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A passageway, believed to have been used as part of the Underground Railroad, is hidden in the base of a dresser inside the Merchant\u2019s House Museum in New York on Feb. 19, 2026. (Max Touhey\/Merchant’s House Museum via AP)<\/p>\n
Max Touhey\/AP<\/p>\n
A passageway, believed to have been used as part of the Underground Railroad, is hidden in the base of a dresser inside the Merchant\u2019s House Museum in New York on Feb. 19, 2026. (Max Touhey\/Merchant’s House Museum via AP)<\/p>\n
Max Touhey\/AP<\/p>\n
FILE – A bronze statue of abolitionist Harriet Tubman is seen at the Maryland State House, Feb. 10, 2020, in Annapolis.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
A passageway, believed to have been used as part of the Underground Railroad, is hidden in the base of a dresser inside the Merchant\u2019s House Museum in New York on Feb. 19, 2026. (Max Touhey\/Merchant’s House Museum via AP)<\/p>\n
Max Touhey\/AP<\/p>\n
FILE – The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks ahead of the 61st Bloody Sunday Anniversary march, March 8, 2026, in Selma, Ala.<\/p>\n
Mike Stewart\/AP<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A newly identified Underground Railroad passageway once used by enslaved people fleeing to freedom is putting the spotlight on a New York City museum and its struggle against a proposed neighboring development.<\/p>\n
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Staff at the Merchant’s House Museum \u2014 an upper crust family home built in 1832 in Manhattan\u2019s NoHo district \u2014 last month revealed that researchers can now explain the passageway’s historical purpose because they recently discovered that the home’s original owner was an abolitionist. Historians and Black activists hail it as the first \u201cintact\u201d Underground Railroad site found in New York in over 160 years.<\/p>\n
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The discovery has substantially raised the museum’s foot traffic, along with hopes of staving off a possible nine-story mixed-use building next door because building it could damage the walls and foundation of the adjacent historic site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat our engineers are saying is that there really is no way that a building of that size is built immediately next door to the museum without causing significant structural damage to our historic building,\u201d said Emily Hill-Wright, the museum\u2019s director of operations.<\/p>\n
The New York City\u2019s Landmarks Preservation Commission has been weighing whether to approve the development. Consultants and architects working on the project say the museum should not be heavily impacted.<\/p>\n
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