18-02-2025
The legacy of York County's stop on the underground railroad
YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)– An important stop of the underground railroad was right here in the Midstate.
William Goodridge, the station master of the Goodridge Freedom Center, was a black man who became one of the most successful businessmen in York. He and his family lived at the Freedom Center, which is now a piece of American history.
Goodridge was born into slavery, sent to York when he was six and freed as a teen. Once free, Goodridge trained to become a barber.
Kelly Summerford, Director of the William Goodridge Freedom Center and Underground Railroad Museum, said Goodridge turned a one-chair barbershop into York's tallest and most important emporium.
'We are not a museum of gallery. We are a museum of transformation. We tell the stories,' Summerford said. And Goodridge's story is a remarkable one.
'What makes that unique is the fact a person born, enslaved, coming to York County and able to establish himself. York County would probably have been one of the most using the vernacular of the day racist counties in the Commonwealth,' he said.
Goodridge took his success and helped slaves escape, using his home to house those fleeing the South.
'I think we're about eight miles from the Mason-Dixon Line, you know, which represented enslavement to freedom. So just relative, relative relatively easily, just having a stop so close, you know, was quite important and. Sure, quite dangerous,' Summerford said.
Today, she gives guided tours through the house. Summerford said some of the guests come fall on their knees and start praying, especially in one specific room.
The room, which would have been a kitchen, housed a trap door that would hide escapees. A special viewing window gives guests a glimpse at the conditions escaped slaves had to endure.
'He absolutely was a hero,' Summerford said. But that's not the end of William Goodridge's legacy.
'His sons were some of the first black photographers in the world. And we're standing on this in the second floor, which we dedicate to Glenalvin Goodridge and his brothers, William and Wallace,' Alison Renner said.
Glenalvin Goodridge was a pioneer in photography.
'Basically, his importance lies in how early it is. This is a very emerging genre and not that many people have had their portraits, actually,' Goodridge added. 'They've had them painted, but they haven't had them photographed. And so he's taking photographs of some of the most important people in York.'
While he took many of the photos that now remain in the Freedom Center, there are no photos of him.
'While it seems easy from the outside, the reality of it was because of his position in York as a prominent black man and moneyed prominent black man, he was targeted,' she said.
And that's the real lesson of the Goodridge's. Despite the cruelty of the era, they found a way to make a difference through talent, determination, and courage.
Learn more about the Goodridge Freed Center online.
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