Become a preservation partner with a tax-deductible gift today!

AME Church, The Georgetown Neighborhood, and the Underground Railroad in Madison

African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church

The former African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, 309 E. Fifth Street, is one of the earliest surviving buildings constructed for use by an AME congregation in the US. AME Church trustees Sandy Brown, William Douglas, and Griffin Booth contracted with brick mason William J. Anderson to build the church, founded in 1850. All of these African-American men were deeply involved in the Underground Railroad. Madison’s documented Underground Railroad heritage is special since it was organized and led by the African-American community. It was one of several churches serving Madison’s African-American community in the 19th century.

The main floor of the building was used for worship and perhaps community gatherings, and the basement was used as a school at a time when the right to an education was not available to African-American children. The AME congregation owned the church until 1926, when it merged with St. Stephen's AME Church in Hanover. The building was sold to the Pilgrim Holiness congregation, remodeled, and used until 1947, when it was bought by a private owner and subdivided into 2 apartments.

The loss of the 1849 St. Paul’s 2nd Baptist Church in the 1990s led to the purchase of the AME building by Historic Madison, Inc. in 2001. By 2006, HMI had rehabilitated the building with a focus on Madison’s Underground Railroad heritage. It has hosted educational programs, exhibits, musical events, and community meetings. Unfortunately, it was closed several times by flash floods. HMI repaired and mitigated flood damage with grants and private donations. It is available for underground railroad-related group programs by appointment.

Network to Freedom

Madison’s position along the Ohio River, a major transportation hub at the time, as well as the border of the Northern “free-states” and Southern “slave-states,” made it a crucial crossing point in the Underground Railroad. The Georgetown neighborhood was a prospering sector of Madison, North of 4th Street and East of Jefferson St., where free black people settled, many of whom were involved in the Underground Railroad. Conductors worked tirelessly from around 1820 until abolition in 1865 to transport escaped enslaved people to freedom.

It was the first Underground Railroad historic district in the country to be listed as part of the Network to Freedom.

Take the Walking Tour!

Georgetown Brochure.pdf

Key Figures in the Underground Railroad

William J. Anderson

313 East Fifth Street, William Anderson's 2nd home

William J. Anderson was born to a free black woman in Virginia, but was bound to a slaveholder as a child. After exchanging hands 8 to 9 times, he escaped by forging himself a pass to Louisville, KY, and stealing a yawl boat from the ferry he was travelling on. William arrived in Madison with a single dollar in his pocket, working and earning enough to purchase a house downtown as well as farmland. In his memoir he stated he used his carriage, two wagons, and five horses to assist the escape of any fugitive who requested it. To learn more, read William J. Anderson's Autobiography: https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/andersonw/andersonw.html

Elijah Anderson

624 Walnut Street, the home of Elijah Anderson

Elijah Anderson was born free in Virginia in 1808. He moved to Madison in 1837. He owned a blacksmith shop on the corner of Walnut and Third Streets in Madison. He reportedly helped 800 people to freedom while in Madison. Kentucky had a bounty on his head, and he was captured on a steamboat on the Ohio River. Elijah was found guilty of breaking a Kentucky law against enticing slaves to run away. He was found dead in his Kentucky prison cell on the day of his supposed release.

George DeBaptiste

Portrait of George DeBaptisteSource: Detroit Public LibraryImage link

DeBaptiste settled in Madison in 1837, refusing to make the bond payment required by law for a free black to settle in Indiana. He was ordered to leave, but with the help of Judge Stephen Stevens, he was not removed from the state due to a legal loophole. George ran several businesses in Madison, all while being a prominent member of the UGRR movement. He was driven to leave the area after attacks on free black people increased over slave losses in Kentucky.

John Carter

Entry in Madison Daily Courier, May 13, 1878

John Carter, a free black man, lived in Madison for 40 years before his death in 1878. Little is known about his early life, but during his time in Madison, he would pass information regarding "cargo" he was transporting up Crooked Creek to John H. Tibbets, a white UGRR conductor, who would await with a wagon to help escaped slaves continue North. He passed away after suffering a paralytic stroke on May 2, 1878.