The Dr. Nathan M. Thomas House is a house where one family lives, located at 613 East Cass Street in Schoolcraft, Michigan. It is also called the Underground Railway House because it was a place where people could stop during the Underground Railroad. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
History
Dr. Nathan M. Thomas was born in 1803 in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, to Quaker parents. He studied medicine at the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati and graduated in 1828. He began his medical practice in Columbiana County, Ohio, and later moved to Prairie Ronde Township in Kalamazoo County in 1830, becoming the first doctor in the county. He settled in the newly formed village of Schoolcraft around 1833. In 1835, he built the original part of this house near the center of the village, with a doctor’s office in front and a "dwelling room" in the back. In 1840, Thomas married Pamela S. Brown. To create space for their family, the Thomases moved the house back from the street and added wings on both sides of the original structure.
As the population of Kalamazoo County increased, Dr. Thomas’s medical practice became successful. By the time of his marriage, he started investing in land. This business became more profitable than medicine, and by 1853, Thomas stopped practicing medicine to focus on his real estate investments.
The Thomases lived in the house until 1867 or 1868, when they built a new home. The 1835 wooden house was moved from its original location near the center of town to its current position on Cass Street to make space for the new house. The Thomases built a three-story brick Italianate house on the original lot and lived there for the rest of their lives. Nathan M. Thomas died in 1887; Pamela S. Thomas died in 1909.
At some point, one of the 1840 wings was removed. In 1975, the Schoolcraft Bicentennial Committee bought the house, and the Schoolcraft Historical Society was formed to manage its restoration. The Society raised money to restore the house to its appearance in the 1840s, including rebuilding the removed wing.
Underground Railroad
Nathan Thomas was a strong supporter of ending slavery and was well known in his community for his beliefs. Many Quakers, who shared his views, lived in the area of southwest Michigan. Before building his home, escaped slaves would visit Nathan for help. After his house was expanded in 1840, Nathan and Pamela Thomas provided shelter to small groups of escaped slaves traveling to Detroit. When the Underground Railroad became more organized in 1843, the Thomas House became a stop on the route. Escaped slaves traveled from Cass County to the Thomas House and then to Battle Creek. Between 1840 and 1860, the Thomases helped more than 1,000 escaped slaves reach freedom.
Description
The Thomas house is a one-story rectangular Greek Revival house that includes features from the Federal style. It is divided into three parts: a central section built in 1835 with an end gable, and two side sections with hipped roofs. The house has a thin cornice that has returns, and double-hung windows that have 12-pane sashes. It is covered in clapboard. The central section is 28 feet deep and 20 feet wide. The side sections are 12½ feet wide and 42 feet deep.