KNOXVILLE, Ill. — The Old Knox County Courthouse is one of 16 new listings on the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.
The Network to Freedom Program, created in 1998, aims to "preserve and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight," according to the National Parks Service.
The announcement came Friday, April 23 from the U.S. Department of the Interior. These 16 locations join a list of almost 700 other sites already recognized as historic sites within the program.
A case surrounding the escape of a slave named Susan Richardson put this site on the map. It illustrates the polarizing views about slavery that were held in Knox County. It also points to the misconception of northern states vs. southern states, when it came to where slavery was accepted. In this case, Knox County - located well within the northern half of Illinois - had its own internal battle.
Richardson was enslaved by a man named Andrew Borders in Randolph County, Illinois when she escaped with her three children to Knox County. After her escape, Richardson and her children were captured and taken to the Old Knox County Courthouse in Knoxville, Illinois.
When activists in Galesburg heard of Richardson's capture, they went to Knoxville to retrieve her, bringing her just six miles northwest to freedom in Galesburg.
But this came along with a hefty legal battle between 1842 and 1844, with Borders trying to get Richardson back and abolitionists arguing Borders had no proof that he could stake claim to her.
Ultimately, Borders took back ownership of the kids and Richardson was hidden in Galesburg, despite her desire to be with her children. Abolitionists informed Richardson of the potential realities she could face if she went back to them, including the potential for her to be sold or seen as a threat.
Susan Richardson lived into her 90s and passed away in Chicago in 1904. She is buried in Galesburg's Hope Cemetery.
Owen Muelder, the director of the Knox College Underground Railroad Freedom Station, has helped to preserve this story and has written books on the history of slavery. In 2006, shortly after Muelder started running the center, it was recognized by the National Parks Service as a Network to Freedom research site.
To get the Old Knox County Courthouse sanctioned in the Network to Freedom Program, Muelder worked with two fellow historians: his wife Laurie Muelder - who is the president of the Galesburg Public Library's Board of Trustees and Rex Cherrington - who is a Knox College alum with expert knowledge on the history of the courthouse.
Muelder said the Network to Freedom's Midwest Regional Coordinator, Deanda Johnson, contacted him about sanctioning the courthouse as a historic site within the program. It took the committee of three to complete the application.
Watch the full announcement of the newly-sanctioned sites below:
