Underground Railroad National Historic Event

Windsor, Ontario
Detailed view of the HSMBC plaque © Parks Canada / Parcs Canada, 1989
HSMBC plaque
© Parks Canada / Parcs Canada, 1989
Detailed view of the HSMBC plaque © Parks Canada / Parcs Canada, 1989View of the location of the HSMBC plaque © Parks Canada / Parcs Canada, 2004Music cover showing 3 women and a man in the foreground and a railroad train in background. Created / Published [between 1830 and 1910] © Library of Congress / Control no. 2001701597
Address : 200 Pitt Street East, Windsor, Ontario

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1925-05-15

Other Name(s):
  • Underground Railroad  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 1996-011, 1998-OB-07, 1998-SUA, 1999-054

Importance: Network dedicated to helping free and enslaved African Americans find freedom

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  200 Pitt Street East, Windsor, Ontario

From the early 19th century until the American Civil War, settlements along the Detroit and Niagara rivers were important terminals of the Underground Railroad. White and black abolitionists formed a heroic network dedicated to helping free and enslaved African Americans find freedom from oppression. By 1861, some 30,000 freedom-seekers resided in what is now Ontario, after secretly travelling north from slave states like Kentucky and Virginia. Some returned south after the outbreak of the Civil War, but many remained, helping to forge the modern Canadian identity.