Burrell Homestead (15-47)
Posted by: 
boatchick
N 41° 27.298 W 082° 06.254
17T E 407773 N 4589853
Burrell Homestead, an Underground Railroad stop
Waymark Code: WM1A4E
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 03/11/2007
Views: 33
Located on the southwest side of East River Road in Lorain. If travelling southbound on East River, the Burrell Homestead is not far beyond (and on the opposite side of the road from) the parking area for Sheffield Village's James Day Park.
In June 1815, Captain Jabez Burrell settled this land after coming from Sheffield, Massachusetts. Five years later the brick homestead was constructed. Five generations of the Burrell family occupied the homestead continuously from 1820 to January 2001 when Eleanor B. Burrell passed away. In 1836, the racially integrated Sheffield Manual Labor Institute, a branch of Oberlin College, was established at the Burrell Homestead, but the Institute closed the next year because the Ohio Legislature refused to grant its charter unless it excluded black students. From 1837 until the start of the Civil War, the homestead was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Runaway slaves were hidden in the grain barn until Robbins Burrell could arrange for captains in Lorain, such as Aaron Root, to hide them on vessels for the trip across Lake Erie to freedom in Canada.
Marker Number: 15-47
County: Lorain
Significance of Location: Building or House
Bicentenial Mark: yes
Website address: [Web Link]
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate description: Not listed
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