by Andree Niswander
Reporter
Hudson -- Following a decade of digging for Underground Railroad ties, the Hudson Library and Historical Society has been named an official Underground Railroad facility through the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service's "Network to Freedom" program.
Using information and research originally began with her library archivist predecessor, James Caccamo, HLHS Archivist Gwen Mayer submitted a 15-page essay application to the program in July. She received news of the network designation in September.
One of only two Ohio facilities to be on the list, the Hudson library's designation as an official Underground Railroad facility nationally records the city's extensive ties to the Underground Railroad and brings greater national historical recognition to numerous city sites, said Mayer.
"It's a high honor," she said. "It documents the fact that we have preservation and education efforts to tell people about the Underground Railroad."
Signed into law in 1998 to help preserve history and educate the public regarding the Underground Railroad, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act resulted in what now are more than 300 nationally recognized sites, programs and facilities within the Network to Freedom.
Nearly 30 historical Hudson locations and figures already are verified through the Ohio Underground Railroad Association, from Hudson "stationmaster" Owen Brown's homes on Hudson-Aurora Road to Underground Railroad activist Lora Case's Barlow Road farm.
These sites also are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Underground Railroad Trail and Adventure Cycling Association's historically-centered Underground Railroad Bike Tour.
Statewide, Hudson has the third greatest number of properties associated with the Underground Railroad.
For slaves seeking liberty, "if you wanted to go through Northeast Ohio, toward freedom in Canada, there were only a few routes, and Hudson was [on] one of them," said Mayer.
The Network to Freedom designation makes HLHS an official Underground Railroad research facility as well, with the ability to receive federal grants for ongoing research, according to Mayer.
Already, through a grant with American Express and the Ohio Historical Society, the library funded a new in-house kiosk from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Situated on the library's second floor, the display -- one of only a few statewide -- features audio and video information regarding all Ohio Underground Railroad sites.
"The caliber of our collections and activities are high enough to be in the national effort to preserve history," said Mayer.
Future related endeavors for HLHS will include the 2009 sesquicentennial commemoration of Hudson abolitionist John Brown.
Following an unsuccessful 1859 raid at Harpers Ferry, Brown was tried for treason and hanged for the murder of five pro-slavery Southerners and inciting a slave insurrection. But many historians believe Brown's raid escalated tensions that led to the American Civil War, according to Mayer.
It is HLHS's mission to preserve community history through pursuits such as the recent Network to Freedom designation, and to provide community access to that history, "to honor the past commitment of our ancestors," she said.
For more information, call the Hudson library at 330-653-6658.
E-mail: aniswander@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3947