History & local legend
John Brown built a tannery at New Richmond in Crawford County in 1826, more than thirty years before his raid on Harpers Ferry made him a national figure. He moved there with his wife, Dianthe, and their three sons, intending to make a living processing hides into leather. He operated the business until 1835.
The tannery also belonged to the area's antislavery network. People escaping enslavement passed through Meadville and Brown's property on their way toward Lake Erie and Canada. A fire destroyed the tannery's wooden upper story in 1907, leaving the stone foundation walls that mark the site today.
Local folklore places Brown himself beside those walls. The Crawford County Historical Society records a tradition of a younger-looking Brown walking along the remains of the tannery. The apparition is imagined as the man who lived and worked here in the 1820s and 1830s, rather than the older abolitionist familiar from portraits made near the end of his life.
Sources
- Crawford County Historical Society, recorded apparition of a younger Brown at the foundation, his Underground Railroad network and route
- John Brown Heritage Association, trustees of the site, family, 1826 construction, vats, 1907 fire and directions
- Nyttend, geotagged roadside view of the tannery site on John Brown Road
