Preservationists face money challenges

One group says hundreds of Ohio houses were part of the network to help free slaves.
TOLEDO (AP) -- Nearly 150 years after houses along the underground railroad ceased to be needed to help free slaves, preservationists are fighting to keep them for another purpose: history.
"The African-American experience and the underground railroad in Ohio is an important story to tell," said Steve Gordon, survey and national register manager with the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. "I think it's more compelling when people can actually see the sites. The real place is going to have more of an emotions impact than a document or a museum."
In a time of universally tight budgets, however, finding the funds to carry out that mission is difficult. Even when the property is secured, renovation costs can be monumental.
A handful of houses around the state are dedicated to preserving the trail that helped slaves find freedom, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is set to open this summer in Cincinnati.
House move protested
The Lathrop House in the northwest Ohio town of Sylvania was moved last week over the protests of those who wanted it kept at its original location, although town officials say it will be restored and operated as a historic site by Toledo Area Metroparks. Groups in Zanesville and Springfield own other historic houses but need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore them.
"We have the sense to know we'll probably lose more than we save," said Beverly Gray, vice president of the Ohio Underground Railroad Association. "Many times we're dealing with corporations that have far more money than we do."
The association formed 10 years ago to document and preserve historic sites in the state.
Gordon said he wants to help get more underground railroad homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but that's an arduous process that requires lots of documentation. Since the whole idea behind the underground railroad was secrecy, it's often difficult to find that.
Who will pay?
Even if the designation is secured, someone must pay for the upgrades.
"Many are owned by senior citizens that are on fixed income and can't afford it. Many are abandoned," Gordon said. "The question is who is responsible for fixing that up.
"We don't have funding. That's probably the biggest limitation we have. Every state and municipal budget is strained. We can't authorize new programs."
The Freedom Center lists 30 Ohio sites that make the National Register of Historic Places for their role in the underground railroad, but Gray said the state has hundreds more that should be saved.
"So many of those places have been torn down," she said. "We try to save them, but unfortunately that doesn't happen very often."