Ripley, a community rich in history, contains a number of prominent residential and commercial buildings which still exist that were once owned by antislavery men and women who worked as conductors on the Underground Railroad.

Front Street, on the Ohio River, is probably the most notable section within the historic part of town being comprised of four to five long blocks of elegant homes, several of them once owned by the conductors. Various monuments erected during the village’s Centennial Week in 1912 commemorate Ripley’s noted abolitionists and “railroaders.” 

The Liberty Monument at the foot of Main Street on the Ohio River commemorates local antislavery figure Reverend John Rankin and others, such as Colonel James Poage (Ripley’s founder). Thomas McCague, Thomas Samuel Kirkpatrick, John Parker, U.S. Senator Alexander Campbell, and others outside of Ripley who served the fugitive slaves on connecting routes north at Russellville, Decatur, and Sardinia according to one source documented by Eliese Bambach Stivers, “Ripley, Ohio: Its History and Families.”

There were many stops along the route taken by the fleeing slaves seeking freedom.

Slaves had been escaping to freedom in the North since before the Revolutionary War. Ohio was a particularly desirable haven, because the Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. Escape became more difficult with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Under this act, slaves captured in free territory could be returned to their masters if ownership could be established.

Abolitionists, such as those mentioned earlier, devised a variety of ruses to outwit the slave hunters. Secret hiding places were built in houses, barns, and stores. An intricate system of alternate routes was established. Disguises were used, and pursuers were led on fruitless chases by decoys. False information was fed to eager, unsuspecting slave owners. Meanwhile, the slaves were hidden, fed, clothed, and sent north to Canada.

The abolitionists risked heavy fines and imprisonment, and the Southern slave owners offered rewards for the assassination of better-known abolitionists. Such abolitionists included the Reverend John Rankin and freed slave John Parker.

The Rankin House, located on Liberty Hill which overlooks the Ohio River and Ripley, is one of the better known sites which assisted in the Underground Railroad efforts. One hundred steps led from Ripley to the house on the hill. These steps were recently refurbished through a community-wide fund raising effort.

Rankin said: “My house has been the door of freedom to many human beings but while there was a hazard of like and property, there was much happiness in giving safety to the trembling fugitives. They were all children of God by creation and some of them I believe were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.” 

Rankin’s first home was located at 220 Front Street.

The Parker House, owned by John Parker, who advanced his status from former slave to successful patented inventor and businessman in Ripley before the Civil War, is credited with assisting virtually hundreds of slaves make their way north to freedom through his Front Street home. According to recorded journals of Parker, the real warfare against slavery in the borderlands along the Ohio River was waged around the few houses at the top of the river bank on Front Street in Ripley, Ohio. “The occupants of these few houses were the midnight marauders, very secretive and silent in their ways, but trustworthy and friendly to the fugitives.”

Such homes included 212 Front Street, which was owned by Thomas and “Aunt Kitty” McCauge. McCauge was known as the wealthiest man in the Western Reserve, but also an avid abolitionist. Another supporter was Thomas Collins, owning property at 200 Front Street.

One story is told that John Parker was assisting slaves across but was being closely pursued. Collins, a cabinetmaker and woodmaker, had coffins on display in his shop. Parker left the slaves with Collins, who hid the two in empty coffins. When the search party approached, Collins ordered them off the property. The story is told that the two slaves were able to escape to the Rankin House and on to freedom to Canada.

One residence on Front Street, which heralds undocumented fame, is the Signal House owned by Milo J. Chase who started the Piano Factory in Ripley. A lantern in the attic signaled Rev. Rankin that the waterfront was safe to transport slaves to freedom.

Other prominent properties included the Campbell home at 114 Front. The site of the Beasley home was at 124-28 Front, currently 136 Front Street.