Uniontown was home to major Underground Railroad station
Herald-Standard
A photograph of this marker that commemorates the role Uniontown played in the Underground Railroad.
Herald-Standard
This monument that commemorates the role Uniontown played in the Underground Railroad. It was included in the East End United Community Center’s Traveling Fayette County Black History Museum in 2019.
Herald-Standard
Baker’s Alley, which was part of the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, is represented in this panel of an outdoor mural on Coolspring Street in front of the East End United Community Center in Uniontown.
Uniontown’s history includes a bright spot in a dark chapter when it served as a major underground railroad station during the gradual abolition of slavery.
Dr. Norma Thomas, a Hopwood native, began piecing together the history of the underground railroad and African Americans in the Uniontown area as she worked to rebuild her own family history. In 2019 she unveiled the East End United Community Center’s Travelling Fayette County Black History Museum.
Thomas said the underground railroad followed trails made by Native Americans. In Uniontown, the underground railroad crossed Route 40 into a station near the current Napa Auto Parts store, then called Baker Alley.
“There was a house on Baker Alley where the slaves came and were hidden under the floorboards of that house,” she said.
There were 24 underground railroad stations in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties, Thomas said, including the Uniontown station and one near Nemacolin Castle. Many Pennsylvanians fought to abolish slavery and advocated against it, mainly led by Quakers, said Fayette County Historical Society President Christine Buckelew.
“There were many Quakers here back then, and they were very sympathetic to the plight,” she said.
Uniontown’s underground railroad had two routes. One went to Pittsburgh, and another went through Mount Pleasant and connected to another station in Jeanette, three miles west of Greensburg, before going to Indiana County, author William J. Switala wrote in his book, “Underground Railroad of Pennsylvania.”
Switala wrote that Uniontown was “a sanctuary for many runaways” because of its size and a large population of Black people. He referenced the 1850 census, which indicated nearly 1,500 Black people lived in and around Uniontown. Because of this, a notorious slave catcher, Robert Stump, regularly visited Uniontown looking for slaves seeking their freedom. On one visit, Switala wrote that a person hiding escapees began singing and dancing to muffle any sounds coming from his floorboards.
An underground railroad station was also located in Springhill Township, which went through Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgantown, West Virginia, the book said. That station was known as Baxter’s Ridge, named for Henry Baxter. He purchased 150 acres of property from General George McClellan and moved there from Virginia with his wife, Caroline, and many slaves. He released the slaves after moving into Pennsylvania, and they formed a small community in the area and founded an AME church, Switala wrote.
Many of the stories of Black Americans in the period had tragic endings. Buckelew referenced a newspaper article from the 1850s about a slave who escaped into Pennsylvania. He faced a court hearing, believing he and his family would be freed. Instead, he was sent back to the slave masters.
Buckelew said a friend of the historical society decided to visit an old farmhouse along New Salem Road before it was torn down and checked the basement for any historical artifacts that may have been left behind.
“He came across a secret room. There was a table that was set with plates, and we believe it was part of the underground railroad,” she said.
A tunnel in the John Wesley AME Zion Church appears in many stories of the underground railroad in Pennsylvania. Still, whether it was a part of the system is debated, Thomas and Buckelew said. The tunnel exists today, but it is inaccessible, said Thomas. The church has been rebuilt three times, but the original building existed during times of slavery, she said.
Thomas said that cataloging the history of Black people in and around Uniontown has become easier with online databases. But at the same time, essential artifacts are being lost as older people die and their children throw away keepsakes without understanding their value. She asked that locals turn in belongings they don’t want, even if they don’t seem useful.
“It’s kind of amazing the things you can find,” she said.
She learned there was a Black newspaper in the area in the 1930s from several laminated clippings turned in by a local person. Other pieces of history become lost when they fade from memory, she said. For example, there was a thriving Black business district on South Street in the city when she was a young child, but she has very little recollection of it aside from accounts she was given.
“That kind of history, only people that are much older than me have that history,” she said. “That’s some of what I’ve been trying to capture.”
Thomas also said Uniontown was home to many prominent Black historical figures, including civil rights leaders, ambassadors, musicians, singers and physicians, although their stories are rarely told. Among those was James Morris Lawson Jr., a professor who taught nonviolent resistance to many activists, including Martin Luther King Jr.
She said she watched a historical documentary about the area and its significant people, but it did not mention a single Black person. She is on a mission to shed light on the rich history of Black people from Uniontown, and she hopes that it inspires today’s young Black residents.
“Many African Americans who came from Uniontown, Pennsylvania went on to do amazing things,” she said. “We need to make sure our young people get that information.”