Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 39

 Finally, a Thaddeus Stevens museum

March 2024

By Ross Hetrick

On April 4, something will happen that should have happened a long time ago -- the grand opening of the first Thaddeus Stevens museum at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, PA.

The event from 5 to 7 p.m. will include music by noted musician Tom Jolin and the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner by Jesse Holt. There will be tours of the new museum and free handouts of DVDs and other Stevens souvenirs. 

More than 40 years ago I read a biography of Thaddeus Stevens and was bowled over. While other politicians vacillated and appeased slaveholders, Stevens was irrevocably against human bondage. Not only that, he was incredibly effective and was instrumental in preventing President Andrew Johnson from reversing the gains of the Civil War. Despite not being president, he was one of the most important people in American history.

I had to go to Lancaster, PA, one of the places that Stevens spent much of his adult life. I expected to tour his house full of artifacts of his life and see his incredibly inspirational grave that celebrates his devotion to equality. What I found horrified me. 

Stevens's house had been changed beyond recognition and there were no house tours, just a tarnished plaque saying he had lived there. His grave was little better. The small cemetery where he is buried -- the only integrated cemetery in Lancaster at the time of his death -- was overgrown with tree branches and broken tombstones strewn about. In Gettysburg, where he lived for 26 years and had a major impact in the borough and the state, it was worse. His house had been torn down in the 1920s and he was completely forgotten, overshadowed by the battle, Lincoln and Eisenhower.

The Thaddeus Stevens Society was founded 25 year ago to rectify this terrible situation and give Stevens the honor he deserves. There have been a number of gains in the intervening years. Two statues have been put up to the Great Commoner, one in Lancaster and another in Gettysburg. His cemetery is better maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers.

Now, at long last, people who come to know about Stevens and admire him can go to the new museum in Gettysburg on Chambersburg Street to get a fuller sense of this man's greatness. They can see letters written by him to important figures of the day. They can see cast iron stoves made at iron mills he owned. There are dozens of Civil War era newspapers detailing his exploits, including one from France. There is a space for researchers to use the Society's extensive library about Stevens and people can watch videos about Stevens while sipping coffee. 

The location of the free museum is very appropriate since it is located across the street from where Stevens's house was until it was torn down.

A year from now, LancasterHistory will open the $25 million Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center For History and Democracy in Lancaster, PA. Besides Stevens, it will be about his Lancaster housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith, and the Underground Railroad. It should be magnificent.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/