When freedom seekers stepped off the steamboat in St. Paul, local people of color met them at the landing. Underground Railroad agents worked as barbers, musicians, laundresses, steamboat stewards and cooks. Some of these residents had never been enslaved and grew up in eastern cities. Others fled the South to settle in Minnesota — a territory that was supposed to be free, yet tolerated slavery within its borders. Local sheriffs and Southern enslavers spent weeks offering bribes to find people sheltered in places like the church belfry, the ice cream saloon, a horse stable hayloft and the home of William and Adeline Taylor. In the season 9 finale of MinneCulture, historians share the little-known story of St. Paul’s Underground Railroad. 

This episode was written and produced by Michelle Bruch. MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo. Support for MinneCulture is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Citations:

‘Reminiscences of the Underground Railway,’ St. Paul Pioneer Press May 5, 1895; ‘When St. Paul was an Underground Station’ St. Paul Globe April 16, 1905; National Park Service website: Lambert’s Landing; Shaving saloon advertisement, The Minnesota Pioneer July 3, 1851; Biographical sketches of William Taylor, Joseph Farr, AB Brackett from ‘Pen pictures of St. Paul’ by T.M. Newson; ‘A sheaf of remembrances’ by Rebecca Cathcart; ‘Here, everybody dances’ by Bob Skiba, Minnesota History Magazine; ‘Joseph Farr Remembers the Underground Railroad in St. Paul’ edited by Deborah Swanson for Minnesota History Magazine; Story by Mamie Ruth Butler, St. Paul Recorder May 27, 1949; ‘Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865’ by Christopher P Lehman; ‘Dred Scott’s Case’ by Vincent C Hopkins; ‘American State Trials’ by John D Lawson; Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), National Archives website; ‘Admission of Minnesota into the Union,’ Minnesota Secretary of State website; Letter from Moses Dickson, Minnesota Weekly Times March 28, 1857; ‘Manual of the International Order of Twelve and Knights and Daughters of Tabor’ by Rev. Moses Dickson; Historic consumer price index data, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis website; ‘Slavery’s Reach’ by Christopher P Lehman; ‘Our Colored Citizens,’ St. Paul Pioneer Press Dec 11 1887; ‘Seventeen more killed,’ The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat August 29, 1862; ‘Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862’ edited by Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan R Woolworth; Letter from Little Crow to Henry Sibley dated September 7, 1862 from Minnesota Historical Society; ‘History of the Sioux War and massacres of 1862 and 1863’ by Isaac V. D. Heard; Minnesota Territorial and State Census records; ‘US-Dakota War of 1862,’ Minnesota Historical Society websites; Story reports William Taylor among those killed, The Saint Paul Daily Press September 2, 1862; Adeline Taylor visits family, The Minneapolis Tribune April 15, 1887; Adeline Taylor visits Lake Harriet, Western Appeal August 11, 1888; Minnesota, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990 database, FamilySearch website; ‘Gone to her rest,’ St Paul Pioneer Press Jan 21 1895; Notice of Joseph Farr’s death, Stillwater Daily Gazette December 30, 1910; ‘A most highly respected citizen gone to his reward,’ The Appeal December 31, 1910; National Park Service: National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom website; ‘The Ground Swallowed Them Up: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in York County, Pa.’ by Scott Mingus; ‘It took courage’ by Christopher P Lehman; ‘Degrees of Freedom’ by William D Green; ‘Hester Patterson, Freedom Seeker’ by Sue Hunter Weir, The Alley Newspaper Jan 3 2025; VocalEssence WITNESS Teacher Resource Guide 2016-17: Underground Railroad.

Images from Saint Paul Pioneer Press May 5 1895; Hennepin County Library; Murphy Library Special Collections/ARC, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

River audio by klankbeeld via freesound.org.

“I Got My Ticket” performed by the Traveller Home Singers and “The Old Ship of Zion” performed by the Holloway High School Quartet from the John Work Collection (AFC 1941/035) at the Library of Congress.

“Steal Away” and “Swing low, sweet chariot” performed by the Tuskegee Institute Singers, available courtesy of Library of Congress, National Jukebox.

“Wade in the water” and “Moses, Moses Don’t Get Lost” performed by the Georgia Sea Island Singers and recorded by Alan Lomax. Published by Global Jukebox Publishing, BMI; used with permission of Global Jukebox Publishing, courtesy of the Lomax Archives.

“Who Will Be A Witness” arranged by Joel Thompson and performed by VocalEssence.

Instrumental music “Jadie Grange,” “Neatly Folded,” “A Pulse of Rain” and “Under Cover of Night” by Blue Dot Sessions.

“The Gift to Sing,” poetry by James Weldon Johnson, composed by Emily Feld and performed by VocalEssence.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” performed by Joe Carter for the On Being with Krista Tippett episode "Joe Carter, The Spirituals," originally aired May 9, 2003, rebroadcast August 9, 2018. Used with permission.