In the mid- to late 1800s, a “conspiracy of good” permeated the streets of Columbia as citizens helped freedom seekers navigate the Underground Railroad. William Wright, one of the town founders and a fervent abolitionist, is often credited with helping to establish the path to freedom for people escaping slavery. Now a group of people is working to bring history to life through the Underground Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
The project launched in December, with a tentative opening date set for the end of 2026.
“Antebellum Columbia wasn’t a perfect place,” said Mark Stewart, a member of the Underground Railroad Center of Columbia (URCC), a nonprofit organization spearheading the project. “Far from it. But it was the place where people made a stand, often at extreme personal risk, and said, ‘This stops here.’ Those individuals committed to an ideal and did the right thing during one of the bleakest times in our nation’s history. To me, that is a story worth telling.”
