway slaves, is located in the boiler room and runs underneath the house. Supposedly, tunnels also crawl under the nearby Pi Beta Phi sorority house at 1845 Indianola Ave. and reach all the way west to the Olentangy River, a commonly sought out water route that escaped slaves followed north..Built in 1856, the Henry M. Neil Mansion was built by his brother Robert E. Neil and became the Kappa Sigma Fraternity House in 1909.View the list »
A number of stops or stations on the Underground Railroad have turned into Columbus area landmarks. Let's make six stops on the way to freedom.

Western Religions newsletter

Black History Month brings to mind that Central Ohio played a major role in the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes of safe houses and hiding places for runaway slaves trying to escape to freedom in Canada.

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An estimated 40,000 slaves made their way through Ohio to Canada. Many did so by the cover of night and by hiding on the properties of families sympathetic to the cause of freedom. Columbus offered a number of different routes for runaway slaves.

Ohiohillcountry.org provides this description:

The Underground Railroad is a story of the search for freedom, one of the defining aspects of the American experience. It is neither a “railroad,” nor is it “underground.” Rather, it is a network of sites, routes and events that tell the story of thousands of escaped slaves trying, against all odds, to reach freedom. Ohio’s location bordering the slave-owning states of Kentucky and West Virginia (formerly Virginia) make it an area rich in Underground Railroad history.

A number of stops or stations on the Underground Railroad have turned into area landmarks. Here are six local stops along the way to freedom.

View the list
  • Neil MansionSet back on a hill on the OSU campus is the former Neil Mansion. Presently the Kappa Sigma fraternity house located at 1842 Indianola Ave., the stately building was one of the stations on the Underground Railroad in Columbus.  Built in 1856, the house was on an estate owned by the Neil family, one of the prominent families in the city’s early history.  Reportedly the house was originally built on top of an ancient Indian burial mound that spanned the entire OSU campus. The house was named “Indianola” as a corruption of the words “Indian” and “knoll” from which the Street on which it is located derived its name.A tunnel, an escape route for runaway slaves, is located in the boiler room and runs underneath the house. Supposedly, tunnels also crawl under the nearby Pi Beta Phi sorority house at 1845 Indianola Ave. and reach all the way west to the Olentangy River, a commonly sought out water route that escaped slaves followed north..Built in 1856, the Henry M. Neil Mansion was built by his brother Robert E. Neil and became the Kappa Sigma Fraternity House in 1909.
  • Built in the 1840s, this house contains a cistern that still runs clear water through it, in addition to a secret room off of an upstairs  bathroom. It was known as the "white house on the bend of the creek." The house located at 2828 Sunbury Rd.also includes a basement tunnel that has collapsed but likely led to nearby Alum Creek.   
  • Located on the Eastside of Columbus is the Caroline Brown House at 1200 E. Livingston Ave, a place of refuge for escaped slaves.  Born into slavery on the plantation of John D. Brown in Henrico County, Viriginia, Caroline Brown came to Columbus with her son Edward and daugther Constantia in the 1850s. Edward built this house for his mother around 1854. 
  • Ohio History Central offers the following information:In 1838, Thomas Bull bequeathed land for the construction of Clinton Chapel. Construction of the church began and was completed in that same year. The structure was originally fifty-two feet long and thirty-seven feet wide. The congregation was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church.Many church members opposed slavery. They actively assisted fugitive slaves in attaining freedom along the Underground Railroad. Runaway slaves commonly hid in the church's basement until it was safe to travel to the next Underground Railroad stop, which was located in Worthington, Ohio. Rev. Bull conducted services in the Methodist Episcopal Church at this site while his daughter took food and water to runaways hidden in an interior room.In 1882, the congregation relocated, leaving Clinton Chapel vacant. The building served as a private residence for much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. It also housed a speakeasy during Prohibition in the 1920s. Finally, in 1938, R.L. Southwick purchased the building. Southwick opened a funeral home in the building. Currently, Southwick-Good & Fortkamp continues to offer funeral services in the building located at 3100 North High Street in Clintonville.
  • The Kelton House Built by Fernando Cortez and Sophia Stone Kelton in 1852, the Kelton House, one of several safehouses along East Town Street in Columbus, has been authenticated as a stop on the Underground Railroad through the oral history of the Kelton and Lawrence families.In 1864, Sophia Kelton found Martha and Pearl Hartway, who had escaped slavery in Virginia, hiding in the shrubbery at the Kelton home. Sophia took the girls in and gave them temporary refuge. Because of Ohio’s Black Laws and the threat of slave catchers, both girls wanted to continue north to freedom in Canada, but Martha was too ill to travel and so she stayed in the Kelton home. Martha was raised and educated as one of the family for the next 10 years until her marriage to Thomas Lawrence, a free black carpenter from Cadiz, Ohio, who worked for Fernando Kelton.Kelton family members continued a supportive relationship with the Lawrence family.  Martha and Thomas had two children, Arthur Kelton Lawrence and Sadie Lawrence. Giving their older child the Kelton family name illustrated the close friendship that existed between these two families.The Kelton House is maintained by the Junior League of Columbus, Inc.
  • From the historical marker:“When Fernando Cortez and Sophia Stone Kelton built this house in 1852, it was the last residence on East Town Street and was surrounded by pastureland. Ardent abolitionists, the Keltons were members of the local antislavery society. Family tradition states that runaways were hidden in the barn at the back of the house, in the 300-barrel cistern just east of the house, or sometimes in the servants' quarters. No one knows for certain how many fugitive slaves passed through this house on his or her way to freedom. One documented story is that of a 10-year-old runaway named Martha Hartway. Born a slave in September 1854 on a plantation near Richmond in Powhattan County, Virginia, Martha, along with her sister Pearl, fled the plantation. They left at their mother's urging when she was told the girls would be sent to work at the Big House. Kelton family tradition states that Sophia found the girls under a shrub next to the house. Too ill to move, Martha was taken in by the Keltons and remained for ten years. Pearl continued north to Wisconsin because she felt Ohio wasn't safe. In 1874, Martha married Thomas Lawrence in the front parlor of this house. . . .”
  • One of the notable stations on the Underground Railroad in the Columbus area is the Hanby House in Westerville. Built in 1846 and occupied by the family of Bishop William Hanby, one of the founders of Otterbein University, from 1853 to 1870, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.One of Hanby’s most celebrated offspring was Benjamin Russell Hanby, composer, abolitionist, teacher, and minister, who is remembered for his Civil War ballad “Darling Nelly Gray.” The inspiration for the popular Union tune came from a slave whom the Hanbys helped in their station on the Underground Railroad. Other widely recognized compositions by Ben Hanby include the popular Christmas song “Upon the Housetop” and “Who Is He in Yonder Stall?”The home contains furniture and personal items from the family, including a walnut desk made by Hanby. The original plates for the first edition of Darling Nelly Gray and a large collection of sheet music and books are also at the site. The house is maintained and operated by the Westerville Historical Society under agreement with the Ohio Historical Society.
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, Columbus Christian Spirituality Examiner

Having been blessed with a diverse life, Lonnell Johnson has worked as pharmacist, poet, professor, pastor, and publisher, among other careers. He seeks to observe life from a spiritual perspective and enjoys sharing his observations and insight. Check out his blog, Dr.J’s Apothecary Shoppe or...

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