Owen Muelder is the Director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Center at Knox College. The Knox College “Freedom Center” was established as part of the National Park Service’s “Network to Freedom” program in 2006. In addition, it has been sanctioned by the Underground Railroad Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Knox Center has national recognition, and Owen is considered one of the leading scholars on the Underground Railroad.
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| Map of W.Central Illinois Underground RR |
I first crossed paths with Owen when I was a student at Knox College. Later when I taught a class at GHS entitled,”Community Studies,” each term the class would travel to Knox, where Owen would give a lesson on Galesburg and Knox history, and the Underground Railroad.
I remember after one of the visits a student said to me,”That Mr. Muelder knows a lot of interesting stuff, and he is so enthusiastic that you have to listen to him.”
Several weeks ago, after walking the dogs around Knox campus, I started reflecting about how interesting Owen Muelder’s lessons had been. One thing led to another, and I set up a time to go to Knox and have another “class” with Owen.
Things had not changed, I was overwhelmed with Owen’s research and knowledge about Galesburg, Knox College, and the Underground Railroad. My two hour “class” with Owen was fantastic.
Those of us who live in Galesburg or went to Knox College know there is a link between Galesburg, Knox College, and the Underground Railroad, but maybe are not quite sure how it all fits together.
Here are the “lessons” of my “class” with Owen…
Lesson #1- Oneida Institute
To understand the origins of the abolitionist movement in Galesburg, it starts with the Oneida Institute in New York run by George Washington Gale. This institute was intended to develop ministers. Gale was a Presbyterian minister.
A unique concept of the Oneida Institute was that to cover expenses, the students performed manual labor- cleaning dorms, cooking in the cafeteria, taking care of the grounds, etc. What is important about manual labor as a concept was that it opened the doors for students who were from lower economic backgrounds.
Owen Muelder- “With manual labor, the Oneida Institute allowed students to attend who normally would not be able to go to college.”
Lesson 2- Second Great Awakening
During the 1820’s and 1830’s, there was a huge change in religious theology. While strict Calvinism had taken a more limited view of who could access heaven, the Second Awakening took a more open view of who could access heaven. Rev. Gale and the Oneida Institute were at the heart of this Second Awakening.
Owen Muelder- “At the heart of the Second Awakening were three beliefs about how you could get to heaven. You needed to repent, embrace Christianity, and preform good works to others. If you did this, everybody was worthy of heaven, including slaves.”
Lesson #3- Charles Finney and Theodore Weld
The impact of Gale and the Oneida Institute are best seen in Charles Finney and Theodore Weld.
Charles Finney became inspired to become a preacher after listening to Gale. During this period of tremendous religious energy, Finney was considered the leading evangelistic preacher of the time.
Theodore Weld was a student at the Oneida Institute when he heard Finney preach and became inspired. While William Lloyd Garrison was writing the message of abolitionism, Weld chose to travel speaking to audiences about the need to end slavery. Weld was considered a leader in the abolitionist movement.
Finney and Weld, two of the most influential voices of abolitionism, had their roots with Gale.
Owen Muelder- Theodore W Weld gets up one Sunday morning and he goes and listens to Finney, and he immediately is converted to Finney, and he and Finney become locked together. And here's why this is so darn important, not only are they advocating this new religious movement, this new evangelical movement embraces everybody. They also begin to embrace anti-slavery principles. When we say everybody in the world is eligible to enter the gates of heaven after they die, we mean everybody, including slaves.”
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| Map of Underground RR Locations in Galesburg |
Lesson #4- Galesburg Became A Safe Haven
Not all abolitionist were the same. Some believed it should be abolished gradually, and others believed it should be abolished immediately. Some thought slavery was wrong but were not active doing anything about it, and others were actively involved.
While the number of Abolitionists in the U.S. would have been small at the time of the founding of Galesburg, the percentage of the population in Galesburg who were Abolitionists was much more significant. While not all Congregationalists and Presbyterians were Abolitionists, those impacted by the Second Awakening tended to be Abolitionists.
Galesburg became known as a safe haven for runaway slaves.
Owen Muelder- “There is no record of any slave that made it as far as Galesburg ever being returned to slavery.”
Lesson #5- Slaves Finding the Path to Freedom
While there are many legends about how slaves learned about the Underground Railroad and learned about the path to take, many of these legends are not true.
Most experts believe that the two main ways slaves learned about the routes to take, the people who would help, and the cities to take safe haven was from knowledge gained by “house slaves” and from captured slaves who were returned after being captured.
“House slaves” were apt to overhear owners discussing stories about how other slaves escaped, where they went, and how they were captured. Without realizing it, the owners were educating the “house slaves” about the Underground Railroad.
Owen Muelder- “ On Sundays, it was not unusual at all for slave owners after church to have some fellow slave owners over where they had parties and sat on the veranda. The house slaves are bringing out drinks, bringing out lemonade, bringing out food, and many of them said that they learned about how to escape and what to do from listening to slave owners tell stories about those damn people in Galesburg, and those that damn abolitionist William T. Allen up in Geneseo, and Lovejoy in Princeton.”
Lesson #6- No Railroad Tracks
The use of the term Underground Railroad is believed to first have been used in the late 1830’s. This would be connected with the increasing growth of railroads in the U.S.
The “Underground Railroad” was probably much less organized than we might like to imagine. While there might be an individual close to a slave plantation who gained a reputation for helping slaves get started North, often it was just a case of using the obvious signs of knowing direction- the North Star, knowledge that the sun rises in the East, and heading North following the Mississippi or the Illinois Rivers.
The tall prairie grass of western Illinois provided a natural way to move but remain hidden.
Owen Muelder- “The other major thing I'd want to tell you about what helped slaves escape through this area was the existence of tall grass prairies. The tallest prairie grass in the world, the Big Blue Stem along with an incredible variety of wildflowers grew in Western Illinois. Most summers it would get almost six feet, but there were summers where it was recorded as as high as 6 and a half and seven feet tall. And these fugitive slaves could literally disappear into this grass once you got into the middle of September.”
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| Susan Richardson’s grave marker in Hope Cemetery |
Lesson #7- Susan Richardson
One of the most tragic and most inspiring stories of the Underground Railroad is the story of Susan Richardson.
Although Illinois was a “free-state” when admitted into the Union in 1818, there were people in southern Illinois who still owned slaves in the 1830’s. The slaves were viewed as “indentured servants.” One such slave was Susan Richardson in Randolph County. A man by the name of Border was her “owner.” His wife claimed that Richardson had been disrespectful to her. When Richardson got wind that the plan was to punish her the next day, Susan Richwardson ran with her three children. With help along the way, she made it to Knoxville, Il.
Borders came after he and the Sheriff arrested Richardson. People in Galesburg stepped in, and claimed Borders did not have the paper work to take her back, so Borders had to return to Randolph County to get it.
When Borders came back, they captured her three children, while Galesburg people took Susan Richardson to Galesburg. In a horrible scenario, Richardson was convinced not to go back to her children. It was known if she did, the slaveowners would separate the family when they returned to southern Illinois, so she would not be with the children.
Thru this process, George Washington Gale and three others were indicted by a Grand Jury in Knoxville for violations of the Fugitive Slave Act. None of them ever went to trial.
Susan Richardson spent most of her life in Galesburg, and was one of the founders of the AME Church in Galesburg.
Owen Muelder- “The abolitionists in Galesburg go over to Knoxville. It's early November of 1842. They put her in a sleigh and they take her to Galesburg to safety. They have to convince her that she's going to have to not see those kids again. They tell her, if you go to the kids, many slave owners when slaves escape, immediately sold the slaves, figuring they'd try to run away again. So they convinced her that they'd probably sell the kids away. She wouldn't see them anyway.”
Lesson #8- Lincoln-Douglas Debate
The Lincoln-Douglas Debate was a debate in 1858 for the U.S. Senate seat. The Knox College Debate was the fifth of seven debates. The Knox Lincoln-Douglas Debate is believed to have had the largest crowd and to have been the most significant of the debate series.
Because of Galesburg and Knox College’s reputation as a strong Abolitionist community and college, Lincoln chose this debate to make a strong moral stand against slavery. Lincoln referring to Douglas’ support of slavery said Douglas was “blowing out the moral lights around us.”
Owen Muelder- “Lincoln knew of Galesburg’s reputation as being anti-slavery. So the Knox debate allowed him to take the stand he did.”
Lesson #9- Not All Things Have Happy Endings
While George Washington Gale today is recognized of the founder of both Galesburg and Knox College, his years in Galesburg did not end on a positive note.
By the 1850’s, perhaps because of his third wife’s influence or perhaps his desire to stay in good standing with southern Presbyterians in his attempt to start Presbyterian seminary in Galesburg, Gale appears to have become less adamant in his Abolitionist approach.
The original First Church of Galesburg was a union of the Presbyterian and Congregational members. By 1851, the Congregationalists severed from the Presbyterian religion. Gale, being a Presbyterian withdrew, taking 37 Presbyterians with him to form their own church.
Later in 1850’s, after a conflict with the Knox President, Gale was dismissed from his teaching position at Knox College.
Owen Muelder- “What started out as an estrangement between President Blanchard and Gale had by the 1850’s become a bitter divide between the two men. What ensued was a nearly decade long schism.”
“By the end of the 1850’s, Gale’s age, broken health, and decades long bickering and animosity which had endured during the schism had taken its toll on him.”
Lesson #10- Fantastic Resources
For those who are interested in more detail about Galesburg, Knox College, Abolitionism, and the Underground Railroad, here are some great resources:
“An Extraordinary Repudiation” by Owen Muelder, Nov-Dec 2025, Illinois Heritage, A publication of the Illinois State Historical Society.
“The Underground Railroad in Western Illinois,” by Owen Muelder
“Theodore Dwight Weld and the American Anti-Slavery Society,” by Owen Muelder
“Missionaries and Muckrakers,” by Hermann Muelder
“Fighters for Freedom,” by Hermann Muelder
“They Broke the Prairie,” by Ernest Elmo Calkins
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