Preservationists celebrated the designation of the Lamartine Historic District?a row of antebellum Greek Revival houses on 29th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues?over the weekend. The new landmarked area includes the Hopper-Gibbons House at 339 West 29th Street, the only documented stop in Manhattan of the Underground Railroad that shepherded escaped slaves to freedom before the Civil War. The formerly unbroken line of rooftops from along Lamartine Place on West 29th Street is how the abolitionist Gibbons family escaped from a bloodthirsty mob during the Draft Riots of 1863. In those dark few days of New York's history, murderous mobs, enraged by the enactment of a draft for the Civil War, roamed the streets of the city, lynching, burning and killing. The Hopper-Gibbons House was torched during the Draft Riots, but survived along with the rest of Lamartine Place.
· Chelsea Stop on the Underground Railroad Becomes a Landmark [DNAinfo]
· Save Abigail Hopper Gibbons Home: 339 W29 St, NYC [SaveAbolitionistHome.com]