The Underground Railroad Reading Station(UGRR)
is an independent Christian Specialty Bookstore & Giftshop. We are stocked with historical titles and new releases and staffed by tour guides. Inspired by church tours, the Reading Station provides a cultural experience for all who visit seeking Detroit’s Black History.
The store originally opened on April 28, 2000 inside a renovated janitorial closet (100 sq. ft.) with one entrance. Pictured above is that space one year later with Dr. Nathaniel Leach who wanted a “Gift Shop for Tours,” and his first assistant, Bobbie Fowlkes Davis who wrote a business plan that made it happen. The picture was taking on the Sunday that the church was celebrating its Heritage Sunday Services. Traditionally the congregation dresses up in African clothing for its Annual Heritage Sunday celebration.
In approximately 2004, the church expanded the place to include the adjacent coat closet, which increased the store size to 200 sq. ft. with two entrances and three large picture windows that face the Greektown foot traffic on the corner of Beaubien and Monroe Street.
In the store’s first eight years of operation, it participated in the Annual Greektown Arts Festival and hosted book signings, face paintings and sold books and gifts on the street.
On Monday, October 24, 2005, Dr. Nathaniel “Papa” Leach passed from labor to reward. He had served the Church as Lead Photographer and Editor of the Second Baptist Herald Newspaper, Superintendent of Christian Education, Captain of the Church’s Bowling & Checker Leagues, Travel Committee and Friday Fellowship Luncheons. Most important to the Second Baptist Historical Committee, he was its Founder as Church Historian for over 75 years.
The UGRR Reading Station will forever stands as a testament to the historical teachings, leadership and inspiration of our beloved Papa Leach. It motto was: “Second Baptist must be recognized.” Meaning: HIS-Story. The history of God’s people of the church, its connection as the original stop on the Underground Railroad in Detroit, its Leadership as the “Birthplace of Detroit’s Black Community, and its position as the “Mother Church” of the Black Churches in the City of Detroit must never be forgotten in history.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Mrs. Rosa Parks, Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, also passed from labor to reward on Monday, October 24, 2005 in the City of Detroit.
- Both Rosa Parks and Nathaniel Leach were born and raised in the State of Alabama.
- Both left a lasting footprint on this nation. Mrs. Parks for her work in Civil Rights and Dr. Leach for his teachings about Human Rights.
- After the casket bearing Mrs. Parks traveled from state to state for public viewings, both she and Dr. Leach had final funeral services back to back in Detroit.
- Lastly, we believe that the Lord honored both by allowing them 90-years of life and a peaceful and painless death while asleep at their passing.
