Published October 21, 2026
As 2027 approaches, the Midwest Underground Railroad Network (MURN) enters the new year with national recognition, a wider mission, and a permanent home in South Holland, Illinois. This update introduces what MURN is, what has changed, and how neighbors, students, teachers, and visitors can take part.
What MURN is
MURN is an Illinois nonprofit, powered entirely by volunteers, that researches, preserves, and shares the history of the Underground Railroad in Chicago’s Far South Side, the Calumet Region, and along the routes that continued toward Detroit and Canada. Its programs include guided hikes and tours, presentations in schools, colleges, and libraries, community festivals, and research projects with historians, universities, churches, forest preserves, and heritage organizations.
From the 1830s until the Civil War, thousands of people pursued freedom through the Chicago region. Many traveled south from Chicago and crossed the Little Calumet River near today’s Indiana Avenue Bridge, where local families offered food, shelter, and guidance. Early settlers such as the Dolton family were part of that network of assistance, and after 1853 Jan and Aagje Ton and other Dutch immigrants joined them. The Jan and Aagje Ton Farm is a National Park Service Network to Freedom site and carries an Illinois state historical marker that tells this story to visitors.
How MURN has grown
MURN traces its start to a local study group formed in the early 2000s, the Chicago-Calumet Underground Railroad Effort. In 2016, local historian Tom Shepherd and Professor Larry McClellan, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Community Studies at Governors State University, renewed the work as the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project. The organization became a nonprofit in 2019.
On February 21, 2025, the project took the name Midwest Underground Railroad Network during a Black history celebration at First Reformed Church in South Holland. The new name reflects a larger mission: to document the Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail and to work with partners across Illinois, northwest Indiana, and southern Michigan. MURN also opened its first physical headquarters, with offices hosted at First Reformed Church. The church was founded by Dutch immigrants who assisted freedom seekers, and its grounds hold a memorial honoring the Ton family.
National recognition in 2026
In September 2026, during International Underground Railroad Month, MURN announced that the National Park Service officially recognized it as a program of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The listing places MURN alongside sites and programs in 40 states, Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada, including the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, the Harriet Tubman Home, and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
MURN President Rodney Harrington described the recognition as an opportunity to deepen the organization’s commitment to preserving history, educating communities, and honoring both the people who pursued freedom and the people who helped make it possible. Secretary Tom Shepherd noted that the South Holland area sits directly along a route freedom seekers used to reach Chicago and the northern states, which makes the national listing a fitting match for the region’s story.
Join the community festival today
MURN is partnering with the Service Learning Club at South Suburban College for a free festival today, October 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the atrium and MB Financial Room at 15800 State Street, South Holland. The program includes:
- A meet and greet, followed by student poetry readings and an art exhibit
- An introduction by Professor Larry McClellan
- Spirituals performed by Lana Lewis
- A lecture, Q&A, and reading led by Stephen Marc
- Readings by historian Glennette Tilly Turner
- A drum circle with MURN Vice President Dr. Obari Cartman
- Music with retired professor Art Burton and student performers
Students, families, and neighbors are all welcome to step into local history together.
Priorities for 2027
MURN’s three long-term goals guide the year ahead:
- Memorialize. Honor freedom seekers and the people who assisted them with monuments, statues, and historical markers along the trails they used. Beaubien Woods, along the Little Calumet River, is the proposed site for an Underground Railroad monument.
- Educate. Bring this history into school curriculum and develop educational, cultural, and tourism activities for residents and visitors.
- Connect. Establish a Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail recognized by the National Park Service, with interpretive signage and digital resources along the way.
Research continues across Bronzeville, the South Side, the south suburbs, northwest Indiana, and the Elkhart, Goshen, and South Bend area. Historians estimate that 800 to 1,500 freedom seekers passed through northwest Indiana alone, and volunteer researchers are helping document their stories. MURN also aims to secure funding to add an executive director, researchers, and support staff as the work grows.
Explore the refreshed MURN website
The updated website brings the full story together in one place. Visitors can read the history of the Riverdale Crossing, follow the six-stop freedom trail, learn about partner organizations, browse news, and plan self-guided weekend visits to the Ton Farm, Beaubien Woods, Sand Ridge Nature Center, Altgeld Gardens, and nearby heritage sites. Students and researchers can find opportunities to contribute, and community members can sign up for updates.
Ways to take part in the new year
- Hike the Freedom Trail. Guided hikes begin at the Beaubien Woods Boat Launch at 134th Street and the Little Calumet River. Watch the news page for upcoming dates.
- Volunteer. Help with tours, research, outreach, and events.
- Invite MURN to speak. Schools, libraries, congregations, and community groups can request a presentation.
- Become a member. Membership supports research, markers, tours, and educational programs.
- Stay informed. Subscribe to the MURN email list for news and events.
Contact MURN at 773-370-3305 or info@undergroundrailroadproject.org.
Sources: Daily Southtown and Chicago Tribune (September 28, 2026); The Lansing Journal (April 12, 2025); eNews Park Forest (February 9, 2025); National Park Service; MURN.