Reverend George B. Hitchcock House
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The minister George B. HitchcockGeorge B. Hitchcock
Reverend George Beckwith Hitchcock was an American involved in housing slaves on their way to freedom. His house in Lewis, Iowa, now a National Historic Landmark, was part of the Underground Railroad.- Life :...
(1812-1872) built the house around 1855 and lived in it from 1856 to 1865. He was involved in the American abolitionism
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
movement known as the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
, giving sanctuary to escaped slaves.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2006. It now houses a museum.