(KLZA)-- On Friday, November 25 at 5:00 p.m. the public is invited to a ceremony unveiling a plaque and historical marker at 1601 Stone Street in Falls City to celebrate the historical location of the Dorrington House and Barn being designated as a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site by the Naitonal Park Service.

In September, the Park Service announced the designation of the Dorrington house and barn site into the National Underground Railraod Network to Freedom Program, which honors, preserves and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.

The Dorrington house and barn were built in Falls City in 1857 by abolitionists David and Ann Dorrington. Mr. Dorrington had acquired a federal contract to carry mail between Falls City and Topeka. Mail carriers used mail wagons to help transport freedom seekers out of Kansas using the “Lane Trail.” The trail was the westernmost line of the Underground Railroad.

The original house and barn were located at 1601 Stone Street and were replaced by a two-story brick building in the early 1880s. The building became home to Falter's Clothing Store and currenlty houses the nonprofit Collection Museum.

Ann Dorrington provided food, water and medical assistance for freedom seekers sheltered in the family barn.

Robert Nelson, a Falls City native and former Omaha World-Herald columnist and a Dorrington descendent, researched and wrote the appilcation to nominate the Dorrington site.