Crenshaw House (Gallatin County, Illinois)
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Crenshaw House
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Front and side of the house
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| Location | Off Rt. 1, Equality, Illinois |
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| Coordinates | 37°43′49″N 88°17′33″W / 37.73028°N 88.29250°WCoordinates: 37°43′49″N 88°17′33″W / 37.73028°N 88.29250°W |
| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1834 |
| Architect | William Gavin |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Other, Vernacular Greek Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 85001164 |
| Added to NRHP | May 29, 1985 |
The Crenshaw House (also known as the Crenshaw Mansion, Hickory Hill or, most commonly, The Old Slave House) is a historic former residence and alleged haunted house located in Equality Township, Gallatin County, Illinois. The house was constructed in the 1830s. It was the main residence of John Crenshaw, his wife, and their five children.
In 2004, the National Park Service named the mansion as a "station" on the Reverse Underground Railroad to acknowledge Crenshaw's practice of kidnapping free blacks in Illinois and selling them in the Slave States.
Landowner and illegal slave trader John Hart Crenshaw leased the state-owned salt works located at the Illinois Salines, two saline springs along the Saline River near Equality that were important sources of salt since prehistory. Salt was vital to the early American frontier economy, both as a nutrient and as a means to preserve food. Illinois was a free state, and the Illinois State Constitution bans slavery. However, the law permitted the use of slaves at the salt works since the labor was so arduous that no free men could be found to do it. As the lessee of the salt works, Crenshaw was one of a small minority of Illinois residents legally entitled to keep slaves, and Crenshaw became remarkably wealthy. At one point, Crenshaw's taxes amounted to one-seventh of the revenue of the entire state. Crenshaw owned thousands of acres of land, in addition to the 30,000 acres (120 km²) he leased from the state, and more than 700 slaves. In 1838, Crenshaw and his brother Abraham used this wealth to build the mansion on Hickory Hill, a few miles from the salt works near the town of Junction.
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