Iowa All Over: A stop on the Underground Railroad

LEWIS — The Hitchcock House, built in 1856 by Reverend George Hitchcock, a Congregational minister, is one of the few remaining Underground Railroad stations in Iowa.

Now a National Historic Landmark, building is located in Lewis, a small Cass County town overlooking the Nishnabotna River.

Lewis, today with a population 433, once had a half-dozen Underground Railroad stations, said Dana Kunze, chairman of the Hitchcock House board. Most were operated by Congregationalists or their friends.

The simple but elegant two-story, brown sandstone house is located in a 65-acre park. The park also has a nature trail managed by the Cass County Conservation board.

The Hitchcocks first began moving slaves through the house after it was finished being built in 1856.

Slaves most likely would have entered through the basement, Kunze said. A cupboard originally separated the two rooms in the basement — the cupboard could be opened to where fugitives would be hidden.

'They stuck to the main roads as best they could,' Kunze said. 'They traveled a lot at night. Iowa is a different sort of Underground movement than you see out East because through Iowa, almost always the fugitives were escorted from one location to the next so that you didn't have to guess.'

Fugitives who passed through Cass County primarily came from the Kansas or Nebraska territories.

From Cass County, the route traveled east to Des Moines, Grinnell, Iowa City and on to Illinois before crossing into Canada via Detroit.

The Hitchcocks left Lewis in 1863 and took their belongings with them, said Loretta Shepperd, a volunteer tour guide at the Hitchcock House. The house remained a farm residence for many years before it was abandoned during the 1960s. It was vacant and vandalized and had crumbling walls.

In 1983, a group of citizens from Lewis and other towns formed the Hitchcock House Restoration Committee. The project received a $30,000 grant from the Iowa State Historic Preservation office and $20,000 from the Iowa Cultural Grant program, which were matched with local funding. After the house was renovated, Hitchcock House staff filled the home with furnishings representative of the time period.

Even as renovation work was underway, the site still provided tours. After renovation, staff recreated what the interior of the house would have looked like with period furniture.

In 2001, the Hitchcock House was accepted as a site on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. In 2006, the house received its National Historic Landmark designation.

The house is open for tours from May 1 through Sept. 30. Proceeds from admission go toward programs, maintenance and the purchase of additional furnishings for the house.

If you go

What: Hitchcock House

Where: 63788 567th Lane, Lewis

Hours: Tours start at 1 p.m. and last one starts at 4:15 p.m., May 1 through Sept. 30. It is closed on Mondays.

Admission: $5

Call (712) 769-2323 or go to hitchcockhouse.org