Greenwich, known as Union Village from 1809 to 1867, played a significant role in the anti-slave movement and the Underground Railroad. Many families in Union Village and the surrounding area provided a safe haven for slaves heading north to freedom, and the route from Troy through Easton to Union Village was a segment of the Underground Railroad's thruway during the mid-1800s. Among local abolitionists were Henry Holmes at 18 Church Street; William H. and Angelina Mowry at 6 Church Street; Edwin T. Masters at 146 Main Street, whose family acquired slaves after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 and was theorized to be helping slaves escape because they were abolitionists; Leonard Gibbs at 150 Main Street, a long-time abolitionist although his family had owned slaves; and Edwin Andrews at 2 Academy Street, the only abolitionist in this group who did not belong to the Free Congregational Church. The Free Congregational Church parsonage at 28 Main Street was another likely stop. The Free Congregational Church, founded by abolitionists in 1837, hosted up to 500 people for speakers such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison; after its dissolution in 1877, the building became an opera house and was destroyed by fire in 1913. The home of Dr. Hiram Corliss, formerly on Bridge Street, is believed to have had a secret windowless room in the basement where fugitive slaves were harbored.

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel