Community members, students and local historians met at Hopkinsville Community College Tuesday afternoon to try and answer the question of if the Underground Railroad operated in Christian County.
The possibility certainly exists, says local scholar Wynn Radford, who presented the findings of his research that he believes helps prove that it did run through here. The demographics of Christian County in 1860 would show it could certainly play a part here—46 percent of the population were enslaved people. That made it the fourth in the state for the highest enslaved population.
He says advertisements in the newspaper and courthouse documents help prove that people were fleeing to freedom at least through the area—one document was a Deed of Emancipation that set one man free.
After much research and one-on-one discussion, Radford says he believes the Underground Railroad operated out of a location on West Seventh Street, across from where the Justice Center is now.
He fully believes the Underground Railroad operated here, and he encouraged others to talk to people, do their research and tell the stories that need to be told.