Underground Railroad
Posted by: 
Gosffo
N 40° 15.786 W 076° 52.875
18T E 340030 N 4458657
Tanner's Alley
Waymark Code: WM62R
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/15/2006
Views: 41
Slavery began in the New World in 1626 when 11 Africian slaves arrived in New York City. By 1861 4 million slaves were in bondage. In the 1800's Pa. had 16,000 blacks and by 1830 that number tripled, so a run away slave could "fit in". In 1860, Pa. had no slaves and 57,000 free "blacks". Joseph Bustill and William Jones' houses were where the fugitive slaves hid and were care for by the Wesley Union AME Zion Church.
Tanner's Alley, was located behind the Capital building and the railroad and canal. It was a mixed race, multi cultural district. (8th ward)
John Bustill was not a native of Harrisburg. He came from Philadelphia and moved into the neighborhood to begin operating an Underground Railroad stop in the spring of 1856. A neighborhood watch was set up around Short Street to guard against raids by local authorities.
Tanner's Alley, along with the rest of the 8th Ward was razed from 1912 to 1936 for the expansion of the Captial complex. Nothing remains of the neighborhood.
Dr. William Rutherford, (11 S. Front St. was an antislave acivitist. In 1847 he invitited Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison to Harrisburg to speak. The doctor's home is reported to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves coming from Cumberland County across the river. He than sent them to relatives out on farms in the area now know as Derry St.
Frederick Douglass (1817? - 1895)was the most prominent Africian American orator, journalist and antislavery leader. An escaped slave himself he wrote book on his experiences.
William LLoyd Garrison, a white man, published a newspaper called "Liberator". He believed in the freedom of the black slave. The Liberator was published from 1/1/1831 till the end of the Civil War in 1865.
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Marker Name: Underground Railroad
County: Dauphin
Date Dedicated: 04/29/2000
Marker Type: City
Location: In Capitol Park, Walnut St. near 4th St., Harrisburg
Category: African American, Underground Railroad
Website: Not listed
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