Thornton and Lucie Blackburn
In 1985, archaeologists digging on this site uncovered fascinating clues to Toronto's history as a terminus of the famous Underground Railway. From 1834 to 1890, this site had been the home of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, refugee slaves from Kentucky who started Toronto's first taxicab company.
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn escaped on July 3, 1831 by taking a steamboat up the Ohio River from Louisville to Cincinnati and then a stagecoach to Michigan. Their recapture in Detroit two years later resulted in the "Blackburn Riots of 1833". Detroit's Black community staged a dramatic rescue and aided the Blackburns across the border to safety in Canada. Despite two extradition requests by Michigan's governor, they were allowed to remain free and begin their new lives in Canada.
The Blackburns became well-known members of Toronto's African Canadian community. They helped to build Little Trinity Anglican Church, and contributed to efforts organized to assist other freedom-seekers, both in Toronto and at Buxton in southwestern Ontario. Thornton participated in the "North American Convention of Colored Freemen" at St. Lawrence Hall in September of 1851, and was an associate of George Brown in anti-slavery activities.
The excavation of the Blackburn's former home remains the only archaeological dig on an Underground Railway site ever conducted in Toronto. In 1999, the Department of Canadian Heritage designated Thornton and Lucie Blackburn "Persons of National Historic Significance" in recognition of their generosity to the less fortunate and their lifelong resistance to slavery and racial oppression.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.