How Kane County historian verifies Underground Railroad safe houses

Eric Krupa absorbed the history lessons of his first-grade teacher at Harrison Street School in Geneva, but wanted further proof to verify what he was hearing.

This is what happens when a youngster becomes intrigued about history, particularly the lesson delivered by teacher Juliette Lewis about the Underground Railroad network during the Civil War.

“I learned about how the slaves were brought to freedom, and was thinking, ‘how do you verify what happened?’” said Krupa, now 30 years old and the collections and exhibitions manager at the St. Charles History Museum. “I wanted to hear the stories, and it captivated me as a kid — and I never forgot about it.”

Krupa’s deep interest in history, especially the Underground Railroad and the local historic structures that housed enslaved people on their way to freedom, has thrust him into a lead role for the history museum and the work of the Illinois Network to Freedom Collective, overseen by the National Park Service.

As part of that process, the museum recently cited the Joseph P. Bartlett farm in Campton Township as the first in Kane County to be verified for the Network to Freedom as a safe house for people fleeing slavery in the South and making their way through Illinois.

The verification through the museum does not mean other houses in the region did not serve as safe houses along the Underground Railroad, Krupa noted. In fact, it is generally known that the Wheeler mansion on Route 31 just north of downtown St. Charles was a home that hid people during their freedom trips.

But the Bartlett farm in Campton was the first to earn a verification, which means it met the criteria for such recognition.

“It all depends on owner consent, because we have the evidence to nominate these sites, and there are so many in St. Charles, all private homes,” said Krupa, who is spearheading the process to get local sites verified.

“The key is to get homeownership approval and consent,” he added.

“It’s not like a National Historic Register, where there is going to be preservation limitations.”

Krupa described the museum and INFC verification as “user friendly,” because it is more about recognizing that a site was part of the Underground Railroad.

“If homeowners don’t want to list an address, they could remain anonymous, because it’s more about getting that authenticity and placing recognition on it, something with teeth to actually verify it’s a site,” he noted.

As with any Underground Railroad site, the Bartlett farm has an interesting story behind it.

“It’s an awesome story, not about the typical Freedom Seeker going from one house to another house just hiding in that safe house,” Krupa explained. “It’s more of the ‘contraband train’ where a bunch of Freedom Seekers at the start of the Civil War were involved.

“There was a plan built to bring them up to Elgin, but the Union Army needed to get around some rules, so they legally deemed them as contraband of war, and they became part of those coming to Elgin.”

In that way, the Bartlett farm was linked to the Newsome Park safe house site in Elgin as part of that “train.”

The Union Army and Congress determined that any people who escaped slavery would not be returned to the South, establishing them as contraband of war, or captured enemy property. Those freed from slavery eventually became laborers paid to support Union efforts.

Through his research, Krupa discovered the Bartlett farm was “one of the missing links in the dramatic escape of Freedom Seekers known as Eliza and Celia Grayson.”

He also noted that Bartlett, who came to Kane County in 1843 and bought the property near Campton Hills and Maple Park, is credited with giving Campton Township its name in 1850, when Illinois reorganized into townships.

For Krupa, the regional work for the INFC has allowed him to expand upon his work at the St. Charles History Museum, where he has been in his current role since 2023. He’s involved with the organization at its statewide conference this weekend in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Through all of the tasks and deep research, Krupa has not forgotten how his road to a career in history was paved.

After graduating from Geneva High School in 2013, completing undergrad work at the University of Minnesota and earning his masters at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Krupa did not forget his first-grade teacher.

“Mrs. Lewis left the Geneva schools and moved to Sycamore, where she taught for many years,” Krupa said. “I was recently giving a presentation on the Underground Railroad in DeKalb County and she came to hear it.

“It gave me the chance to reach out to her and tell her thanks for teaching me about this topic.”

Capone and his like

This is your chance to learn about where Chicago’s mobsters hung out in the Fox Valley region.

Chris Linden of Hughes Media will tell those stories and more during his presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Baker Community Center in St. Charles.

“The Roaring 20’s: Organized Crime and Prohibition in the Fox River Valley” presentation is part of the annual lecture series offered through the River Corridor Foundation and its partners, The Conservation Foundation and the St. Charles Park District.

Those wanting to register for the talk or learn more about upcoming sessions can do so at stcrivercorridor.org.

Our clean teeth

As the dental world promotes National Children’s Dental Health Month during February, it’s worth noting that Illinois adolescents sit atop the nation as having the best dental health.

Personal finance company WalletHub released its report on the best and worst dental health states in the country, with Illinois landing on the top as the best, just ahead of Minnesota.

Across 25 key metrics, data sets ranged from the share of youths who visited a dentist in the past year to dental treatment costs and the number of dentists per capita.

In general, a lot of people are skipping dental visits because of the costs, but Illinois, Minnesota and Hawaii have the lowest share of persons with poor or fair oral condition.

The state landing at the bottom of the research? That would be Mississippi.

Celebrating the 250th

Sholes School and the Durant-Peterson House historic sites in LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles will host activities from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, that kick off the country’s 250th birthday year.

At Sholes School, the focus will be on Presidents Day, with discussion about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, with visitors creating an anniversary souvenir to take home.

At the Durant-Peterson House, visitors will learn how the Durants celebrated the nation’s 100th anniversary in 1876 by examining family diaries that shared daily life in those times.

Cost is $3 for adults and $1 for children. No registration is necessary. For information, contact Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley at ppfv.org or (630) 377-6424.

Did you know?

Northern Illinois University in DeKalb eventually came about because the state’s residents felt many teachers weren’t educated enough to handle a classroom.

Those concerns about teachers were aired in the 1870s and 1880s, well before NIU was to officially open its doors in 1957. But the connection between those concerns and an eventual state university is significant.

Chartered in 1895 and opened in September of 1899 to 173 female students on the DeKalb campus, the university at that time was called Northern Illinois State Normal School. That meant it was a university for those pursuing the teaching profession.

With a rapidly growing population, the state had a hard time securing the funding for needed schools, but kept at it because of residents’ demands about the need for higher quality in the teaching ranks.

After years of debate, and disagreements on where such a school would be located, the DeKalb site, which was only Altgeld Hall at the time, won out over Rockford and Freeport.

It did not hurt that DeKalb barbed wire millionaire Isaac L. Ellwood was behind the effort to improve schools for teachers. When the bill to create such a school stalled in the Illinois House, Ellwood’s reputation and influence saved the day for DeKalb and, eventually, NIU.

In the 1920s, the school was called Illinois State Teachers College, and as the campus and enrollment grew, especially in the 1950s, things were in place for Northern Illinois University.

As the school’s curriculum grew, and other studies were introduced, the movement grew to call the school a university. By 1955, the school was called Northern Illinois State College, and new bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees were added.

With legislation passing to call the college Northern Illinois University, the new name and the school’s future path began on May 23, 1957. Resident halls and a school library were part of the changes.

Since then, expansion of the campus and addition of various colleges, such as College of Business and College of Law, set a standard for what NIU would become.

The university has followed that standard for what will be 70 years as NIU in 2027, with its roots going well beyond that to 1895.

dheun@sbcglobal.net