About Us

The mission of the PURE Center is to provide an educational environment based on the heritage of the Underground Railroad.

One of Southeastern Ohio’s newest landmarks The Putnam Underground Railroad Education Center (PURE) and the Muskingum County Community Foundation (MCCF) restored the residence at 522 Woodlawn Avenue, Zanesville, Ohio to create an underground railroad museum and education center. With the generous outpouring of support from the community and friends, the Center officially opened to the public on August 25, 2004. Celebrating local history, the PURE Center preserves and tells the inspiring Story of Freedom to be shared with Ohio, across the nation, and beyond. The PURE Center is one of Southeastern Ohio’s newest land marks, an education center and museum of interest to both the young and old, preserving important local and national history.

Background and Historical Importance of Property

The house at 522 Woodlawn Avenue in the Putnam Historic District was constructed circa 1838. Initially, it was a single family residence. Prior to the Civil War, the New Englanders in Putnam organized the Muskingum County Anti-Slavery Society, and the house at 522 was in the middle of abolitionist activity. The house is directly across from the George Guthrie House at 521 Woodlawn Avenue, a documented stop on the Underground Railroad, next door to the S. H. Guthrie House where Abolitionist Stephan Guthrie Slept with a pitchfork and two guns at the head of his bed, and diagonally across the street from the Putnam Presbyterian Church where the Reverend William Beecher (brother of Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriett Beecher Stowe) preached anti-slavery sermons.