Franklin Pearson House

The Franklin Pearson House is a historic house located on Dodge Street in Keosauqua, Iowa and is a confirmed stop on the Underground Railroad.

Franklin Pearson House
LocationDodge St.
Keosauqua, Iowa
Coordinates40°44′08″N 91°58′04″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1845
Built byFranklin Pearson
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No.78001267[1]
Added to NRHPMay 22, 1978

Description and history

Benjamin Franklin Pearson was a Maryland native who settled in Iowa in 1835 after it was opened to settlement. He had a storied service in the Union forces during the American Civil War. Afterward, he returned to Iowa and became a master stone mason who built this house and other structures in southeastern Iowa, including Old Main at Iowa Wesleyan University.[2]

He was a devout Methodist who hosted services on the upper floor of his house. Pearson was also an abolitionist and involved with the Underground Railroad. The home he built for his family in Keosauqua, Iowa in 1845 was a two-story structure, and is a rare vernacular Georgian style house in Iowa.[2] Pearson imported the style from his native Maryland. The exterior of the first story is stone while the second is brick. Unbeknownst to those around him, he also included a hidden cellar. It was there that slaves escaping the Confederacy were successfully hidden on their journey North.

A tornado in 1967 destroyed the chimneys and most of the brick from the east wall. Ironically, it was rebuilt using brick from a place of worship known locally in those days as the "Negro Church", a structure that had been destroyed in the same storm. The church was a landmark dating back to a time during Reconstruction and well into the 20th century when the black population of Keosauqua was sizable. A gift, perhaps, to a man who helped them in their time of greatest need.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1978.[1]

gollark: Oh, true, I misread slightly.
gollark: No it doesn't. Having a degree in something doesn't actually mean you control it.
gollark: It's also probably silly to do a very specific degree like that in our rapidly changing world.
gollark: Since space mining is not yet an extant industry, that would be silly.
gollark: It can't be that much or flash memory would be heavier.

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Libby Morgan Woodruff. "Franklin Pearson House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-05-10.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.