John Rankin House celebrates 75th anniversary, shares impactful interactions

RIPLEY, Ohio — The historical John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio celebrated its 75th anniversary since it first opened to the public on Saturday.

Several years ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation had a slogan for each of its historic sites, according to Site Manager and Ripley Heritage Inc. Trustee, Betty Campbell. She said the slogan read “This place matters.”

“I want to say today, this place matters, and has, and will continue to matter for the story that it tells. The story of hope, the story of freedom, the story of man helping man. It’s a privilege to be involved in this historic site and it means so much to the community of Ripley as well,” Campbell said.

She invited Erin Bartlett, of Ohio History Connection, to share some words regarding the Rankin House’s history.

According to Bartlett, John and Jean Rankin and their 13 children lived at what is now the historic Rankin House from 1829 to 1866. Rankin House Docent Sarah Arn said the Rankin family built the property in 1828.

During his years in the house, Rankin played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, Bartlett said. As a reverend of a First Presbyterian church, John Rankin led his congregation. As an abolitionist, Rankin led the fight to end slavery, Bartlett remarked.

She added that Rankin, during his years as an “Underground Railroad conductor,” led 2,000 people to freedom from his house and surrounding fields.

“The impact that the Rankins had on the history of Ohio and the nation has been recognized for over a century,” Bartlett said. She went on to discuss when the property was turned over to the state of Ohio.

Bartlett said the Rankin House was acquired by the state in 1938 but the house was not restored or open to the public until nearly a decade later. She noted World War Two was a cause of the delay in restoration.

The site of the house was officially designated a national historic landmark in 1997 and was later included in the National Parks Services Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Program in 2005, Bartlett said.

Several events have occurred at the site of the Rankin House, according to Arn. She noted there have been various films and documentaries filmed at the house, including one produced by Oprah Winfrey, a popular television show host.

Tim Lynch, a docent of the Rankin House, shared his knowledge and sentiments regarding Rankin after Arn stepped down from the podium. He began his statements by acknowledging how Rankin’s ideologies stood out during that time.

“Very few whites would have agreed with Rankin’s belief in the absolute equality of the races. Even among those who opposed slavery, many harbored notions of white superiority and white supremacy,” Lynch said.

He noted that many people felt slavery was unjust due to the “economic advantage” that it gave farmers in the South who had enslaved labor. Rankin’s ideologies were based on the belief that everybody is equal in the eyes of God.

“By his (Rankin) thinking, if all are equal in the eyes of God, then all are deserving of dignity and freedom. To deny that, to hold another human being as one’s property, is sinful and abhorrent,” Lynch said.

He went on to read a letter that was written by Rankin to his brother and a local newspaper regarding slavery.

“Whenever we find a man, let us treat him as a brother without regard to his color. Let our kindness soothe his sorrows and cheer his heart,” the letter read. Lynch called the quote “strong words.”

After Lynch finished his statements, Campbell invited Howard McClain, a docent of the Rankin House, to share his memories as a tour guide for the organization.

Among many of his fond memories, McClain shared one interaction that seemed to impact the audience’s engagement in his statements more than others. He noted that, although each visitor’s story is fascinating and often humbling, there was one that stands out for him specifically.

“Their stories are fascinating and humbling, none more fascinating and humbling than the story of Ben and Buella,” McClain said. He gave details of the interaction with those two visitors.

In June of 2017, a car pulled onto the lot of the Rankin House property. Four people got out of the car, McClain said. The four people included a grandfather, a grandmother, and two teenage grandsons.

McClain proceeded to give the family a tour and get to know them a little better, he said. Sometime during the tour, it was revealed that Ben, the grandfather, and Buella, the grandmother, had their grandsons with them to “give them guidance” due to behavioral issues at home.

He said that was the family’s reasoning for visiting the Rankin House. McClain noted that he always tries to give his tourists “what they want.”

“I could see that they wanted the history (of the house), but they also wanted the story,” McClain said. “This was one of those times where the story was needed.”

By the end of the tour, McClain noticed that Buella had begun to cry. As her grandsons checked on her, she opened her purse, he said. She proceeded to pull out a photo album after telling McClain that she has been trying to visit the Rankin House for over 40 years.

According to McClain, the photo album held yellowed pages that had handwritten words on them. He noted there were names and dates on each one as she continued to look for a specific page.

When she got to the page, she read what was written on it to McClain.

“I ran away from the farm that spring, and when I finally reached the river I was lucky and that I could swim. Most of us couldn’t. So I waded in. It was cold, but I kept going because I had seen it. The light,” the page read.

“It was there just like they had told me back on the farm. I watched it the whole way. I was afraid it would go out, but it didn’t. The town was quiet when I got there, except a dog barking every once in a while.”

“I kept looking back to see if them men had followed me. I never saw them. I climbed the hillside along the trees. I got to the top and ran fast to a door and tapped on it. The door opened just a bit and then it opened wider and a man, a white man, reached out and put his arms around me. Not like other white men had done when they was gonna beat me.”

“He pulled me in and said, “Thanks be to God that you’re here.” He said his name was John Rankin and his wife brought me food and water. Mrs. Rankin brought out britches, a shirt, and got me some shoes, and said a prayer.”

“And John Rankin led me off through a creek, then a field where he passed me to another fella. And another and another. And I wound up here, in Detroit where we are now,” the letter concluded.

Buella went on to tell McClain that those were the words of her fourth-time great-grandfather. She said they were written down after his daughter taught him how to write.

“I was in shock. I’d never met anyone who was descended from a slave before and came specifically to this house,” McClain said. He went on to ask the couple to sign the house’s guest book.

Ben laughed and said the guest book would be “messed up” when they signed their names, McClain said. He told McClain that his last name was Thomas but Buella’s last name was Rankin.

Ben told McClain that when he asked Buella to marry her, she only had one condition. She wanted to keep her last name as it was, due to the history and impact that it held and left on her family.

Buella explained that she was always told that her great-grandfather who had been helped by the Rankin family felt as if he had been born. He said it was the first time he ever felt like a human, rather than a tool or a thing.

From the time he “came through” John Rankin’s house, he always went by Joseph Rankin.

“It was her name, her family name. A name that they had always carried,” McClain said. “She looked at her grandsons, who were sitting at her feet, pulled them close, and said, “Boys, we’re home. This is where we were born.”

“This place is transformative, for so many lives in the past. It’s transformed me too,” he remarked.