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Media contacts: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release
Ohio Historical Society To Acquire Ripley Property
Purchase Will Allow For Expanded Parking at Rankin House
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - The state of Ohio has purchased 16.76 acres adjoining the Rankin House State Memorial in Ripley, Ohio, on behalf of the Ohio Historical Society. Part of the new parcel, located adjacent to the northeast property line, will allow for additional parking and maneuvering for cars and motorcoaches and the balance of the acreage has been acquired to protect the view from the historic home.
“This is one of a series of steps that we are taking to better accommodate visitors and improve their experience at this important site,’ said George Kane, OHS director of historic sites and facilities. “Next year we will be building a new parking lot and in the future we have plans to once again restore the house. We also hope to build a small visitor center with new exhibits, restrooms and a reception/sales area.”
The land, which was once a part of the Rev. John Rankin’s original farm, was purchased from the Rankin Foundation for $100,100. The society received a state capital appropriation through the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission in 2002 for the purchase of the property.
Recent interest in the Underground Railroad, the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in nearby Cincinnati and good marketing efforts by the society’s local partner, Ripley Heritage, has significantly increased visitation over the past few years to this site necessitating the need for improved parking facilities. The completion of a Historic Site Management Plan has summarized the growing list of needs for the site, archival and archaeological research has created the basis for redevelopment of the site and a new Master Plan for the site has set a plan of action. The society already has worked with the Ohio Department of Transportation over the past two years to complete intersection improvements at US 52 and Rankin Hill Road to allow tour buses to more easily access the site.
The Rankin House is where a runaway slave woman and her child sought refuge in February 1838 after her perilous escape across the frozen Ohio River. Harriet Beecher Stowe immortalized the story in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, her influential book that galvanized the abolition movement in the United States. The character Eliza was inspired by an account of the escape given at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati by John Rankin.
The Rankin House, managed by Ripley Heritage, is one of 58 historic sites and museums administered by The Ohio Historical Society, a nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology, natural history and historic architecture. For more information about the Ohio Historical Society and its programs, call 614.297.2300/800.686.6124 or visit www.ohiohistory.org.
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