Abolitionist Place
William Harned, an Underground Railroad conductor, lived at the intersection with Willoughby Street, and stories have been passed down orally of involvement of several houses on the block.
[1] In the mid-2000s the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced plans to use eminent domain to seize and demolish the sites to construct a new public square and underground parking, leading the community to organize in opposition.
Slavery was outlawed in New York in 1827, and Brooklyn's waterfront trade with Southern states made it a convenient stop for escaped slaves traveling the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses established to allow enslaved African Americans to escape into free states and Canada.
[2][3][4] The three-story Greek Revival rowhouse at 227 Duffield Street was built c. 1847–1850 and was home to the abolitionists Harriet and Thomas Truesdell from 1851 to 1863.
Their friend, prominent American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, stayed with the couple in Brooklyn before he left to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.
[4] Lewis Greenstein, who inherited the house at 233 Duffield Street from his mother in 1992, also made claims of abolitionist activity on that site.
[12] According to Greenstein in the New York Times, the hidden tunnels underneath what is now Abolitionist Place, including 233 Duffield, and their use by slaves seeking freedom, was "treated as common knowledge".
The report appendix includes a peer review by twelve scholars, eight of whom expressed reservations about the conclusion, citing insufficient archaeological investigation and lack of participation of local abolitionist historians.
[8][16] Community members and groups like Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) joined Chatel in an effort to preserve the site.
[25][26] Borough president Eric Adams, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Letitia James, and other politicians expressed support for the landmark designation.
[31] At a Public Design Commission meeting, some preservationists and activists criticized the proposal's use of abstraction rather than depicting the historical figures, and the plans were tabled.
