The 1839 Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Ind., is designated at National Historic Landmark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Groundbreaking set for Underground Railroad visitor center

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The 1839 Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Ind., is designated at National Historic Landmark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The 1839 Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Ind., is designated at National Historic Landmark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. (AP) – The Indiana State Museum says it will break ground later this month on a $3.2 million visitor center at a key eastern Indiana stop on the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves.

The scheduled Oct. 29 groundbreaking for the new Levi Coffin House Interpretive Center in Fountain City will coincide with the 175th anniversary of the home.

Museum officials say the visitor center will tell the story of Indiana’s connection with the Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War.

Levi and Catherine Coffin were 19th-century anti-slavery activists. The museum says more than 1,000 escaped slaves passed through their home about 60 miles east of Indianapolis on their way to freedom.

The museum says it has commitments for 70 percent of the center’s cost. It’s due to open in 2016.

Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-10-15-14 1054GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The 1839 Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Ind., is designated at National Historic Landmark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The 1839 Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Ind., is designated at National Historic Landmark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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