Freedom Center in Cincinnati opens to celebrate Underground Railroad

Published: 2004-08-23

CINCINNATI (CNS) -- More than 10 years ago, Ed Rigaud, a member of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Cincinnati and a vice president with Procter & Gamble, launched his mission to fund a hands-on museum on Cincinnati's riverfront which would serve not only as a monument to the famous Underground Railroad, but continue to educate people today about the possibilities of dialogue and reconciliation. On Aug. 23, the dream shared by Rigaud and other members of the Underground Railroad Project became reality with the dedication of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on the Ohio River. The river once effectively marked the invisible Mason-Dixon Line. Because of this, the construction of the Freedom Center on the Ohio banks of the waterway was highly appropriate. Cincinnati was a hub of activity on the Underground Railroad, with some "stations" still in evidence throughout southwest Ohio. The river itself ferried many fugitive slaves on the last legs of their escape from the slave states to the freedom of the North.

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