The Mount Pleasant Historic District encompasses the historic center of the village of

Mount Pleasant, Ohio Mount Pleasant is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. Founded in 1803 by anti-slavery Quakers, the village was an early center ...

. Founded in 1803 by anti-slavery

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s, the village was an early center of abolitionist activity and a well-known haven for fugitive slaves on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. The village center is relatively little altered since the antebellum period. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Districts in 1974, and was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2005.

Description and history

The town of Mount Pleasant was established in 1803 by Robert Carothers, an Irishman from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and Jesse Thomas, a Quaker from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The town was founded in part out of anti-slavery sentiment by North Carolina Quakers who specifically sought a place where their slaves could be freed. The town was platted in 1803, and its original street and lot plan are intact from this period, organized around the intersection of Union and Concord Streets. Additional areas west of the original plat were added in 1815 and 1817, the town has experienced growth as a supply center for the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Although the town boasted a mix of residential and commercial properties on its main roads in the 1820s, it is now almost entirely residential. Prominent non-residential buildings include the Friends Meetinghouse built by the Quakers in 1814 to house the first yearly meeting established west of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

. The village is important for the role it played in the antislavery movement and the

. From an early date, the strong Quaker population in Mount Pleasant preached and practiced its abolitionist views and published antislavery literature, such as

Benjamin Lundy Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit slavery's expa ...

's "

Genius of Universal Emancipation The ''Genius of Universal Emancipation'' was an abolitionist newspaper founded by Benjamin Lundy in 1821, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. History The newspaper was originally Elihu Embree's '' The Emancipator'' in 1820, before Lundy purchased it th ...

." A station on the Underground Railroad, the town was a refuge for fugitive slaves and a welcome home for free blacks. Residents built and administered a school for free black children, and in 1848 established a Free Produce Store which sold no products produced by

slave labor Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. The town was also integrated to some degree, with African-American living among whites, generally as servants. African Americans also owned property, but this was generally in the outlying areas of the community. The village's economic fortunes stagnated after the American Civil War came to an end because it was bypassed by the railroads.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Underground Railroad locations Quakerism in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Underground Railroad in Ohio

Description and history

See also

References