History & local legend
William C. Goodridge’s house on East Philadelphia Street in York was a station on the Underground Railroad. Born into slavery and later freed, Goodridge became a successful businessman and used his position to help others escape enslavement. A trapdoor in the kitchen opened into a hiding place beneath the house.
In 2012, while the nonprofit Crispus Attucks was raising money to turn the property into a museum, community development director Carol Kauffman told a York reporter that visitors had heard footsteps when no one was around. She described the house’s haunted reputation as familiar locally and said the organization was considering a paranormal event as a fundraiser. The home subsequently became the William C. Goodridge Freedom Center and Underground Railroad Museum.
Sources
- Lauren Boyer, York Daily Record/Sunday News, interview with Crispus Attucks community development director Carol Kauffman
- Crispus Attucks York, museum operator and Goodridge biography
- Risky Business, York interpretive marker describing the kitchen trapdoor
- National Park Service, Network to Freedom listing at 123 East Philadelphia Street
- Esri, museum street address
- York reporting preserved by National Paranormal Association
