For decades, visitors to Manhattan's Merchant's House Museum walked past a built-in chest of drawers without knowing the full significance of the narrow passage concealed behind it. After two years of research, historians concluded that the passage was likely used as a hiding place for people escaping slavery. The passage is roughly 2 feet square and descends about 15 feet from the second floor toward the ground floor. The museum announced the finding in February 2026, describing the 1832 Merchant's House as the earliest known site of Underground Railroad activity in New York City. The house was built by Joseph Brewster, a wealthy merchant and abolitionist, and the museum says the passage appears to have been incorporated into the building when it was constructed. Its physical existence was known before the recent research; what changed was the understanding of what the unusual space may have been used for.
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