Jackson's Bucky Harris Park: Just Who WAS Bucky Harris?

So who was Bucky Harris and why is the former Jackson Square named after him?

That little corner park next to Casler Hardware was named after Charles ‘Bucky’ Harris in 1998; Harris owned the Harris Building (makes sense) now called the Blake Building.

The first anti-slavery newspaper to crop up in Michigan was created in offices once located here. During the mid-1800s, the Jackson Sentinel newspaper helped Jacksonburg Square become the hub of attention in downtown Jackson. Along with the newspaper building, the square also held the county courthouse and three commercial blocks.

Get our free mobile app

In the 1850s, abolitionists made their voices heard in the paper, and secretly helped runaway slaves escape via the Underground Railroad that came through Jackson.

Bucky Harris Park is surrounded by a good number of other historic sites:
Jacksonburg Public Square
Horace Ismon / Ismon Building
Abolitionists in Jackson
Emma Nichols
Edward Pomeroy Post No. 48 Grand Army Of The Republic
The St. Joseph Indian Trail
The First Congregational Church (two markers)

This ‘Bucky Harris’ is not to be confused with another ‘Bucky Harris’ that played for the Detroit Tigers from 1955-1956.