First Presbyterian Church in the City of Philadelphia | |
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Location | 201 South 21st Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 |
Country | United States |
Language(s) | English |
Denomination | Presbyterian (PCUSA) |
Membership | 280 |
Weekly attendance | 50 |
Website | fpcphila |
History | |
Former name(s) | Second Presbyterian Church Calvary Presbyterian Church [1] [2] [3] |
Status | Open |
Founded | 1692 |
Founder(s) | Francis Makemie Jedediah Andrews [1] |
Dedicated | 1698 |
Associated people | Benjamin Franklin Dr. Benjamin Rush James Wilson Thomas McKean Jared Ingersoll President John Adams |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Architect(s) | Henry Augustus Sims(1872 Church) Theophilus P. Chandler Jr. (1884 Parish House) Frank Furness (1901 Tower) Harold E. Wagoner (1954 Chancel Renovations) [1] Atkin Olshin Schade Architects (2010 FAMP Renovations) [4] [5] |
Architectural type | French and English Gothic |
Groundbreaking | 1869 |
Completed | 1872, 1884, 1901, 1954, 2010 |
Specifications | |
Materials | Exterior: Richmond granite and Trenton stone. Interior: Sandstone and black walnut (pews). [6] |
Administration | |
Synod | Synod of the Trinity |
Presbytery | Philadelphia |
Clergy | |
Minister(s) | The Rev. Laura Colee The Rev. Matthew Arlyck |
Senior pastor(s) | The Rev. Dr. Baron A. Mullis |
Deacon(s) | Gary Christensen, Moderator Elaine Hanby, Vice Moderator |
Laity | |
Organist/Director of music | Bálint Karosi, DMA [7] [8] |
Session clerk | Suzy Christensen, Clerk/Secretary |
Music group(s) | The Chancel Choir The Parish Choir [9] |
Parish administrator | Suzanne Riemann |
The First Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church USA congregation in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located on 21st and Walnut Streets, built in an array of architectural styles of leading Philadelphia architects. It is part of the Presbytery of Philadelphia within the Synod of the Trinity. The First Presbyterian Church is located within the Rittenhouse Fitler Historic District. [10]
Today the congregation stands at about 280 members. As an urban parish, the church has long held a reputation for being open and welcoming, a trait it exhibited during the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s, when members founded MANNA and allowed openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) leadership. First Church is a member of Covenant Network of Presbyterians. [11]
The First Presbyterian Church in the City of Philadelphia, also known as 'First Church', was organized around 1692. Religious services began in a building known as the "Barbadoes Warehouse", located on the northwest corner of Second and Chestnut Streets. For a time, both Baptists and Congregationalists shared this facility with the Presbyterians. [12]
In 1704, the congregation moved to the south side of High Street (now Market Street) at the corner of Bank Street. [12] Here the first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia was established.
Founding senior pastor, the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, served this congregation for many years with the Rev. Robert Cross as his assistant. In 1746, however, the Rev. Andrews was stripped by the presbytery of his ability to serve in the ministry because of illicit acts committed with a married woman. (Minutes of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 1746.) Whether he was restored to his earlier position before he died in 1747 is not clear from later minutes. [13]
In 1793, the High Street church building was renovated and made more spacious and elegant. Twenty-seven years later it was abandoned, due to unsafe conditions and the encroachment of the surrounding business district. [12]
A new church was erected at Washington Square (Seventh and Locust Streets). At this church, in 1837, came the formation of the New School Assembly, from which emerged the Second Church. [12]
During the 1920s, the church decided to relocate again partially due to the decay of city's Old City historic area. [14] In 1929, the congregation merged with Calvary Presbyterian Church and moved to Locust Street near Fifteenth Street. The merged congregation kept the name First Presbyterian Church. [14]
When the historic First and Second Presbyterian Churches in the City of Philadelphia joined to form one church in 1949, the united congregation adopted the name of the First Church (founded in 1698) and occupied the fourth building of the Second Church (founded 1743). The architect Henry Augustus Sims designed the present building at 21st and Walnut Streets and attended the dedication in October 1872.
Inter-generational reading program for children and retirees "Reading Buddies" was founded by First Church and member Mrs. Patricia Pfeiffer Quigg in 1968. The program continued for 50 years until 2018, upon Quigg's retirement, before her passing in 2020. Quigg was honored by AARP in 2007 as Volunteer of the Year in Pennsylvania for her efforts. [15] [16] [17]
During the early years of the AIDS global pandemic, First Church along with seven church members: Walla Dempsey, Mary Gainer, Kathryn “Kay” Keenze, Robert “Bob” Prischak, Reid Reames, Dixie Scoles, and Kenwyn Smith, founded MANNA in 1990 to feed sick neighbors within the city limits dying from AIDS and to provide support to those most in need of nourishment. MANNA has grown into an independent organization currently housed in the Spring Garden historic district. MANNA continues to fulfill the nourishment needs of neighbors with many health ailments guided by the mantra, based in nutrition research, "Food Is Medicine". [18] [19] [20] [21]
Lyric Fest with the mission to bring people together through the shared experience of song and story was founded and hosted during its formative years at First Church in 2003 by three Philadelphia-area musicians, Suzanne DuPlantis, mezzo-soprano; Laura Ward, pianist; and Randi Marrazzo, soprano. In 2011 Lyric Fest moved to its current permanent home at the Academy of Vocal Arts. [22] [23]
In June 2018 First Church elected and installed the 17th and the first openly gay pastor The Rev. Dr. Baron A. Mullis. [24] [25] [26]
In March 2020 as the global COVID-19 pandemic surged First Church canceled all in-person activity, including Sunday church services. For the better part of a two years, services were held online and continue to this day in a hybrid format (both in person and online) to meet the needs of all church members. [27]
On Sunday, October 23, 2022, First Church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the current church building at South 21st Street (Formerly Second Presbyterian Church). [28]
In 2023, First Church hosted events throughout the year to celebrate the 325th anniversary of the mother church of Presbyterianism, within the United States, that began with the founding of First Presbyterian Church in the City of Philadelphia. [28]
The interior of the church building has many fine design elements and admirable craftsmanship. The stone carvings were done in place from raw Ohio stone provided by William Armstrong of Philadelphia. Henry Augustus Sims traveled extensively in the area and noted exceptional work. The two stone carvers he recommended to the Church Building Committee were recent immigrants to America. They had come with letters of introduction and their first collaboration involved finishing the carvings in a small church in Delaware which Sims admired. Both men arrived from Great Britain and they left their distinctive marks on many American buildings. Alexander Milne Calder and John William Kitson spent nearly two years completing the interior, the exterior follies and the two elaborate doorway carvings. Calder's work attracted the attention of some important men in Philadelphia and led directly to his appointment as a carver for the Philadelphia City Hall project which was capped by Calder's famous statue of William Penn. The City Hall project consumed a good portion of Calder's working career, but he completed other noted works for tombs and commemorative statues, including one of General Meade now located in Fairmount Park. Kitson's work at Second Church established his reputation as an artist known for interior stonework and especially bird carving. He left Philadelphia and formed the New York City firm of Ellin and Kitson. Some of their later works there include the Tilden Home, the William Vanderbilt Home, The Equitable Insurance Building, Grace Church and Trinity Church.
First Church maintained a traditional burial ground adjoining the church on Bank Street (Market Street) and was finally closed in 1847. Of the 2,400 bodies in the burial ground 1,500 were reinterred directly in Laurel Hill Cemetery between 1847 and 1848. At this location there is a monument under a stairwell that marks the crypt where these remains were reinterred. In 1848, First Church reinterred 900 of the bodies that were removed from Bank Street (Market Street) in the burial lot next to Third Presbyterian Church (a.k.a. Old Pine Street Church). Families that opted to have their ancestors reinterred in a vault at Laurel Hill Cemetery were not allowed to bring the headstones with them; these were propped up against the walls down at "Old Pine." In the 1960s some of the tombstones were incorporated into the wall of the new Presbyterian Historical Society headquarters wall and others were propped nearby. [52] [53] [54] [55]
Second Church maintained a traditional burial ground located at Arch Street just above 5th Street, this cemetery was closed in 1867 and over 2500 burials were removed to Mount Vernon Cemetery. [54]
Currently, there is no traditional burial grounds maintained by the church. First Church in the late 2010s build a columbarium contained within the First Church property for disposition of cremated remains. [56]
No. | Portrait | Pastor (Called) | Years | Other Pastors (Supply, Interim, Associate, Student, etc.) | |
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1 | The Rev. Jedediah Andrews [13] Spouse: Helena Andrews | 1698–1746 | |||
2 | The Rev. Robert Cross Spouse: | 1747–1758 [57] |
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3 | The Rev. Dr. John Ewing [58] [59] Spouse: Hannah Sergeant Ewing | 1759–1802 |
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4 | The Rev. Dr. John Blair Linn [58] [61] [57] Spouse: Esther Bailey Linn Bleeker | 1802–1804 | |||
5 | The Rev. Dr. James Patriot Wilson [58] [62] [63] [64] Spouse: Mary Hall Wilson (2nd), Elizabeth Woods Wilson (1st) | 1806–1830 |
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6 | The Rev. Albert Barnes [58] Spouse: Abigail Ann Smith Barnes | 1830–1868 |
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7 | The Rev. Dr. Herrick Johnson [58] [61] Spouse: Katherine Spencer Hardenburg Johnson | 1868–1874 |
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8 | The Rev. Dr. Lawrence MacLay Colfelt Sr. [58] [61] [65] [66] [67] Spouse: Rebecca McManes Colfelt [66] | 1874–1884 |
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9 | The Rev. Dr. George D. Baker [58] [57] [68] Spouse: Gertrude Frelinghuysen Magie | 1885–1904 |
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10? | The Rev. Spouse: | 1904-1939 |
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11? | The Rev. Dr. Lewis Seymour Mudge Sr. [69] [70] Spouse: Ann Evelyn Bolton Mudge [71] | 1939–1945 | |||
12? | The Rev. Spouse: | 1945-? | |||
13? | The Rev. Spouse: | ?-? | |||
14 | The Rev. Dr. J. Ernest Somerville Spouse: Nan Telfer Somerville [72] | 1956–1986 | |||
15 | The Rev. Fergus A. Smith [73] | 1988–1998 | |||
16 | The Rev. Jesse B. Garner, III [76] | 2001–2018 |
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17 | The Rev. Dr. Baron Anthony Mullis [26] Spouse: Herman Lester Morris, III | 2018–present |
|
No. | Portrait | Pastor (Called) | Years | Other Pastors (Supply, Interim, Associate, Student, etc.) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Rev. George Whitefield [78] Spouse: Elizabeth Gwynne James Whitefield | Founder, Pre-1743 | |||
2 | The Rev. Gilbert Tennent [13] [57] Spouse: Sarah Spofford Tennent (3rd), Cornelia de Peyster Clarkson Tennent (2nd), unknown (1st) | 1743–1764 | |||
3 | The Rev. John Murray [58] Spouse: Judith Sargent Murray | 1765–1769 | |||
4 | The Rev. James Sproat [58] Spouse: Sarah Smith Sproat | 1769–1787 | |||
5 | The Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green [58] Spouse: Christina Anderson Green (2nd), Elizabeth Stockton Green (1st) | 1787–1794 | |||
6 | The Rev. John Neilson Abeel [58] Spouse: Molly Stille Abeel | 1794–1799 | |||
7 | The Rev. Dr. Jacob Jones Janeway [58] Spouse: Martha Gray Leiper Janeway | 1799–1813 | |||
8 | The Rev. Dr. Thomas Harvey Skinner [58] Spouse: Frances Louisa Davenport Skinner (2nd), Emily Montgomery Skinner (1st) | 1813–1828 | |||
9 | The Rev. Joseph Sanford [58] Spouse: Anna Jackson Sanford | 1828–1834 | |||
10 | The Rev. Dr. Cornelius C. Cuyler [58] Spouse: Eleanor de Graaf Cuyler | 1834–1850 | |||
11 | The Rev. Charles Woodruff Shields [58] Spouse: Elizabeth Kane Shields (2nd), Charolette Elizabeth Bain Shields (1st) | 1850–1865 | |||
12 | The Rev. Elias Root Beadle [58] Spouse: Hannah Jones Beadle | 1865–1878 | |||
The Rev. Alexander MacCole [58] Spouse: Grant Haley Craig MacCole | 1911–1949 | ||||
No. | Portrait | Pastor (Called) | Years | Other Pastors (Supply, Interim, Associate, Student, etc.) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Rev. Dr. John Jenkins [58] Spouse: Louisa Mary MacLennan Jenkins (2nd), Harriet Shepstone Jenkins (1st) | 1853–1863 | |||
2 | The Rev. Dr. Phineas Wolcott Calkins [58] Spouse: Charlotte Grosvenor Whiton Calkins | 1864–1866 | |||
3 | The Rev. Dr. Zephaniah Moore Humphrey [58] Spouse: Harriette L. Sykes Humphrey | 1868–1875 | |||
4 | The Rev. Dr. Charles Andrew Dickey [58] Spouse: Katherine Donnell Dickey | 1875–1893 | |||
5 | The Rev. Dr. John Sparhawk Jones [58] Spouse: Harriet Sterett Winchester Jones | 1894–1910 | |||
The Rev. Clarence Shannon Long [58] Spouse: Laura Amelia Baker Long | 1914–1915 |
Some notable members have included:
The Presbyterian Historical Society has a collection of miscellaneous items dealing with the development and growth of the First Presbyterian Church. The materials at the historical society include session minutes, correspondence, baptism and marriage records, pew rentals, cemetery information, cash books, as well as other items related to the history and business of the church.
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