Black History Month: Hidden Passage at NY Museum Tied to Underground Railroad

A concealed architectural feature inside Manhattan’s Merchant’s House Museum is shedding new light on the city’s past. The 19th century townhouse in NoHo has been identified as a potential Underground Railroad site, with historians pointing to a secret passageway discovered within the landmarked property.

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The Underground Railroad ran through the Merchant’s House Museum, historians can now confirm – the first confirmed discovered of an Underground Railroad entrance in Manhattan in over 100 years. A dresser in the second floor of the house was found that had a hidden ladder that led down two stories into a small hideout area. For years, there had been rumors that the house on East Fourth Street in NoHo, which was built in 1832, had a connection to freedom seekers. But until recently, there was not any evidence to support that. New research done by the museum discovered that Joseph Brewster, who built the Merchant’s House in 1832, had a deep connection to the abolitionist movement in the 1820s through the 1840s, and also designed blueprints for integrated churches in the area that had similar secret compartments designed for hiding freedom seekers. Historical architectural documents and old photographs confirm that the only reasonable use case for this hidden passageway in a dresser of the second floor of the house would be for hiding people. #blackhistorymonth

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The museum, located on East Fourth Street, has long been admired for preserving early New York life. Built in 1832 as the Treadwell family home and converted into a museum in 1936, the residence features period details including a ruby red parlor, its original piano, and a cast iron stove in the kitchen. Now, it may also represent a chapter in the fight against slavery.

Experts uncovered the hidden space behind built in drawers along the west wall of an upstairs room. After removing a heavy lower drawer, researchers found a rectangular opening cut into the floorboards. The narrow two by two foot shaft includes a ladder leading to the level below. Historians believe the design was intentional and crafted to remain out of sight, possibly serving as refuge for enslaved Africans escaping the South.

“We knew it was here but didn’t really know what we were looking at,” curator Camille Czerkowicz said.

Michael Hiller, a preservation attorney and professor at Pratt Institute, called the discovery extraordinary. “I’ve been practicing historical preservation law for 30 years, and this is a generational find,” he said. “This is the most significant find in historic preservation in my career, and it’s very important that we preserve this.”