Cozad-Bates House Interpretive Center

The Cozad-Bates House is the only pre-Civil War home remaining in University Circle. A new interpretive center, open Saturdays from Noon-4:00 p.m., highlights this area’s history as a center of anti-slavery activism and honors those seeking freedom through indoor exhibits and outdoor installations.

The interior of the Cozad-Bates House Interpretive Center features exhibits in three distinct spaces, each with its own story and purpose: the Gund Foundation West Wing, Cleveland Foundation East Wing, and the KeyBank Community Room. The West Wing exhibits set both the national and local context for slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. The East Wing highlights stories of local anti-slavery activists and freedom seekers, such as Sara Lucy Bagby Johnson, a Cleveland resident who escaped slavery only to be returned to Virginia under the Fugitive Slave Act. The KeyBank Community Room connects past to present with programming that outlines how the impacts of slavery are still seen in today’s social issues through an exploration of the 13th,14th, and 15thamendments developed by Case Western Reserve University’s Social Justice Institute.