John Street House | |
![]() John Street House in summer | |
Location | 631 N. Ellsworth Avenue Salem, Ohio |
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Coordinates | 40°54′17″N80°51′26″W / 40.90472°N 80.85722°W |
Built | 1838 |
Architectural style | Italianate/Neoclassical |
NRHP reference No. | 73001400 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 10, 1973 |
The John Street House is a historic home in Salem, Ohio. It was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Salem, Ohio, was a major nexus of corridors along the Underground Railroad. In the city itself, there were at least six stops, primarily in the southern half, located closest to the actual railroad lines. The John Street House is one of the northernmost stops in Salem.
Built in 1838, the building was initially constructed as the residence of John Street, a son of the city's co-founder, Zadok Street. The Street family were Quakers and active in the Western Anti-slavery Society, an abolitionist organization then headquartered in Salem. Interested in aiding fleeing slaves, the Streets altered their residence after its initial construction, and provided food and clandestine lodging in several hiding spaces throughout the house. In a windowless basement, fugitive slaves would sleep during the day and travel to another "station" on the Railroad by night. This location was connected by a tunnel built under what is now Ellsworth Avenue to the house across the street. [2] The famous abolitionist John Brown was a frequent guest at the house.
The John Street House is a private residence, and is not open to the public.
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance.
Salem is a city in northern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,915 at the 2020 census. It extends into southern Mahoning County and is the principal city of the Salem micropolitan area. Salem was founded by Quakers in 1806 and played a key role in the abolitionist movement as a hub of the Underground Railroad. Once an industrial town, Salem is now a commuter town and regional economic center, home to Allegheny Wesleyan College and Kent State University at Salem.
Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the city later became part of the Underground Railroad. The Village of Hudson and Hudson Township were formerly two separate governing entities that merged in 1994.
Levi Coffin Jr. was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the "President of the Underground Railroad", estimating that three thousand fugitive slaves passed through his care. The Coffin home in Fountain City, Wayne County, Indiana, is a museum, sometimes called the Underground Railroad's "Grand Central Station".
John Rankin was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and abolitionist. Upon moving to Ripley, Ohio, in 1822, he became known as one of Ohio's first and most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. Prominent pre-Civil War abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Weld, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe were influenced by Rankin's writings and work in the anti-slavery movement.
The Boston African American National Historic Site, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts's Beacon Hill neighborhood, interprets 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th-century African-American community, connected by the Black Heritage Trail. These include the 1806 African Meeting House, the oldest standing black church in the United States.
The Coffin House is a National Historic Landmark located in the present-day town of Fountain City in Wayne County, Indiana. The two-story, eight room, brick home was constructed circa 1838–39 in the Federal style. The Coffin home became known as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad because of its location where three of the escape routes to the North converged and the number of fleeing slaves who passed through it.
Samuel and Sally Wilson House is a registered historic building in Cincinnati, Ohio, listed in the National Register on November 15, 2000. It was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
The John Johnson House is a National Historic Landmark in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, significant for its role in the antislavery movement and the Underground Railroad. It is located at 6306 Germantown Avenue and is a contributing property of the Colonial Germantown Historic District, which is also a National Historic Landmark. It is operated today as a museum open to the public.
Wilson Bruce Evans House is a historic house at 33 East Vine Street in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Completed in 1856, it served a major stop on the Underground Railroad, with its builders, Wilson Bruce Evans and Henry Evans, participating the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, a celebrated rescue of a slave. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
The John Hossack House is a historic house in Ottawa, Illinois, United States. It was built in 1854–55 and was a "station" on the Underground Railroad. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The Nathan and Mary (Polly) Johnson properties are a National Historic Landmark at 17–19 and 21 Seventh Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Originally the building consisted of two structures, one dating to the 1820s and an 1857 house joined with the older one shortly after construction. They have since been restored and now house the New Bedford Historical Society. The two properties are significant for their association with leading members of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts, and as the only surviving residence in New Bedford of Frederick Douglass. Nathan and Polly Johnson were free African-Americans who are known to have sheltered escaped slaves using the Underground Railroad from 1822 on. Both were also successful in local business; Nathan as a caterer and Polly as a confectioner.
The John P. Parker House is a historic house museum at 300 North Front Street in Ripley, Ohio. It was home to former slave and inventor John P. Parker (1827–1900) from 1853 to his death in 1900. Parker was an abolitionist and a well-documented conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of escaped slaves. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it was further designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. It is now owned and managed by a local nonprofit organization as a museum about Parker's life and the abolitionist movement.
The John Rankin House is a historic house museum at 6152 Rankin Hill Road in Ripley, Ohio. Built in 1828, it was home to Presbyterian abolitionist John Rankin, and was one of the original stops on the Underground Railroad. Harriet Beecher Stowe's visit to Rankin provided some of the story that became Uncle Tom's Cabin. The house was acquired by the State of Ohio in 1938 and is now operated by the Ohio History Connection and opened for tours. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
The Daniel Howell Hise House is an historic home that was part of the Underground Railroad. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is located in Salem, Ohio.
Tanglewood is a historic house on the western side of Chillicothe, Ohio, United States. Built in 1826, it features a combination of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles of architecture, and it is one of the best preserved examples of the rare "monitor" style of residential design.
Phillips' Folly is an historic three-story brick residence in Maysville, Kentucky. The home's Antebellum architecture displays a blend of styles which may be explained, in part, by the home's speculative six-year construction period, which ended with its completion in 1831. The Sutton Street entrances are Federal, windows are typical Greek Revival in their size and character, and the two-tiered portico and the segmental dormers reflect a Georgian influence. The portico and Doric frieze are similar to Drayton Hall (1738–42) near Charleston, South Carolina. The stepped parapets on the end walls are peculiar to the Ohio River Valley and are "associated with the 'Dutch' character of Cincinnati, Ohio and the surrounding area." The home also possesses an artful and unique dry stacked foundation that is set without mortar. Phillips' Folly was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 1978. Phillips' Folly is a private residence.
Cozad–Bates House, also known as the Cozad–Bates House Interpretive Center, is the oldest and only surviving pre-Civil War structure in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio, located at the Mayfield Road and East 115th Street intersection. It is historically known for its involvement in the Underground Railroad. Abolitionist Andrew Cozad built the house in 1853 for his son Justus L. Cozad, who in 1872 added an Italianate front to the structure. Architecturally, it is a rare surviving example of Italianate-influenced residential architecture in America at that time, which includes a hipped roof, curved bay windows, paired eave brackets, and prominent belvedere. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated as a Cleveland Landmark in 2006.
The Henderson Lewelling House, also known as the Lewelling Quaker Museum, is a historic building located in Salem, Iowa, United States. Henderson Luelling and his wife Elizabeth were among the first settlers in the Quaker community of Salem in 1837. They moved here from Henry County, Indiana, and Henderson moved his fruit tree nursery with him. This was Iowa's first commercial nursery. Henderson built this two-story stone house with Greek Revival details in 1843. The Lewellings were abolitionists associated with the Society of Anti-Slavery Friends, and his home is thought to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. The family left Salem for Oregon in 1847, taking the nursery with them.
Putnam Historic District, located in Zanesville, Ohio, was an important center of Underground Railroad traffic and home to a number of abolitionists. The district, with private residences and other key buildings important in the fight against slavery, lies between the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, Van Buren Street, and Muskingum River. It became a historic district of the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.