The stone walls of Fire Station No. 4 are the original walls of Grover's Barn, where Joel Grover hid runaway slaves 150 years ago.
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arrived in Lawrence and unwittingly asked Quantrill to take him to the home of Jim Lane, an abolitionist and the first senator of Kansas. Instead Quantrill sold the freedom-seeker back into slavery and collected $500.
Grover's Barn, Fire Station No.4
Joel Grover and his family kept runaway slaves hidden in their barn, what is now 2819 Stonebarn Terr. In the winter of 1859, John Brown brought 11 runaway slaves and a newborn baby to the barn. On the same 1859 night that Doy was caught and imprisoned for transporting slaves, Brown left from Grover's Barn with these 11 runaways. It would be his last trip from Grover's Barn before he was captured at Harper's Ferry. Now Grover's Barn is Fire Station No. 4 off Clinton Parkway, with the original stone barn walls from the 1850s.
Vinland and Coal Creek
What it lacks in size, Vinland more than makes up for in history. In the 1850s, several active abolitionists had homesteads near Vinland. Located between Baldwin and Lawrence, Vinland is a town that seems to be no more than a handful of houses, a church and a school. The school's sign may be the starkest indicator of Vinland's size. Instead of posting scores
or holidays, the sign reads "An expert is anyone from out of town."
Down the road from the school is Vinland Cemetery, where abolitionist Reverend Charles Lovejoy and his wife Julia are buried. Julia Lovejoy often wrote back east to tell them of the struggles in Lawrence. "Freedom and slavery were locked in a deadly embrace," she wrote.
The cemetery is a small patch of land marked by unadorned white arch. Though some of the grave markers are new, many are so worn that there is nothing left to read. They are lonely pieces of dulled stone rising up from the grass just as they did 100 years ago.
Further past the cemetery and the school is Coal Creek Library. In a one-roomed building are hun
els and letters left by some soul to be kept safely in glass cases. Most important, every Sunday afternoon you'll find Martha Smith inside. A sturdy woman of 99 years, Smith does have some trouble with her hearing and her sight, but she has no difficulty remembering the history of Coal
dreds of faded, dusty books, old pictures of early residents, withered copies of novwould see the lantern ten miles north at Blue Mound and from there they would
The marker at Signal Oak, near Baldwin, reads, "At this site, towering above the rest of the trees, stood a stately old white oak. During the Border-Rufflan days of the Kansas Territory, from 1854 to 1861, lanterns were hung in this tree to warm settlers ten miles north at Blue Mound that slave raiders were coming. From there the messages were relayed to Mt. Oread to the northwest."
Creek and her ancestors. She was the niece of abolitionist Silas Soule, one of the Immortal Ten, and was raised by his sister Annie Soule. Annie helped start the Coal Creek Library in 1859 while her brother, Silas, was away attempting to rescue John Brown after his raid on Harper's Ferry. Before the library was built 100 years ago, people met in each other's homes to discuss books and abolitionist issues.
Down another gravel road from Coal Creek Library, on the outskirts of Baldwin, is Signal Oak. On this hill, an old white oak tree once stood, towering above the other trees. From this tree, messengers hung a lantern to warn settlers that slave raiders were coming. Abolitionists
Signal Oak
hang another lantern to warn settlers a few miles further near Mount Oread.
After years of researching Underground Railroad history in Douglas County, Wildcat and Sweets see the Lawrence of 1855, before every individual had the freedom to walk through the streets without hiding behind trees, in creek beds, in covered wagons and under trap doors of wooden floors. "We stay fairly obsessed with this stuff," Wildcat says.
Try standing on Signal Oak and live it yourself. Don't look at the distant silhouette of Fraser Hall or the dorms on Daisy Hill, sitting miles away like Monopoly pieces in front of you. Instead see Mount Oread 150 years ago when there was only a warning lantern to spark the cry for liberty; see the history of a college mascot with an ideological backbone. And remember the story of a runaway slave named Napoleon Simpson, who was shot to death by Border Ruffians at a safehouse near Lone Star. While Simpson was struggling for his last breaths, the abolitionist who had sheltered him asked if there was anything they could do for him. Simpson responded with his last words, "Fight. Fight Hard!"
There is your Border War.
Read more
Much of the historical information for this story can be found in Richard Sheridan's book, Freedom's Crucible: The Underground Railroad in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, 1854-1865: A Reader.
Amazones The Women MasterDrummers of Guinea Friday, October 22 - 7:30 p.m.
"... the percussionists were a marvel of physical endurance... as astounding to watch as to hear."
— Boston Herald
This West African group, determined to attain the level of the great "djembefolas," departs from this all-male tradition, creating a powerful, energetic spectacular!
Dr. John & His Band
Charlie Musselwhite
Shamekia Copeland
Celebrating the Blues November 7 7:30pm
Tickets available at the TPAC Box Office M-F,10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m & two hours before shows Ticketmaster outlets, 234-4545 or ticketmaster.com
214 SE 8th Avenue • Topeka, KS 66603
785-234-2787 • www.tpactix.org