Officials narrow locations for Lathrop House’s move

By MIKE JONES
BLADE STAFF WRITER

While a new site or plan for moving the Lathrop House is indefinite, Toledo Area Metroparks and Sylvania officials are saying the likely spot will be north of the parking lot in the 5400 block of South Main Street.

Sylvania Mayor Craig Stough said based on negotiations with St. Joseph Parish, moving the house to that location seems the most likely. The house is now just south of the lot.

The Catholic Diocese of Toledo owns the house, the land it is on, four acres around it and eight acres east of it. The church was planning to raze the structure to make way for expansion of its parish facilities, but changed its plans after learning of the 1830s-era house’s use on the Underground Railroad; the name for a network of safe houses that were stops for runaway slaves looking for freedom while they fled the South to free states in the North and Canada.

The Metroparks and Sylvania recently agreed to work together to locate a site, renovate, and run programming at the house, which will stress the role of the area and the house on the Underground Railroad.

Most members of the Friends of the Lathrop House, who have campaigned to save the building, would prefer that it not be moved from its original location, but many have accepted that it probably will be moved. They have collected $115,000 in cash and pledges to cover the estimated cost of the move.

The structure won’t be destroyed as the parish had planned, and it won’t be moved far. However, some members are concerned about the building’s chances for historical preservation grants if it is moved at all.

Ted Ligibel, director of the historical preservation program at Eastern Michigan University, told a recent meeting of the group that there are no guarantees when seeking grants, but as long as the house is still on the same ravine system and is still near its original location, it probably will not be excluded from consideration.

Dr. Ligibel and others were present last week as a demolition company, C.S. Burge, Inc., carefully dismantled two porches, a garage, and an exterior chimney from the building. The company was hired to do the work for $9,675.

Those parts of the building were additions to the house and the building is now in the same configuration as it was when it was reportedly used as a station on the Underground Railroad.

Dr. Ligibel said the porch along the east side of the building may have been constructed on top of what is reported to have been a secret room, in which fugitive slaves hid before continuing their journey along the ravine and eventually to Canada.

Lore has it that the basement wall has what appeared to be two doors for baking ovens, but only one was an oven. The other door, it is said, allowed access to a room where the fugitives could rest before moving on.

Because of severe penalties for aiding the former slaves, there are no records to support the theory, but oral history gives it a degree of credence.

Remodeling over the years has covered any obvious evidence of the two doors.

Archaeologists are tentatively scheduled to survey the building next month searching for evidence of the secret room, according to Dr. Ligibel.

Dr. Ligibel acknowledged that some members of the group aren’t satisfied because it appears that attempts to leave the house at its original location won’t be realized. But he added that members should think of how much has been accomplished.

Less than a year ago the church had obtained a demolition permit and the building could have been lost.

Dr. Ligibel noted that not only does it appear that the group will have achieved its stated purpose in less than a year, but that the house will provide a site for educational programs about the Underground Railroad well into the future.