Grant to help save Fugitive Slave Chapel to be considered by city council

After 174 years in London, the Fugitive Slave Chapel is gradually falling victim to neglect.

With time running out, four city councillors are making a political push to award a $71,000 municipal grant towards a $300,000 community-driven plan that will relocate the wooden chapel to Fanshawe Pioneer Village for restoration.

Stuck in a renovation limbo for eight years, concern is growing about the deteriorating condition of the Fugitive Slave Chapel

“There’s a great deal of urgency and community concern for the building,” explains Dawn Miskelly, executive director of Fanshawe Pioneer Village. “We don’t want to see it degrade further or risk vandalism.”

Four city councillors are pushing to have the Fugitive Slave Chapel to Fanshawe Pioneer Village for relocated for restoration in London, Ont. on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV London)

Councillor John Fyfe-Millar has co-signed at letter with Councillors Lewis, Peloza, and Salih that will be considered by their colleagues at a council meeting on April 12.

In the letter they write: “We are asking council to make a one-time commitment from our own Community Investment Reserve Fund to assist with the relocation of the Fugitive Slave Chapel from its current site (in SOHO) to Fanshawe Pioneer Village.”

“It’s a first step,” admits Fyfe-Millar.

He believes the grant might also motivate senior governments to participate.

“I think that’s an important piece to the puzzle,” he explains. “This will allow the team that’s put together the Fugitive Slave Chapel funding to go to the other levels of government and say we already have support from your city colleagues.”

The small chapel was constructed in 1848 by Black settlers who fled enslavement in the United States.

It was located at 275 Thames St. until 2014.

Four city councillors are pushing to have the Fugitive Slave Chapel to Fanshawe Pioneer Village for relocated for restoration in London, Ont. on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV London)

At the time a proposed development on the property put the building’s future at risk, so city hall contributed $60,000 towards its relocation to a vacant lot next to Beth Emanuel Church in SOHO.

However, community fundraising stalled and by 2018 a dispute between the restoration committee and church leadership derailed restoration plans.

A new group of heritage advocates, in consultation with BLM London, the London Black History Coordinating Committee, and the Congress of Black Women’s London Chapter have already raised $85,000.

Miskelly says if sufficient funding is secured in time, “ideally, we’d like to see the chapel move (to Fanshawe Pioneer Village) and be placed on a foundation before next winter so that its building envelope can be sealed.”

Four city councillors are pushing to have the Fugitive Slave Chapel to Fanshawe Pioneer Village for relocated for restoration in London, Ont. on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV London)

The Chapel Project Fund is held at London Community Foundation (LCF).

LCF is acting as a conduit for donations on its website: lcf.on.ca/chapel-project

Miskelly believes saving the Fugitive Slave Chapel is about much more than preserving a heritage building.

“This will place a permanent structure at Fanshawe Pioneer Village that represents the (local Black history) story so we can layer it into our education and programming,” she says.

Fyfe-Millar says there’s no time for delay.

“I struggle to find many buildings in this city that hold the same significance as this chapel.”