By Bill Wolcott
The Underground Railroad, which did not have had a hub when thousands of runaway slaves escaped to Canada through the Niagara Frontier, will soon have a permanent centerpiece at Niagara University.
The Castellani Art Museum will use a $79,500 grant from the Underground Railroad Heritage Trail Grant program for the Underground Railroad Interpretive Center for the Niagara Region.
“We hope it will serve as hub for all of Western New York,” said Castellani consultant Bill Bradberry who was instrumental, with museum director Laurene Buckley, in getting the grant. The project is under way and a soft opening is hoped for in late spring. The official opening will coincide with Niagara’s 150th birthday in the fall.
The center, which will be housed in the Perna Room, will feature Niagara Underground Railroad regional history, its people, partner sites and geography.
“It will be quite contemporary,” said Kate Koperski, the Curator of Folk Art. “It calls attention to the geography of where we are, why this was such an important crossing place. The overall look will suggest color of river and movement across water and through the water.”
Perhaps 50,000 to 80,000 fugitive slaves came through the Niagara Frontier and crossed over to Canada. They used the Suspension Bridge, the Niagara River at Black Rock in Buffalo, and traveled on boats and from Lewiston and Youngstown.
Some ex-slaves also swam.
The runaways were sought by Patty Rollers and slave catchers who received a handsome bounty. The “Patty Rollers” were these patrollers who would even capture free blacks who didn't have their papers in order and sell them into slavery.
Abolitionists protected and guided the runaways in places like the YWCA and the Lyman Spalding House in Lockport, the Phillip Freeman house on Telegraph Road in Middleport, the Amos Tyron house in Lewiston, the David Barker house in Barker, the Thomas Root home in Pekin, Murphy Orchards of Newfane and the Michigan Street Baptist Church in Buffalo.
Murphy Orchards will also get $23,850 to help fund the McClew Interpretive Center.
Bradberry, who was one of 21 black graduates of Niagara in 1970, referred to himself as a “campus radical kid” when he was a student, advocating black recruitment. He went to the University of Buffalo on a law scholarship and then Rutgers Law School.
The lawyer spent most of career in public service and has returned to Niagara Falls. Bradberry put his expertise behind Niagara University’s bid for the state money.
Niagara County, which once included Buffalo, was the northern most terminus of the Underground Railroad in country. Its close proximity to Canada made it a hotbed of activity.
“It was a competitive project and there were other bidders, mostly from Buffalo,” Bradberry said. “I went around to other applicants and asked them to put support behind NU’s application. Almost all did. We want to link with all of those organizations.”
“We felt like we were the best bet,” Buckley said. “Castellani is the premier fine arts collecting institution in Niagara County.”
There were abolitionists and anti-abolishonists on the same acreage. In 1850, president Milliard Fillmore, a native of Buffalo, signed Fugitive Slave Act in a compromised attempt to forestall the Civil War. The 1798 act was without teeth and was not strenuously enforced, according to Bradberry. The new law called for $1,000 fine for aiding a fugitive slave.
The old Suspension Bridge, which was the path of thousands of runaways, is now a railroad bridge near the Whirlpool Bridge. Bradberry is launching a campaign to have the Rainbow Bridge or Whirlpool Bridge renamed the Harriet Tubman Bridge.
The interpretive center will have interactive displays and authentic shoes, shackles and walking sticks. The committee is working on collecting artifacts. There will be Houston Conwill sculptural monuments and borrowed contemporary artwork.
The museum is also planning a mobile unit to take to schools, libraries and community centers.
“We want people to know what it felt like to be hunted,” Buckley said. “What did that feel like?”
Contact Bill Wolcott at (716) 439-9222, Ext. 6246.
