The Benjamin Lundy House is a historic house at Union and Market Streets in

Mount Pleasant, Ohio Mount Pleasant is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. Founded in 1803 by anti-slavery Quakers, the village was an early center ...

. It was home in 1820 to

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

Benjamin Lundy Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit slavery's expa ...

(1789–1839), where he established the influential anti-slavery newspaper '' The Genius of Universal Emancipation'', one of the first anti-slavery publications in the United States. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in May 1974, and was included in the Mount Pleasant Historic District later the same year.

Description and history

The Benjamin Lundy House stands at the western end of Mount Pleasant's Union Street, its principal thoroughfare. It is on the south side of the street, at an angle, on a lot between Market Street and County Road 104. It is a -story brick building, with a gabled roof. Its main section is three bays wide, with the entrance in the right most bay, with a recessed two-bay extension on the right side. A single-story wood-frame ell with clapboarded exterior extends to the left. The house (either one of its duplex units, or both) was built in 1812 or 1813, and was for one year the home of

, one of the early organizing forces in the movement for the abolition of slavery in the United States. During his year of residency here, Lundy began publishing '' The Genius of Universal Emancipation'', the first dedicated anti-slavery publication of its type. The house belonged to Dr. Isaac Parker, a leader of the local abolitionist community, from 1815 to 1843. The building is known to have served as a station on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

, and is one of the few known instances of a place where a

free produce movement The free-produce movement was an international boycott of goods produced by slave labor. It was used by the abolitionist movement as a non-violent way for individuals, including the disenfranchised, to fight slavery. In this context, ''free'' s ...

store operated. These stores refused products and profits that were based in any way on slave labor. In late 2009 the three-story house stood in extreme disrepair. It was acquired in 2015 by the

Ohio History Connection Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, a preservation organization that has stabilized its condition and plans to restore it.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Houses in Jefferson County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Ohio

Description and history

See also

References