Canton’s suspected Underground Railroad house reduced to rubble

The demolished remains of a Canton home that historians strongly suspect was a safe house for slaves fleeing to Canada during the 1850s and 1860s were scooped up by a massive yellow excavating machine and dumped into a garbage-transporting truck Wednesday morning near the intersection of Warren and Morton-Taylor roads.

Research meticulously compiled by noted Canton historian David Clark suggests (but can’t prove) the structure was used as part of the Underground Railroad; however, given the secrecy that shrouded the slaves-freeing effort, documentation that could have led to the home being classified as an historical site — and ultimately saved — was never collected.

Among the evidence that the home was used as a safe house for slaves was a semi-circle made of bricks on the western side of the home.

One of the stones near the semi-circle was marked with a three-leaf clover pattern, which were believed to be used by the UGR to note safe homes.

An employee who works at the 7-11 directly across the street from the site said the home was demolished in less than two hours on Monday, Dec. 18.

Plans for property unclear

According to Realtor Pat Ryan, the 1,652-square-foot home and the surrounding green space — rare these days for a construction-heavy community like Canton — was sold in January. Ryan said he does not know what the new owner plans to do with the property.

Former owners Jamie and Laura Flora told Ed Wright in February of 2020 that when their children weren’t residing in the home, they rented it to strangers, many of whom they said were drawn to the site’s history and potential ties to the Underground Railroad.

“The last four years we owned it, there seemed to be interest in the home from graduate students who were working toward their master’s degrees,” Laura Flora said. “You could tell they had an appreciation for the historical angle of living in the home.”

Clark, who invested over 200 hours researching the property, leans toward the belief that the property was used as a sanctuary for slaves seeking freedom in Canada, but he admitted the Underground Railroad connection will probably never be proven beyond a doubt because of the secrecy that enveloped the safe passage of slaves in the mid-1800s.

Difficult to prove

“Proving beyond a doubt that a house was part of the Underground Railroad is difficult because it was something that was not heavily advertised,” Curtis explained to SocialHouseNews.com Editor-In-Chief Ed Wright in 2022.

Curtis’s research revealed that the property was purchased in 1858 by Issacher Hughes, a native of Steuben County, New York, which was heavily populated by Quakers. Quakers were in favor of freeing slaves.

The Floras discovered Civil War-era newspapers that were used for insulation in the back room of the home.

There is also a crawl space in the back of the original structure (an addition was built sometime in the 20th century) that was potentially designed, historians have noted, so that on-the-run slaves could have entered the home by climbing a short wall when pursued by bounty hunters.

Curtis uncovered tax, census and ownership documents dating back to the mid-1850s, none of which were 100% conclusive.

Owned by anti-slavery Quakers?

“The property was sold to John Kinyon in 1852 for $3,000,” Curtis revealed. “This increase in the price of the property indicates major improvements to the property, probably a barn or house were built.

“In 1858, Issacher Hughes purchased the property. Issacher came from an area in Steuben county where some Quakers did live. In that most Quakers were very much in favor of slaves being set free, this has been the only lead that I have found that the house was involved in the UGRR.”

If the structure truly was a key safe house for the Underground Railroad, the dust that rose from the site during Wednesday’s excavation process is a symbol of a sad day in Canton history.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.