In the span of 25 years, William Goodridge went from a young slave in Maryland to one of York’s most prominent businessmen. He grew from barber to entrepreneur, expanding his business, purchasing new properties, and starting new ventures. For a brief time he even operated a barber shop in Philadelphia.
One of his business ventures was the Goodridge Reliance Line of burthen (freight) cars, which operated from York. These cars were capable of transporting almost any freight, and eventually ran as far west as Pittsburgh and as far east as Philadelphia.
But beyond his success in business, Goodridge became quite successful in another, more clandestine endeavour: the Underground Railroad.
His properties were stations, and he was both a stationmaster and conductor, meaning that he provided shelter for runaway slaves as well as a means of transport to get them one step closer to freedom.
He lived at 123 East Philadelphia Street, in a home that still stands today. Below the kitchen is a root cellar with exposed dirt walls. It was in here that the escaped slaves were hidden. The root cellar was accessible via a trap door in the kitchen floor that was covered with carpet. Long after Goodridge left York and passed away, his children told local historians of the hiding place, which was “found” in an 1897 renovation project by noted architect Reinhardt Dempwolf. There is also at least one narrative from an escaped slave that identifies the cellar in the Goodridge House as a hiding place. Furthermore, the National Park Service has researched and authenticated the site as part of their Network to Freedom program.
In addition to his home, Goodridge is believed to have used his other properties for Underground Railroad activities, including Centre Hall. Tradition holds that Osborne Perry Anderson was hidden behind the third floor stairs for a period of time after John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Anderson was the only free black to participate in the raid, escape, and survive. He traveled to Chambersburg on foot, then went “underground,” figuratively, as he used the Underground Railroad to find safety in Canada.
William Goodridge was quite secretive about his efforts, with good reason. As a successful businessman, he had a lot to lose. And after the Compromise of 1850, it became illegal to help a fugitive slave in any way, so the good Samaritans of the Underground Railroad were essentially criminals facing stiff fines and up to six months in prison. William Still, the Philadelphia-based “Father of the Underground Railroad,” kept detailed records of his activities and the people that passed through his care. But in York, slave catchers and bounty hunters were ever present. And they watched Goodridge. In fact, I’ve heard an Underground Railroad expert with the Pennsylvania Historic & Museum Commission refer to York County as a “battleground” because of the proximity to a slave state. (Slavery was not abolished in Maryland until November 1864, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.)
In addition to using his properties, Goodridge also used his railcars to transport the escaped slaves. It is believed that hidden compartments were built into the railcars. A train would leave York and stop in Columbia, on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna River. Here William Whipper might meet the fugitives and provide them shelter. But other times the escaped slaves might travel all the way to Philadelphia and William Still.
No one will ever know how many people Goodridge helped, though because he was active for several decades, it most likely numbers in the hundreds.
William Parker, the key figure of the 1851 Christiana riots, was helped during his escape to freedom by William Goodridge. This occurred in the 1830s. John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry was in 1859, so we can track three decades of involvement from these two time periods.
The fortunes of William Goodridge turned with the financial Panic of 1857, which resulted in the sale of most of his properties, including Centre Hall and his house on East Philadelphia Street. His wife, Evalina, had also been his business partner, and with her passing in 1852 his business decisions may not have been as sound. But even after losing almost everything, Goodridge continued to rent Centre Hall and his home, though in 1859 his store closed and he went back to the trade he knew best: barbering.
William Goodridge left York in the summer of 1865 for East Saginaw, Michigan, where he died in 1873.
His legacy lives on, however. In the next post we’ll review plans for the William C. Goodridge Freedom House & Underground Railroad.