Our History | Oddfellows

About Jeremy Burnside

Jeremy M. Burnside (1978-2022) will be remembered for his spirited and tireless efforts at revitalizing the City of Portsmouth, Ohio. It is thanks to the vision and work of Jeremy and his wife, Maddie, that Milton Kennedy's historic three-story building (constructed, 1852) has been preserved and renovated for use by another generation of city residents.

Jeremy grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Brooklyn High School in 1996. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from the University of Charleston in West Virginia. After college, he began his career in public service as a legislative intern and analyst for the West Virginia Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

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Jeremy graduated from the Appalachian School of Law in 2004 and practiced in Cleveland before moving to Portsmouth, where he built a successful tristate law practice. In 2012 he married Maddie Rutman. He helped start Friends of Portsmouth, inspiring community pride, setting three Guinness World Records, and boosting the city’s revitalization.

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Jeremy and Maddie purchased 526 Second Street in 2019. Here, the legacies of Milton Kennedy—abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor, and Portsmouth entrepreneur—and Jeremy Burnside—the underdog’s attorney, community booster, and beloved friend—come together. As a monument to these two “odd fellows,” their lives and this building will continue to inspire Portsmouth for generations.

About Milton Kennedy

Milton Kennedy (1811–1896) was an abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor, and champion of equal rights in Portsmouth. Born in Washington County, he later moved to Portsmouth in 1848 after careers in law, grain trading, and steamboat work. His business thrived, and in 1852 he built the first three-story building on Second Street, housing his store, a public hall, and the Odd Fellows lodge.

Milton was an early abolitionist and secret Underground Railroad conductor, ferrying Freedom Seekers to Portsmouth with help from Edward Weaver and other Black residents. He helped found the Republican Party, served in the Lincoln Administration, and belonged to Portsmouth’s antislavery “Radical Church.” In Reconstruction, he fought for civil rights and the Fifteenth Amendment, leaving a lasting legacy in Boneyfiddle.

The History Behind Our Building

In the Gilded Age, the Huston Stone Front hosted restaurants, law offices, and public events, and its second floor—once a Civil War hospital—held fundraisers for the soldiers’ monument. It later housed Portsmouth’s first shoe factory, where Frederick Drew and George Selby began their work. Thanks to Jeremy and Maddie Burnside’s recent restoration, the building now preserves its 19th-century history for future generations.

Once Milton Kennedy’s feed store and a stop on the Underground Railroad, this 1852 Portsmouth landmark has witnessed history—from Civil War aid to the rise of the city’s shoe industry. It later housed Portsmouth’s first addiction treatment center. Thanks to Jeremy and Maddie Burnside’s restoration, the building’s legacy lives on, preserving a vital piece of the city’s past for future generations.