Thaddeus Stevens
Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Lawyer, congressman, abolitionist, ironmaster, and defender of free public schools in Pennsylvania, lived in a house that stood on this site. He moved from here in 1842.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Before he became one of the most powerful and uncompromising figures in Congress, Thaddeus Stevens lived in Gettysburg, leaving in 1842. Here he built his early career as a lawyer and ironmaster while championing two causes that defined him: the abolition of slavery and the defense of free public schools in Pennsylvania, which he famously fought to preserve in 1835. From these Adams County beginnings he rose to lead the Radical Republicans and shape Reconstruction after the Civil War.
Why it matters
Stevens was among the fiercest advocates for emancipation, equal rights, and free public education, and this site marks the early home of a man who helped push the nation toward its founding promises.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- The David Wills House Museum0.1 mi away · 8 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, PA
- Ticket to the Past - Unforgettable Journeys0.1 mi away · 35 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Gettysburg Museum of History0.2 mi away · 219 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Shriver House Museum0.3 mi away · 309 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Jennie Wade House Gifts0.5 mi away · 548 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Seminary Ridge Museum, Gettysburg0.6 mi away · 61 Seminary Ridge Avenue, Gettysburg
Attractions
- John Eisenhower Bridge2.9 mi away · Waterworks Road
- Sachs Covered Bridge3.3 mi away
- Sachs Covered Bridge3.3 mi away · Waterworks Road, Gettysburg, PA
Food & drink
- Thai Elephant Walknearby · 51 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- The Hideoutnearby · 45 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- The Gettysburger Co.nearby · 35 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- The Sign of the Bucknearby · 29 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Ernie's Texas Lunchnearby · 58 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- food 101nearby · 101 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
Places to stay
- The Union Hotelnearby · 27 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Gettysburg Hotel0.1 mi away · 1 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, PA
- The Inn at Lincoln Square0.1 mi away · 12 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, PA
- The LaVerne Private Guesthouse0.1 mi away · 27 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
- The Brafferton Inn0.2 mi away · 44 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Tillie Pierce House Inn0.3 mi away · 301 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Thaddeus Stevens
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Daniel Alexander Payne
Gettysburg, PA · est. 1991
Born free in Charleston at a time when education for Black Americans was often outlawed, Daniel Alexander Payne became one of the 19th century's most influential Black religious leaders. While studying at Gettysburg's Lutheran Seminary in 1837 he also taught here at the college, and he went on to be elected a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852 and to lead Wilberforce University, one of the first colleges owned and run by African Americans.
Lincoln Cemetery
Gettysburg, PA · est. 2003
Founded in 1867 by the Sons of Good Will, Lincoln Cemetery gave Gettysburg's African American citizens and soldiers a dignified resting place they were otherwise denied. Roughly thirty veterans of the United States Colored Troops lie here — men who fought for the Union but were barred by segregation from burial in the town's famous National Cemetery. Later generations of Black veterans from the Spanish-American War through Korea joined them in ground first known as Good Will Cemetery and renamed for Lincoln in 1920.
McAllister's Mill Underground Railroad Station
Cumberland Township, PA · est. 2012
On the eve of the Civil War era, the McAllister family's grist mill on Rock Creek in Adams County became a haven for people escaping slavery. James McAllister and his family sheltered hundreds of freedom seekers as part of one of the earliest Underground Railroad networks carrying them north. On July 4, 1836, the site hosted a gathering of abolitionists that gave birth to the influential Adams County Anti-Slavery Society.
Ralph Elwood Brock (1883-1959)
Mont Alto, PA · est. 2003
A member of the State Forest Academy's original class of 1906, Ralph Elwood Brock became the school's first African American graduate and a protégé of the pioneering forester J.T. Rothrock. He ran the Mont Alto State Forest Nursery until 1911, then built a career as a consulting forester shaping gardens and landscapes in New York City and Philadelphia. His work opened a professional field that few Black Americans had yet entered.