Thaddeus Stevens Museum Set to Open

By Ed Epstein

Washington D.C.

Monday, April 20, 2026

A museum of more than 20,000 square feet celebrating the life and vision of Thaddeus Stevens, the Radical Republican from Pennsylvania who prodded President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and then pushed for the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, will open on May 2 in downtown Lancaster, Pa., the town where he lived for many years and where he is buried.

The new museum in downtown Lancaster, Pa., opening on May 2

The museum also honors the work of Lydia Hamilton Smith, the African American who was Stevens' confidante, housekeeper, and possibly his romantic partner for 24 years, until his death in 1868. After then, "she broke social barriers to achieve remarkable influence and wealth," as the museum puts it on its website, stevensandsmithcenter.org.

The new museum has been in the works for many years. Fundraising has long been underway to pay for the $24 million cost of building, designing and creating exhibits and a $5 million endowment to help fund operations. The museum at 13-15 East Vine St. in downtown Lancaster is partially housed in Stevens' old law offices.

Stevens was born in Vermont, came to Gettysburg, Pa., as a young man and went into the practice of law. He also operated the Caledonia Ironworks, not far from Gettysburg, that Confederate forces destroyed days before the epic battle of Gettysburg.

First elected to the House in 1848, Stevens had earlier served in the Pennsylvania state legislature, where he championed public education, then a new, radical idea. He also was instrumental in the founding of Gettysburg College in the early 1830s by helping to secure a state grant for the school and giving it land.

Stevens was an advocate for racial equality. He and Smith were active in the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves. After his death, he became the third person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda, after Henry Clay and Lincoln. African American soldiers from the Civil War formed the honor guard.

He is buried in Lancaster's Shreiner's Cemetery, unusual at the time for allowing the burial of both black and white people.

After Stevens' death, Smith operated a boarding house near the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, among other business activities. She died in 1884.

In addition to the new Lancaster museum, a storefront museum telling about Stevens' career remains open at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg.

Photo from Discover Lancaster