Underground Railroad
"I's hoping and praying all the time I meets up with that Harriet
Tubman woman. She the colored woman what takes slaves to Canada. She always travels the underground
railroad, they calls it, travels at night and hides out in the day. She sure sneaks them out the
south, and I thinks she's a brave woman.
___ Thomas Cole, Born 1845, enslaved in Alabama.
The waters of the mighty Mississippi River played a vital role in this
clandestine, grassroots movement known as the Underground Railroad. This was a railroad that had no
tracks nor cars, no bells nor whistles. The railroad truly was the feet of the escaping slaves
or a silent trip hidden under the hay of a horse-drawn supply wagon of a "conductor".
Now there were some terms that you need to know, like "conductor". This was a person who assisted
the slaves in getting from one station to the next. A "station" was a code word for the next safe stop
on the railroad. And this railroad ran from the south to north into Canada (the promise land or freedom).
Conductors suspected or caught helping fleeing slaves, risked being fined as much as $500, as well as
threat to their life, limb and property.
Alton's riverfront location was a vital hub in helping slaves create connections to freedom in the north.
Free blacks and hired slaves who worked on riverboats were able to spread the word about the Underground
Railroad to other slaves. Because St. Louis, down river from Alton, was one of the largest slave-holding
areas north of New Orleans, historians believe many slaves escaped through Illinois as it was a free state.
Underground Railroad Sites
The Old Rock House: Site of the Anti-Slavery Society and a station on the railroad.
College Avenue Presbyterian Church: Abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy served as its first minister
The Alton Museum of History and Art: Koenig House ~ Lovejoy printshop Loomis Hall ~ Black
Pioneer Room with Underground Railroad message quilt
Elijay P. Lovejoy Monument: Dedicated to martyred publisher and the tallest monument in the
State of Illinois
Lyman Trumbull House: The U.S. Senator who wrote the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in America
Lewis & Clark Community College Campus: Site of the former Monticello Women's Seminary when students
and faculty were purported abolitionists. Tunnels exist beneath campus buildings
Enos Apartments: Underground tunnels exist 15 feet below Third Street and resemble Roman catacombs
Rocky Fork Church: Church originated before the Civil War, when free people and slaves crossed the
Mississippi River to befin life in the "free" state of Illinois
Hamilton Memorial School: One of the earliest integrated schools in the state, it was funded
through the legacy of Dr. Silas Hamilton. Freed slave George Washington built a memorial in Hamilton's honor and
left a sizable estate for the education of Black youth. Learn the poignant story of the friendship and bond of
Hamilton and Washington.
Josiah White's Log Cabin: The remains of this one-spacious two-story cabin sheltered runaway slaves on their
journey northward
