__NOTOC__ The Arch Street Friends Meeting House, at 320

Arch Street Arch Street is a major east-west street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The street was called Mulberry Street in William Penn's original city grid, but it was renamed Arch in 1854. Other parts of the street were once called Hol ...

at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, is a

Meeting House A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

of the

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

. Built to reflect Friends’ testimonies of simplicity and equality, this building is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use. Pennsylvania founder and Quaker

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

deeded land to the Society of Friends in 1701 to be used as a burial ground. The east wing and center of the meetinghouse was built between 1803 and 1805 according to a design by the Quaker carpenter

Owen Biddle Jr. Owen Biddle Jr. (April 28, 1774May 25, 1806) was an American carpenter and builder, based in Philadelphia. A Quaker, he designed that city's Arch Street Friends Meetinghouse circa 1803–1804. A Georgian structure, the building's East and West ro ...

Biddle is best known as the author of a builder's handbook, ''The Young Carpenter's Assistant'', published in 1805. The building was enlarged in 1810–11, with the addition of the west wing. Architects Walter Ferris Price and Morris & Erskine also contributed to the design and construction of the building. The firm Cope & Lippincott renovated the interior of the east wing and designed the two-story addition behind the center building in 1968–69. Today, the Meeting House continues to be a center for worship and the activities of the

Monthly Meeting In the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), a monthly meeting or area meeting is the basic governing body, a congregation which holds regular meetings for business for Quakers in a given area. The monthly meeting is responsible for the administr ...

of Friends of Philadelphia and

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, or PYM, is the central organizing body for Quaker meetings in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, area, including parts of Pennsylvan ...

. Notable members of the Religious Society of Friends who worshiped at this meetinghouse include abolitionists and woman rights advocates Sarah and Angelina Grimke.

Edward Hicks Edward Hicks (April 4, 1780 – August 23, 1849) was an American folk painter and distinguished religious minister of the Society of Friends (aka "Quakers"). He became a Quaker icon because of his paintings. Biography Early life Edward ...

, the noted painter and cousin of

Elias Hicks Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the second major schism within the Religious Soc ...

, also attended meeting here. The meetinghouse was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971 and declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 2011. The latter designation was as a consequence of the building being the only surviving documented work by Owen Biddle.

Notable interments

The ground upon which the meetinghouse was built was the first burial ground for Quakers in Philadelphia. Although the plot was officially given to the Society of Friends by William Penn in 1701, burials had been taking place here since as early as 1683. According to reports, Quakers were buried here alongside of “Indians, Blacks and strangers.” Notable interments include: *

Charles Brockden Brown Charles Brockden Brown (January 17, 1771 – February 22, 1810) was an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period. He is generally regarded by scholars as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore C ...

(1771–1810), the first American novelist (''Wieland'')''Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries''
Arcadia Publishing *

Samuel Carpenter Samuel Carpenter (4 November 1649 – 10 April 1714) was a Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. He signed the historic document "The Declaration of Fealty, Christian Belief and Test" dated 10 September 1695; the original is in the Histor ...

(1649–1714) and most of his family and his brother Abraham Carpenter (a non-member who married a Quaker) were buried in the Friends Burial Ground. Samuel was a Deputy Governor under

and the "First Treasurer" of Pennsylvania. *

Lydia Darrah Lydia Darragh (1729 – December 28, 1789) was an Irish woman said to have crossed British lines during the British occupation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War, delivering information to George Washington and the ...

(1728–1789), Revolutionary War spy *

John Eckley John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1652–1690), First Purchaser, merchant and judge of the Provincial Court in Philadelphia. * James Logan (1674–1751), secretary to

Samuel Nicholas Samuel Nicholas (1744 – 27 August 1790) was the first officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines (predecessor to the United States Marine Corps) and by tradition is considered to be the first Commandant of the Marine Corps ...

(1744–1790), founder and first commandant of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. Each November 10, Marines mark his grave with a wreath at dawn. *

Robert Waln Robert Waln (February 22, 1765January 24, 1836) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania, he received a limited schooling, engaged in mercantile pursuits and in East India and Ch ...

(1765–1836), U.S. Congressman * Dr. Thomas Wynne (1627–1691), personal physician of William Penn and one of the original settlers of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania. Born in Wales, he accompanied Penn on his original journey to America on the ship Welcome. *

Caspar Wistar Caspar Wistar may refer to: * Caspar Wistar (glassmaker) (1696–1752), Pennsylvania glassmaker and landowner * Caspar Wistar (physician) Caspar Wistar (September 13, 1761January 22, 1818) was an American physician and anatomist. He is sometim ...

(1761–1818), American physician, professor of anatomy and vice president of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. Wistar mentored Meriwether Lewis before Lewis joined William Clark on the expedition to cross the western part of the continent.

Gallery

File:Sunday Morning in front of the Arch Street Meeting House, Philadelphia MET DT1806.jpg, John Lewis Krimmel, ''Sunday Morning'' (ca.1813) File:Friends Meeting House, late 19th century.jpg, In the late 19th century File:ArchStFriendsMeetingHouse.jpg, The northwest corner (1974), photo by Jack E. Boucher File:Arch St Meeting interior.JPG, Interior (2010) File:Arch Street Meeting House Historical Marker at 320 Arch St Philadelphia PA (DSC 4766).jpg, Historical marker

References

Notes Further reading *Barnes, Gregory. ''Philadelphia’s Arch Street Meeting House: A Biography'', Philadelphia, PA: QuakerPress, 2013. *Bronner, Edwin B. "Quaker Landmarks in Early Philadelphia", ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Ser.'', Vol. 43, No. 1 (1953), pp. 210–216.

External links

*
Listing and photographs
at the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Listing
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
Friends Arch Street Meeting House Burial Ground
at

Find A Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

Listing at visitphilly.comListing
in th
Colored Conventions project
{{Authority control Churches in Philadelphia Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Quaker meeting houses in Pennsylvania Churches completed in 1804 Pennsylvania state historical marker significations Old City, Philadelphia Colored Conventions Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania

Notable interments

Gallery

See also

References

External links