Enslavementto
freedom
Harrisburg on the eve
of Civil War
Study Areas
The Violent Decade
Rudolph Frederick Kelker and William W. Rutherford
Site of Homes, Front Street, Harrisburg, PA
Dauphin County's modern courthouse building, built in 1943, stands on the site of the old 9 and 11 South Front Street lots. These lots were the locations of the homes of Dr. William Wilson Rutherford and Rudolph Frederick Kelker. Both families were involved in local anti-slavery and abolition causes. William W. Rutherford hid fugitive slaves on the grounds of his Front Street home, and his next-door neighbor, Rudolph Frederick Kelker, did the same.
Rutherford placed fugitives in the hands of local African American activists, who guided the freedom seekers to the Rutherford family farms in the Paxtang Valley. Kelker entrusted fugitives to Dr. William "Father" Jones, who lived on the corner of Barberry (modern Barbara) Street and River Alley, near stables and a barn belonging to Kelker.
All photographs and text on this page copyright © 2010 George F. Nagle and Afrolumens Project.
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