This former right of way of the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad was a critical link in the national anti-slavery movement that by the 1840's became known as the Underground Railroad, a secret passage to freedom. The Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad was only the second railroad in the U.S., and by 1834 privately owned passenger and freight cars were moving through the City of Lancaster on this corridor after businesses built their own cars and paid fees to couple with state-owned steam engines. William Whipper and Stephen Smith, prosperous lumber merchants in Columbia, Lancaster County, modified box cars by 1838 with assistance from Underground Railroad activist William Wright of Columbia, adding a false wall inside at one end so freedom seekers could be concealed behind the partition and reach Philadelphia in about eight hours. By 1840, Black businessman William C. Goodridge of York, Pennsylvania, also used this secret transport system in his rail cars in league with Smith and Whipper over the next 20 years. Their work was not revealed until 1870. Smith and Whipper were among the wealthiest African Americans in pre-Civil War America and shared their funds to support causes advancing civil rights and social equality. In 2010 this historic right of way of the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad between Lancaster and Philadelphia was recognized as an authentic site associated with the Underground Railroad Movement.
