The Underground Railroad in Savoy

Born on September 14, 1814, in Cherry Valley, New York, Dunlap was a noted horticulturalist, agricultural editor, and abolitionist. In the early 1830s, he followed his family and settled in LaSalle County, Illinois. He moved to Chicago and returned to farming in 1839. While living in Chicago, Dunlap was elected as a state representative with an office in Springfield, where it is said that he became friends with Abraham Lincoln. He is also said to have managed an Underground Railroad depot at his farm in Chicago.

Around 1855 or 1856, Mr. Dunlap purchased the northern half of Section 36 of Champaign Township and moved his family to the area. The Dunlaps called their new farm “Rural Home.” By 1858, he established an agricultural nursery, planting an apple orchard and ornamental trees and shrubs along belts of woodland groves. As with his other farm in Cook County, he developed an Underground Railroad depot at his home in Savoy from 1857 or 1858 until the end of the Civil War. Stories have been told of fugitives staying with Dunlap and hiding in the basement or partaking of meals in the kitchen when it was safe. According to lore, Dunlap was cutting and selling lumber from his land to the railroads and moving African Americans north along with the lumber.

After the Civil War, Dunlap helped establish the Industrial Institution in Urbana, which became the University of Illinois. He served as one of the university’s first trustees. He died on February 14, 1875.