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Underground RR, Town Hall on new historic plan
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · September 07, 2017


Almost 20 years before West Branch’s founding, and 25 years before the 1880 census counted 500 souls here, John Brown — very, very selectively — guided travelers this way.
Escaped slaves.

From Iowa City, through West Branch and Springdale, heading toward West Liberty and on eastward to freedom — from basements to back rooms to barns — slaves moved and hid with the help of residents.

And 20 years before the birth of Herbert Hoover, Brown established the Underground Railroad that included stops at James Townsend’s inn, “Traveler’s Rest,” and the Maxson farm east of town, where some of Brown’s soldiers stayed and trained.

Now, 161 years after making West Branch a stop on that trip to Michigan, the local Historic Preservation Commission, with help from the University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning, wants to bring increased attention and resources to its part in the abolitionist movement.

And more.

The plan includes placing Town Hall — built by 1930s-era Works Progress Administration funding — on the National Register of Historic Places, reviving attention in 17 Medallion houses still existing since Hoover’s time, and to mapping out other 100-year-plus homes around the city.

John Fuller, member of the Historic Preservation Commission, said these steps would further establish West Branch’s historic nature, possibly drawing more tourists and economic development to the city. Fuller is also the UI professor who oversaw the students who wrote the historic preservation plan.

Brown established the local stops in 1856 before getting the entire Freedom Trail route finished by 1859. A map included in the 2017 West Branch Historic Preservation Plan show the route that starts in southern Missouri, cuts through Kansas, nips the corner of Nebraska and then takes a long path from west to east through Iowa. It continues through northern Illinois, dips below Lake Michigan though Indiana and heads through southern Michigan.

The West Branch link in this route “is well worth recognizing for the cause he was fostering,” Fuller said.

“There are good reasons to pay attention to that kind of history we have here,” he said. “And you don’t have to go to Harper’s Ferry.”

Harper’s Ferry was in Virginia and is where Brown was captured in 1859. (Renamed Harpers Ferry, without the apostrophe, when it became part of West Virginia when the new state formed in 1860.) Brown was put to death later that year for treason for promoting an armed revolution to free the slaves.

Adam Kofoed, Todd Bagby and Abdullah Mohammed, who wrote the preservation plan, helped the commission locate those 18 properties from Hoover’s decade in the city, Fuller said. Medallion homes would be those build in 1885 or before that are still around today. Seven of the homes no longer exist; 11 remain. But the Medallions are all gone, likely taken down by the homeowners.

“They can’t be displayed right now,” he said. “They don’t exist.”

However, Fuller said the National Park Service will provide new Medallions should the preservation plan prove successful. The plan involves some paperwork first, with next step — the plan’s Goal No. 1 — getting West Branch established as a Certified Local Government in the eyes of the State Historic Preservation Office.

The plan also includes pursuing a residential historic housing program. Fuller said this helps draw funding to fix up 100-plus-year-old homes.

“It maintains the current housing stock” while developers add new homes to the city, he said. “Renovation of old houses is a worthwhile addition.”

Most of the Medallion homes are not on the historic register, Fuller said. Each one would need to be investigated to ensure historical significance, first, like who lived there and what took place at that home.

“That’s why Town Hall is a subject of the historic register but not all old houses are,” he said.

Fuller said he believes the application is “complete” and the state will approve it.

Once approved, the Historic Commission can look for grant funding to fix up Town Hall. Fuller said the group has not yet assessed Town Hall’s needs. The city in the past decade made improvements to the kitchen and restrooms and minor upgrades and repairs to the interior and exterior.

Town Hall was completed in 1938, or 79 years ago. It is the site of many community events, serves as the polling place for two precincts and has been visited by several notables, like Michelle Obama in 2008.



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Note: This story was updated on Sept. 14, 2017, to correct an error in John Fuller's position with the Historic Preservation Commission. The group's president is Lou Picek.