William Owen

Historical marker location:

2100 S. State Route 560, Urbana, Ohio

( Marker is on Upper Valley Pike (Ohio Route 560), on the right when traveling south.)

Marker installed: 2005

First Settler in Mad River Township, Champaign County, Ohio.

The Ohio River, which forms the state's southern border, played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses used by African American slaves to escape to freedom in the North before the Civil War.