Historian to speak on the Underground Railroad at Historical Society dinner Oct. 29

PRINCETON — Historian Owen Muelder, director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Freedom Center at Knox College, will be the guest speaker at the Bureau County Historical Society’s annual dinner Oct. 29 at the Wine Cellar. “Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad,” will be the theme of Muelder’s presentation.

Muelder is the author of the 2008 book, “The Underground Railroad in Western Illinois,” which includes an entire chapter on Bureau County. Princeton was on the railroad’s Quincy to Galesburg line. Abolitionist, U.S. Representative and Princeton minister Owen Lovejoy, along with other Princeton families, also assisted fugitive slaves coming directly east from the Mississippi and Rock rivers. In addition to Princeton, Muelder will touch on other locations in the county where fugitive slaves were harbored, including Providence, Boyd’s Grove and Tiskilwa. Muelder has delivered more than 150 speeches to audiences throughout Illinois and across then nation.

The social hour for the event will begin at 6 p.m. with the dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $25 per person and the deadline for reservations is Saturday. The Wine Cellar is handicapped accessible.

For more information, contact the Bureau County Historical Society at (815) 875-2184.