A London heritage activist vows to “go medieval on them” if city council allows the demolition of a core property linked to the city’s black history, the Underground Railroad and the American Civil War.

“This is the birthplace of the Civil War and the last stop on the Underground Railroad,” an agitated Joe O’Neil said Thursday.

“This should be an international historic site,” he said of the modest bungalow on Thames St. that Aboutown Transportation wants to level.

The company has applied for a demolition permit for 275 Thames St. and two adjoining properties, the London advisory committee on heritage learned this week.

Jim Donnelly, owner of Aboutown, says the buildings are too far gone to save and were uninhabitable when he bought them for storage and parking.

“It’s time to close a chapter,” said Donnelly, who says he would replace them with parking for his nearby business.

Donnelly said he’d be willing to have a marker or cairn erected on the site.

But O’Neil, a former chairperson of the heritagse body, sees red in any bid to take down the modest frame bungalow that has such a rich history.

Built as a house of worship in 1848 by American slaves who fled to Canada along the famous Underground Railroad, 275 Thames was the original African Methodist Episcopal Church. It played a key role in the lives of blacks living in “The Hollow,” an area of swamp land and sulphur gases.

With the arrival of the railway in the early 1850s, the land alongside it there rose in value dramatically and the community became the richest black community in Canada.

It was to this community that famed U.S. slavery abolitionist John Brown came in 1858 while raising money for his campaign as he sought support for his cause.

O’Neil said the meeting at the church, renamed the British Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856, provided money Brown used to launch his raid on the armoury at Harpers Ferry, Va., in late 1859, a move generally seen as the “spark” that ignited the Civil War.

The one-time chapel is among the top candidates for heritage designation in the city and O’Neil said he values it even more than Eldon House, home of one of London’s first settlers.

In 1986, he notes, London Public Library placed a plaque on 275 Thames noting it historical significance but the marker has disappeared.

When confronted with the demolition request from Aboutown representative Dawn Erskine, a former city councillor, the heritage group referred it for study by its stewardship group. It is expected the matter won’t reach city council’s planning committee until late April.

Erskine wrote that 275 Thames and two adjacent properties are in poor condition and beyond repair.

“Allow us to immediately demolish these three buildings before we have someone injured or a worse event,” she said.

Aboutown owner Donnelly said he bought 227 Thames in 1984, 281 Thames in about 1988 and 275 Thames in 2002. A year before he bought 275 Thames, he said the city was offered the property for $91,000, but took a pass on it.

“We’ll talk to anybody,” said Donnelly, who said he respects heritage, but for the three properties “I don’t think it’s practical to save them.”

The three structures comprise an original streetscape from “The Hollow,” O’Neil said. And while they appear in rough shape . . . “they were built in rough shape by the poorest of the poor.”

chip.martin@sumedia.ca

twitter.com/ChipatLFPRess

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JOHN BROWN AND HARPERS FERRY

Outspoken slavery abolitionist John Brown preached against the evils of slavery and was determined to bring the practice to an end.

In October 1859 he led a raid on the United States army arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va.

He intended to spark an armed revolt by slaves but had only 20 men in his party.

After initial success, Brown and his men were attacked by U. S. Marine troops under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry (the same Lee who later led the troops of the Confederacy).

Brown was captured, found guilty of treason and hanged on Dec. 2, 1859.

Northerners tended to express admiration for Brown’s motives, while Southerners, with whom they would soon clash, were furious at him.

THE HOLLOW

