The Road to
Freedom
How the Underground Railroad defied the slave catchers and helped create the Hawkeye State
BY DONALD A . PROMNITZ Associate Editor
10 | Now & Then
The Pearson House in Keosauqua may have the distinction of being one of the oldest structures still standing in Iowa .
Completed in 1847 , the two-story house – made of limestone , sandstone and brick – was built by the hands of Benjamin Franklin Pearson , a stonemason who came to Iowa from Maryland a decade earlier . From there , the house became a family home for the Pearsons . For others , it was a safe haven on the way to freedom .