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Southern Tier Life // ISSUE 02
PARK CHURCH & THE ROLE THEY PLAYED IN THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Go to the steps of Park Church today and it still shows its inclusiveness and acceptance it displayed back in 1846. Today you could see the gay pride flag and a welcoming message for all visitors. Back when the church, first known as The First Independent Congregational Church, later named Park Church, incorporated in their bylaws that: No person shall be admitted to the church, or allowed to remain therein, who practices or approves of the buying or selling of human beings, or holding them in slavery. Today Park Church remains a beacon for human rights and inclusiveness in the region. Park Church has stood up and filled
WRITTEN BY RANDY REID
the gaps for marginalized people in our community since 1846. The church is steeped in history from the Langdon Family to Thomas K. Beecher to those 42 brave people who decided to start this church. My family remains grateful for Park Church. If it weren’t for their abolitionist thinking my Great, Great, Great Grandfather John Muldoon would not have been free. My relative escaped slavery in Virginia around the mid-1840s. He was pursued by his slave owner, with the last name Muldoon. Our family historian was our own Aunt Jennie Dunmeyer, who I video taped in 1991 during a family reunion. Hearing her tell the story of our family was enthralling and a bit
