{"id":988,"slug":"st-matthews-episcopal-church-now-st-matthews-st-josephs-episcopal-church-michigan","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["St. Matthew's is the third — the '1846' that's the Lambert founded, the 'Second Baptist split' that's the members came. The 'Lambert' is the network — the 'tailor' that's the Jefferson Street shop, the 'Order of Men of Oppression' that's the secret organized. The 'Douglass-Brown' is the hosted — the 'Webb home' that's the meeting attended, the 'Harper's Ferry' that's the connected.","The 'Fugitive Act' is the emptied — the '1850' that's the members fled to Canada, the '1864 liquidated' that's the assets gone. The 'revived' is the '80 — the 'Episcopal ties' that's the formal joined, the 'merged '71' that's the St. Joseph's now. St. Matthew's is the taught — the 'school' that's the education served, the 'station' that's the worship doubled.","The file keeps St. Matthew's: the third Black church, Lambert's network, the emptied congregation, and the merged survival.","St. Matthew's is the archive's Michigan file — the church that emptied for Canada."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["St. Matthew's is the archive's Michigan file — the congregation that fled itself.","A church keeps its exodus — the file's suggestion being that St. Matthew's hold is the emptied: the '1850 Act' that's the members ran, the 'liquidated' that's the success's cost, and the 'Lambert's tailoring' that's the funded the network."]}],"name":"St. Matthews Episcopal Church (now St. Matthews St. Josephs Episcopal Church)","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_SITE","type_label":"Historic Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD_HISTORY","AFRICAN_AMERICAN_HISTORY","HISTORIC_SITE","RELIGIOUS","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD"],"groups":["dark-history","historic-sites"],"desc":"NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad.","full_desc":"St. Matthews Episcopal Church (now St. Matthews St. Josephs Episcopal Church) is a historic site in Detroit, Michigan, a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing. NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad. It sits in the archive under dark history, Underground Railroad history and the Underground Railroad. The dossier holds 3 documented facts — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. The site is open to visitors.","address":"8850 Woodward Avenue","city":"Detroit","county":"Wayne","state":"Michigan","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":42.383037,"lon":-83.102237,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":"NPS public listing access field: Yes. This is a listing snapshot; current arrangements still require confirmation.","ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":"National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing","current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"Government-registry discovery record, unique ID 29MI01, source row 526. Inclusion concerns slavery, freedom-seeking and resistance history; no haunting is inferred. City, coordinates and detailed history are not inferred from the name. The source Year Established field is not treated as year built/opened. ","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":62.1,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.35,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"NPS includes this site in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. St. Matthews Episcopal Church (now St. Matthews St. Josephs Episcopal Church)'s past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. Sources including 'Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01' carry the record. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"St. Matthews Episcopal Church (now St. Matthews St. Josephs Episcopal Church) is documented on the National Park Service Network to Freedom for its role in the Underground Railroad. St. Matthews Episcopal Church (now St. Matthews St. Josephs Episcopal Church)'s past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. 'NPS Network to Freedom listing' documents the entry. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"The church’s work is documented. A documented site gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that record. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The detail is preserved in 'NPS Network to Freedom listing'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic site; verify hours and access with the managing agency before visiting; check nps.gov for current hours and alerts.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Underground Railroad","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad.","incoming_value":"The Detroit church—where the congregation aided the fugitives.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"historic_designation","existing_value":"National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing","incoming_value":"NPS Network to Freedom","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Government-registry discovery record, unique ID 29MI01, source row 526. Inclusion concerns slavery, freedom-seeking and resistance history; no haunting is inferred. City, coordinates and detailed history are not inferred from the name. The source Year Established field is not treated as year built/opened. ","incoming_value":"UGRR enrichment wave 3; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":3,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}