In its early years, Springboro was a predominantly Quaker community and a hospitable thoroughfare for many runaway slaves traveling north to freedom. Between 1815 and 1864, the village and surrounding township contained numerous safe houses and many agents and conductors. Springboro's place in the Underground Railroad grew from two factors: the antislavery sympathies of its residents and its location between the Great and Little Miami Rivers, two nights north of the Ohio River, in the middle of two corridors of flight. The local antislavery spirit was strengthened by Achilles Pugh, who for many years published the nationally known abolitionist paper The Philanthropist in Springboro. Despite constant scrutiny and harassment from bounty hunters and law officers, no runaways were ever captured or returned while under the protection of the Springboro area.