Several locations in McDonough County were stops on the Underground Railroad. A new mural inside Macomb’s railroad station pays tribute to the compassionate souls who lived there and the courageous freedom seekers who passed through the area.
The mural was unveiled during a brief ceremony on Thursday morning at the Thomas C. Carper Amtrak Station. A standing room only crowd filled the lobby in the depot.
Artist Michael Mahoney said he wanted to humanize freedom seekers by showing real people with expressions on their faces.
“There’s a sense of determination as well as fear,” he said.
Mahoney spent months working on the mural. He was assisted by recent Western Illinois University graduate Ruby Warner.
They used photographs and paintings to create the images of the people depicted in the mural. Mahoney said he improvised quite a bit while creating the piece, but he didn’t listen to improvisational music while painting it.
“I probably listened mostly to Iggy Pop and James Brown,” he said.
Mahoney admires the resolve of those involved with the Underground Railroad. He said it took a lot of courage to escape slavery and seek freedom.
“They didn’t know what was going to be there, who was going to be there, what might happen along the way. Wow! That’s tough,” he said.
Mahoney believes the Underground Railroad mural ties into the mural he painted of civil rights leader The Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian. That mural is just a block away from the new one.
He said freedom seekers and Vivian both fought for freedom and civil rights.
The mural also highlights the rural homes of the Allison and Blazer families.
Brenda Allison of Macomb said it’s a proud moment for her family to have the Allison farm depicted in the mural.
“We found newspaper articles talking about we were rebel farmers and a number of things. The Allisons, they didn’t want them to vote so they had to come to town with guns blazing. So, I’m from a really rebel, activism type family,” she said.
Her great grandfather was shot and died from the infection from the wound. She said it’s never been proven, but it’s believed that either a slave owner or a slave catcher shot him.
“He was shot at the door. He opened the door and was shot,” she said.
The property is still in the family, though the house from those times was razed and a new house was built.
She wishes she knew more about what her ancestors did, but Underground Railroad conductors were breaking the law, so they didn’t keep journals about their activities.
But now, their contributions in helping others escape the injustice of slavery are celebrated in a very public piece of art in downtown Macomb.
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