The Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence is located on Livingston Avenue in Albany, New York, United States.

Stephen Myers, himself freed from slavery in his youth, served for a time as chairman of the Vigilance Committee of Albany, which met in the house built and owned by an African American boat captain who was his brother-in-law.

Stephen and his wife Harriet actively assisted others escaping from slavery for nearly 30 years; he also edited some abolitionist newspapers and spoke with Frederick Douglass at anti-slavery events.

[2] North Swan, to the east, is the boundary of the Arbor Hill Historic District – Ten Broeck Triangle, also listed on the Register.

[2] On the walls of the staircase is a mural with a timeline containing over 100 events that document African American history beginning with the New York Conspiracy of 1741.

A search of records suggests the actual identity is Colonel Warren who headed American forces at the Raid at Black Rock.

[2] Myers advocated for work and education opportunities within the African American community, raising money for those causes personally.

A later historian claims Myers helped found an African-American school in the city, at what is now Israel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Hamilton Street.

Its articles and editorials, many written by Myers, argued against slavery and for temperance and African American self-help, education and employment.

The association was initially a rival to Albany's older Vigilance Committee, whose membership was drawn from a wider base, including the city's more established African American families and many religious denominations that vocally opposed slavery.

At one point, shortly after the association had been founded, the Tocsin accused Myers of pocketing money meant for the committee.

Abel Brown, a Baptist minister, contracted fatal pneumonia on a trip to Western New York where he was preaching against slavery.

The other, Charles Torrey, who had been one of Myers' chief accusers, was arrested in Maryland for assisting escaped slaves and died in prison there two years later.

Back in Albany, the two groups effectively merged and Stephen Myers became chair of the enlarged Vigilance Committee.

He not only continued publishing The Northern Star, but appeared at anti-slavery events and conferences in the region, sometimes sharing the podium with Frederick Douglass, who in later life cited him specifically as key to the Underground Railroad.

[2] In 1847 John Johnson, an African American who captained a sloop named Miriam (according to Munsell's historical Annals of Albany [4]) in the slips near the base of Livingston Avenue, then called Lumber Street due to the large homes of the many lumber company executives built near the slips, built the house at what was then number 198.

City directories of the era show an Abram Johnson living nearby; According to the 1855 Census, John was his son and Harriet, who married Stephen Myers, his daughter.

Johnson and his builders seem to have followed the plan strictly, leaving the sides windowless even though there was little likelihood that an attached structure would later be built next door since there was already a house in the rear that needed street access.

[2] Two years after moving into the new house, in 1849, Myers merged The Northern Star with another upstate abolitionist newspaper, The True American, published by Samuel Ringgold Ward in Cortland.

[2] In 1850, Myers had been elected to the executive committee of the American League of Colored Laborers, part of his continuing activism beyond abolition.

A later historian of African American abolitionists wrote that Myers' house "had the reputation of being the best-run part of the Underground Railroad in the state.

He organized local celebrations of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and personally recruited soldiers for the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and other black units raised by that state.

The Albany Evening Times reported that he had most recently been working as a janitor for former Union Army general Patrick Henry Jones, then serving as New York City's postmaster.

Many of the surrounding houses from the previous century in the Arbor Hill neighborhood were demolished based on a 1962 urban renewal plan.

Local historian Paul Stewart and his wife, Mary Liz, after researching Myers and his work, formed the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, hosting an annual conference on slavery with speakers from around the world starting in 2001.

The state's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) gave them a $50,000 grant at first; by 2007, when the first work got underway, over half a million dollars had been raised.