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Take the UGRR 20-Site Driving Tour!
(no membership required)
Photo-- Mike Moroz and Cathy LaPointe, representing URSCC, accept the Michigan History Society 2024 award for Local Society
Restore the James E. and Sarah Bogue Bonine House as an outstanding example of Victorian domestic architecture. Create an education and community events center in the Bonine House, with a focus on the role local Quakers, Free Black pioneers, and other abolitionists played in the Cass County UGRR and its legacy.
Restore the Bonine Carriage House as a community period farm museum and station on the Underground Railroad.
Restore the outside and interpret the Stephen and Hannah East Bogue House as it looked in the 1830's when they started sheltering freedom seekers in their attic; and tell the story of freedom seeker Perry Sanford and his role in the 1847 Kentucky Slave Raid.
Preserve Brownsville School #1 as a legacy of UGRR in Calvin Township
PRESS RELEASE
URSCC Wins Michigan Historical Society 2024 Award for Local Society
Underground Railroad Society of Cass County (URSCC) is proud to announce they won Michigan Historical Society 2024 award for Local Society. URSCC is Vandalia located non-profit since 2009. Their mission is Research and Educate about Underground Railroad in Cass County, Michigan; and restore four buildings as focal points for telling this story. Research and educate is fulfilled by their website www.urscc.org, their 20-site driving tour, Bonine House Research Library, and three annual events-- Sam Adams UGRR Wax Museum, UGRR Days Festival, and Christmas at Bonine House.
URSCC owns and restoring the Underground Railroad related sites-- Bonine House, Bonine Carriage House, Stephen Bogue House and Brownsville School #1. Michigan Historical Society, founded in 1828, is the oldest historical society in Michigan. You can learn more about URSCC and Underground Railroad in Cass County, MI on www.urscc.org
Brownsville School #1 20559 Osborn St. Cassopolis
Press release:
One-Room School To Be Restored by Friends of Brownsville School
Underground Railroad Society of Cass County (URSCC) has recently purchased Brownsville School #1, 20559 Osborn St. in Cassopolis, MI. This Calvin Township one-room schoolhouse was built in the early 1840's, and was integrated from the day it opened, until it closed in 1957, making Brownsville #1 among the longest integrated public school in Michigan, and perhaps the first one. Friends of Brownsville School (FBS) has been formed to carry out this project, chaired by Jennifer Ray, retired Cass District Library Director.
Visitors can tour the Bonine House, Bonine Carriage House and Bogue House June through September, Monday-Friday, 2 pm - 5 pm. Docents will tell you the history of each site. Contact us to arrange private tours.
URSCC Annual Events are:
Cass County UGRR Wax Museum at the Bonine House -- Late Spring or early Summer
Underground Railroad Days -- Second weekend in July
Christmas at the Bonine House -- December 1 thru 14
We've Come a Long Way!
Mrs. Leach class
The Kentucky Raid
In 1847 black and white residents of Vandalia and Cassopolis stood up and stopped thirteen slave catchers from taking nine kidnapped slaves back to Kentucky. They showed great courage and determination in stopping what they saw as a grave injustice. Freedom seekers were allowed to testify in court and won.
When we encounter bigotry, intolerance and injustice we must find our own courage to do what is right --
Take a Stand! Testify!
Mr. Scott class
The Stephen Bogue House at M-60 and Crooked Creek Rd.
Goals
For more photos and updates on the Bonine House restoration, click here
For Carriage House restoration photos and updates, click here
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Wax Musuem 2024
Sam Adams 5th Grades
Click on the poster to download a printable version.
Mrs. Tolbert class
Underground Railroad Days 2024-- Big Success!
Hundreds of people visited UGRR Days. Kentucky Raid tours were filled. Open houses at Bonine House, Bonine Carriage House, Bogue House and Brownsville School welcomed a steady stream of visitors. 102nd USCT soldiers were busy, and periodic music rang out from Ramptown cabin. Presentations in
Vandalia Youth Center were well attended. Vandalia classic car show on Saturday was full of beautiful cars, and church service under the tent on Sunday morning was uplifting--music, singing and good preaching from several pastors.
"Opening Night" on Friday, July 12 at Ross-Beatty was debut of URSCC "Young's Prairie: The Underground and Its Legacy in Cass County, Michigan" sponsored by Michigan Humanities Council, was well received. URSCC showed it four times in Vandalia Youth Center on Saturday and Sunday.
See it here, now, or go to our 'Videos and Podcasts" page.
Another debut--Brownsville School opened to visitors and former students. Go to www.brownsvilleschool.org to see more info and photos.
*Click here to see our PowerPoint "URSCC Mission and How We Fulfill It" (2024 - 8 mins)
*Click here to see our documentary "Young's Prairie: The Underground Railroad and its Legacy in Cass County, Michigan" (2024--57min)
Take a Stand! Testify!
URSCC HEADLINES
Take the URSCC self-guided driving tour of 20 UGRR sites within four miles of Vandalia, MI. Click here. to view the tour and download a printable map. Maps are also available at the UGRR Historical Marker in MIlo Barnes Park on M-60 in Vandalia. The tour takes about an hour if you don't stop to explore.
Take a look at the First Look!
The Bonine House in 2011
the Underground Railroad in Cass County MI.
Watch our URSCC Powerpoints
"The Underground Railroad in Cass County MI"
"The Bonine House--A Legacy of Freedom"
Read UGRR Books by Cindy Yawkey
Explore resources for UGRR students
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James E Bonine Carriage House M-60 and Calvin Center Road, across M-60 from Bonine House. (Photo is from the back of the building.)
James E. Bonine House corner of M-60 and Penn Rd., Vandalia, MI
URSCC Mission
To research and educate about the Underground Railroad and its legacy in Cass County, Michigan; and to restore four buildings as focal points for telling this story.