Southwest Michigan’s Underground Railroad

The old Brownsville School has fallen into disrepair over the years. It now sits on private property. The Underground Railroad Society of Cass County is trying to buy it, so that conservation work can begin.   (Karen Torme Olson/Chicago Tribune )

It’s thought that James E. Bonine hid fugitive slaves on the third floor of his carriage house to thwart slave catchers pursuing them.   (Karen Torme Olson/Chicago Tribune )

Restored boats are on display — and for sale — at Mahogany Outfitters in Cassopolis.  (Karen Torme Olson / Chicago Tribune)

Mike Smith, whose Quaker descendants settled in Cass County before the Civil War, examines a first-edition “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which he found among a trove of vintage documents in his attic.

A historic marker outside Cass County Courthouse, the site of groundbreaking legal proceedings connected to the 1847 Kentucky Raid, when slave catchers raided local farms and met with resistance.

The retro Lakeview Diner in Cassopolis gives people a taste of yesteryear.  (Karen Torme Olson / Chicago Tribune)

Volumes of family histories gathered by the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County are shelved at the Bonine House.  (Karen Torme Olson / Chicago Tribune)

A replica of a 1950s Sinclair gas station can be found in Cassopolis, Mich.  (Karen Torme Olsonc / Chicago Tribune)