Levi Coffin House Facts for Kids

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Levi Coffin House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark


Location in Indiana Show map of Indiana Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Fountain City, Indiana
Area	less than one acre
Architectural style	Federal
NRHP reference No.	66000009
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	June 23, 1965

The Coffin House is a very important historic building located in Fountain City, Indiana. This two-story, eight-room brick home was built around 1838–1839. It became famous as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad. This was because many escape routes for freedom-seeking slaves met here.

The original owners, Catharine and Levi Coffin, were Quaker abolitionists. They strongly believed that slavery was wrong. They offered food, clothing, and a safe place for slaves escaping to freedom. For twenty years (1826 to 1847), while living in Indiana, the Coffins are thought to have helped about 2,000 slaves reach freedom in the Northern United States and Canada. Even after moving to Ohio in 1847, they continued their work, helping about 1,300 more people.

In 1966, the Coffin House became the first property in Indiana to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Levi Coffin House Association manages the site. It is open to the public for tours from June through October. The History Channel called it one of the "nation’s Top 25 Historical Sites."

The Story of the Coffin House
What Does the Coffin House Look Like?
See also

The Story of the Coffin House

Who Were Levi and Catharine Coffin?

Catharine and Levi Coffin were the first owners of this historic home. They moved from Guilford County, North Carolina, to Wayne County, Indiana, in 1826. They settled in a town called Newport, which is now Fountain City, Indiana.

Levi Coffin

Levi Coffin (1798–1877) was a Quaker and a strong opponent of slavery. He was a businessman and a kind person who became a key leader in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio. Because of his great help to runaway slaves, he was unofficially called the "President of the Underground Railroad." Catharine (White) Coffin (1803–1881) also played a very active role. She provided food, clothes, and a safe place for the slaves in their home.

Catharine White Coffin, 1879

The Coffins started sheltering slaves seeking freedom in Indiana during the winter of 1826–1827. Their home became one of many stops on the Underground Railroad. This was a secret network that helped slaves travel north to freedom in Canada. "Conductors" (people who guided slaves) would lead them through Kentucky. They usually crossed the Ohio River at Madison, Indiana, Jeffersonville, Indiana, or Cincinnati, Ohio. After crossing, many of these brave people were guided to the Coffin House. The Coffins and their neighbors gave them supplies and a safe place to rest. Then, they would be moved further north. Levi Coffin later guessed that they helped about one hundred slaves escape each year. Even though helping slaves was against the law, it is believed they helped about 2,000 people find freedom during their twenty years in Indiana.

The Coffin House and Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a famous book called Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book told stories about slaves who escaped using the Underground Railroad. Stowe lived in Cincinnati when she wrote the novel. She knew the Coffins, and they might have inspired the fictional Quaker couple, Simeon and Rachael Halliday, in her story. The book tells the tale of Eliza Harris, a slave girl from the South. She escaped by crossing the frozen Ohio River with her baby one winter night. After getting food, clothing, new shoes, and shelter from the Hallidays, Eliza continued her journey to freedom in Canada.

Moving to Ohio and Continued Help

In 1847, friends in the anti-slavery movement asked the Coffins to move to Cincinnati, Ohio. There, they managed a store that sold "free-labor goods." These were products made without slave labor. Levi Coffin sold the business in 1857 because it was hard to make a profit. However, the Coffins kept helping slaves as leaders of the Underground Railroad. It's estimated that they provided a safe place for 1,300 more slaves in their Ohio home. Levi Coffin later worked for the Western Freedman's Aid Society. He also asked the U.S. government to create the Freedmen's Bureau. In 1867, he attended an important anti-slavery conference in Paris before he retired.

A Safe Haven: The Coffin House as an Underground Railroad Stop

The Coffin family's home, which is now a state historic site, was built around 1838–1839. Its special location, where three escape routes to the North met, and the large number of slaves who passed through it, earned it the nickname "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad.

Levi Coffin was very smart. He would demand to see a search warrant and papers proving slave ownership before letting anyone into his house. By the time slave-catchers traveled to the county seat (about 26 miles round trip) to get these documents, the escaping slaves would have already been moved to other safe places. Even after the Coffins moved to Ohio in 1847, their Indiana home continued to be a stop on the Underground Railroad.

From Hotel to Historic Site

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Coffin House was used as a hotel. After 1911, it was changed into apartments and had several owners. Luckily, the house was kept in good condition. Some of its original windowpanes and woodwork are still there today.

The Coffin House was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It was the first property in Indiana to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Indiana's state government bought the house in 1967. The home has been restored to look just as it did in the 1840s when the Coffins lived there. After its restoration, the home opened to the public as a historic site in 1970.

Today, the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites manages the house. It is open for tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

What Does the Coffin House Look Like?

The Coffin House is located at 113 U.S. Route 27 in the middle of Fountain City, Indiana. It's a two-story brick home, painted red, built in the Federal style. It has a two-story section at the back on the northwest corner. The main entrance faces east, along Main Cross Street. Another entrance on Mill Street leads to the back section.

The inside of the house has eight rooms. The furniture is like what a Quaker family would have had in Indiana in the 1840s. The original fireplaces, doors, floors, and some of the woodwork have been carefully restored. When you enter the main door, you step into a central hallway. There's a room on each side and a staircase leading upstairs. The room on the south side of the main floor has built-in bookshelves that are original to the house. The room on the north side was the parlor (a living room). It leads to a dining room in the back section. Stairs go down to a kitchen and a "spring room" in the basement. A well fed by a natural spring in the basement provided fresh water for the home. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms.

The Coffin home had some special features that could have been used to hide runaway slaves if the house was searched. Most rooms have at least two ways to exit. There was a secret door in the maids' quarters on the second floor. This door led to a narrow space between the walls where up to fourteen slaves could hide. The upstairs rooms were also big enough for extra visitors. The house also has a large attic and storage areas.