Fun with Maps - The Underground Railroad

 In this episode of Fun with Maps host Dan Hanson looks at a very special map – a map that wasn’t recorded because it was dangerous to do so.  It’s the map of the Underground Railroad. 

 The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early 1800s to help slaves escape into free states and Canada.  It was run by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees.  Ohio had many stops on the Underground Railroad.  Canada was an ultimate destination since they had abolished slavery in 1793. The short distance across Lake Erie from Cleveland to Canada made the city a popular destination.  Cleveland was codenamed Hope on the Underground Railroad and the ultimate destination was Port Stanley in Ontario Canada which was codenamed Praise the Lord. 

 We recorded this episode at the Cozad-Bates House at the corner of Mayfield and East 115th Street in University Circle (just north of the Little Italy Neighborhood) in Cleveland. It is the only surviving pre-Civil War building in University Circle. The house has been restored by a non-profit called Restore Cleveland Hope and we spoke with board members and docents Kevin Cronin and Kathryn Puckett to examine the maps.  

We began with a map of Cleveland Ohio in 1957 and then widened to a map of the Western Reserve which shows how close (50 miles!) Canada is to Cleveland.  Then we looked at Underground Railroad maps in Ohio. Experts say there were more routes to Canada through Ohio than anywhere else.  This included the town near Cincinnati which was the setting for the book which influenced Abraham Lincoln, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  

We looked at St. John’s Church, still in existence at West 28th and Church in Cleveland.  This Church has been documented as a site that house slaves on the Underground Railroad.  We heard about John Brown the black barber who operated on Cleveland’s Public Square.  And Kathryn reminded us that where her family came from in Oklahoma was very different than in Ohio because Ohio was a free state and Oklahoma wasn’t a state until 1907.  

Finally we see how the geography played a role.  The slightly elevated terrain let people spot slave catchers and the location on Doan Brook which emptied into Lake Erie was ideal for escaping. 

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