Michigan Street Baptist Church
Buffalo, New York

This church was the site of an Underground Railroad Station. Our guide, Kevin Cottrell (shown at right), told us about a new law in New York State making the Underground Railroad a fundamental part of the curriculum for all students. This has led to the development of a "Heritage Trail" for New York State, of which this site was a part. The church worked with another site, the home of Joseph Hodge, to smuggle from here to Broderick Park and other locations. The church's land was purchased in 1845 by the proceeds from a women's quilting club.

After 1850, when the number of bounty hunters increased, in New York the hunters had to file paperwork at the county courthouse. Judge Alboro at the courthouse was opposed to slavery, and tried to stall the paperwork and send a message to the church to send fugitives along.

William Wells Brown, one of the major abolitionists in the country, was a member of this church. The church supported the Amistad rebels financially.

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