Levi Coffin House

Levi Coffin House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Show map of Indiana Show map of the United States
Location	Fountain City, Indiana
Coordinates	39°57′22.5″N 84°55′2.5″W / 39.956250°N 84.917361°W / 39.956250; -84.917361
Area	less than one acre
Architectural style	Federal
NRHP reference No.	66000009
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHL	June 23, 1965[2]

The Coffin House is a National Historic Landmark located in the present-day town of Fountain City in Wayne County, Indiana. The two-story, eight room, brick home was constructed circa 1838–39 in the Federal style. The Coffin home became known as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad because of its location where three of the escape routes to the North converged and the number of fleeing slaves who passed through it.^[3]

Its original owners, Catharine and Levi Coffin, were Quaker abolitionists who provided fugitive slaves with supplies and a safe place to stay.^[3] During the twenty years (1826 to 1847) that The Coffins lived in Indiana it is believed that they helped as many as 2,000 slaves escape to freedom in the Northern United States and in Canada.^[4] (The Coffins continued their role as local leaders in the Underground Railroad after their move to Ohio in 1847 and provided aid to approximately 1,300 more slaves to assist in their escape to the North.) In 1966 the Coffin's Indiana home became the first property in the state to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Levi Coffin House Association operates the property under an agreement with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the historic home's present-day owner. The site is open to the public for tours, Tuesday through Saturday, from June through October. Admission is charged for visitors over the age of six. The Coffin House was ranked as “one of the nation’s Top 25 Historical Sites” by the History Channel. In 2016, the Smithsonian named the Levi Coffin House Interpretive Center “one of 12 new museums around the world to visit,” while the Indiana Office of Tourism Development voted it as one of the top museums in the State of Indiana.^[5]