The Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy will showcase core American civic values and supply a corrective to the historical record that's long overdue, speakers said Monday morning.
The museum will be "the most important contribution LancasterHistory has ever made to our country, to our commonwealth and to our country," the nonprofit's president and CEO Tom Ryan told the large audience gathered for the "ceremonial groundbreaking" at the Commons on Vine level of the Lancaster County Convention Center.
The museum will occupy Stevens' law office and house and the Kleiss Tavern, which sit under the convention center's eaves at the corner of East Vine and South Queen Streets. All told, it will have about 20,000 square feet of space.
Stevens, the leader of the Radical Republicans in the Civil War era, was a resolute abolitionist and the chief architect of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, sometimes described as constituting America's "second founding." Smith, his housekeeper, forged a business career and built considerable wealth despite the prejudice she faced as a woman and an individual of mixed race.
For more information
The complex will be a tribute, not only to Stevens and Smith as individuals, but to the ideals they stood for, said former Mayor Rick Gray, LancasterHistory's board chair.
Smith was "ahead of her times," Gray said. As for Stevens, he was "removed from history by those who could not accept the result of the Civil War." He fought for equality, public education, due process, and voting rights, all issues that remain relevant today, the mayor said.
In Lancaster, until recently, Stevens' and Smith's names were known, but their legacy earned little respect outside the Black community, Ryan said.
"This is all about to change," he said: The museum will highlight Lancaster's role in the Underground Railroad; make the case for Stevens as a transformational figure in American history and politics; and give a full portrait of Smith and her achievements.
The Stevens-Smith Center has been in the making for more than two decades. In the early 2000s, the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County fought successfully to prevent the demolition of the buildings during the convention center project, then worked to stabilize them and restore their exteriors.
LancasterHistory inherited the project in 2010. Fourteen years later, it's exciting to be at this moment, Vice President Robin Sarratt said.
LancasterHistory's contractor, Benchmark Construction, aims to finish renovating the buildings' interiors by the end of the year. Exhibits and interpretive materials will be installed next year, leading to an expected opening in October 2025.
The overall budget is $24 million: $19 million for construction and outfitting the museum, plus a $5 million endowment to support its ongoing operations. To date, LancasterHistory has raised roughly two-thirds of that: $15.75 million.
Donations have ranged from $4 — from a York College student eager to show her support despite limited means — to $4 million, provided through Lancaster's City Revitalization & Improvement Zone, or CRIZ.
LancasterHistory recently received just under $500,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities and it has applied for $1 million from the state government's Local Share Account program. Large private donations have come from the High Foundation, the Steinman Foundation and Fulton Financial's Fulton Forward Foundation.
But those neither are nor should be the whole story, capital campaign co-chair and former Lancaster Chamber president Tom Baldrige said. In keeping with Stevens' and Smith's egalitarianism, the campaign's goal is broad participation, he said, with many people giving a few dollars, "so that everybody owns this project."
Dale High, chair emeritus of the High Companies and chair of the High Foundation, said he's advocated for many years for Lancaster to give Stevens and Smith their due, and that it's a "personal delight" for him that it's happening.
Stevens and Smith risked their lives and livelihoods in support of freedom and equality, said Blanding Watson, president of the NAACP Lancaster Branch.
Today, "we must embrace their example," he said.
Photos
(Photos: Tim Stuhldreher | One United Lancaster)
