■v 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 
 OF PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THEIR ORGANIZATION AND CHANGES OF 
 LOCATION AND NAME 
 
 By REV. WILLIAM P. WHITE, D.D. 
 
Digitized by tiie Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2013 witli funding from 
 
 Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library 
 
 http://arGhive.org/details/presbyteOOwhit 
 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 Their Organization and Changes of Location 
 AND Name. 
 
 BY rev. WILLIAM P. WHITE, D.D. 
 
 In the interests of local history a reliable account of the 
 organization of the earlier Presbyterian churches of Phila- 
 delphia, and their later changes of location and name, is 
 deemed desirable. It is this that we propose giving in tlie 
 following paper. 
 
 The churches earliest organized assumed numbers as names. 
 Only six out of fifteen of these are thus known to-day. 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia is believed, 
 by most authorities, to have been organized in 1G98, the year 
 in which Rev. Jedediah Andrews, who came from New Eng- 
 land and was a graduate of Harvard College, began regular 
 preaching. There is no doubt, however, that Presbyterian 
 services were held some years previous to that time. Francis 
 Makemie visited Philadelphia in 1692, and it is altogetlier 
 probable that he gathered the litth' l)and of Pres])yterians 
 together for public worship. 
 
 ^Ir. Andrews was ordained and installed as ])astor of the 
 First Church in 1701, the year in which Pliiladelphia re- 
 ceived its charter as a city. By whom this action was con- 
 
 1 
 
2 Presbyterian Churches op Philadelphia. 
 
 summated is uncertain, as a Presbytery had not yet been 
 organized. It is probable that it was by a number of Pres- 
 byterian ministers siunmoned from a distance, inasmuch as 
 John Talbot, a navy chaplain of the Church of England, 
 writing to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
 1703, says: ''The Presbyterians here come a great way to 
 lay hands one on another." 
 
 The first place of worship of the First Church was the 
 ''Barbadoes Warehouse," on the northwest comer of Second 
 and Chestnut Streets. Presbyterians alternated with Baptists 
 and Congregationalists here. 
 
 In 1704 the congregation removed to the south side of what 
 is now Market Street (then High), on the southeast comer 
 of Bank, which is between Second and Third Streets, and 
 occupied their first church, a small frame building, which 
 because surrounded by buttonwood trees was popularly known 
 as ''The Old Buttonwood Church." It retained this location, 
 with enlargement and improvement in architecture, for one 
 hundred and sixteen years. In it was organized, in 1706, the 
 first Presbytery in America, and here convened the first 
 Synod in 1717. 
 
 It removed in 1820, "on account of the encroachments of 
 business," it is said, to its present location on the southeast 
 comer of Seventh and Locust Streets, facing Washington 
 Square. Here was organized the New School General As- 
 sembly in 1837 and here met the first reunited General As- 
 sembly in 1870. 
 
 The Second Presbyterian Church, an outgrowth of the 
 Whitefield revival, was organized in 1743, forty-five years 
 later than the First. For a number of years it was connected 
 with New Brunswick Presbytery and the Synod of New York. 
 It was originally located on Fourth Street between Arch and 
 Market. In 1750 it removed to the corner of Third and Arch, 
 where it remained for eighty-seven years. It was the first 
 church in which a General Assembly convened, that of 1789, 
 consisting of twenty-one ministers and ten elders. In 1837, 
 it removed to Seventh Street, below Arch, and built a beau- 
 tiful church, with white marble front. In 1872 it occupied 
 
Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 3 
 
 its present costly building on the southeast comer of Twenty- 
 first and Walnut Streets. It was the mother, as was also 
 the First, of a number of churches. 
 
 The Third Church, on the south side of Pine Street near 
 Fourth, was oro^anized in 1762, and is the only one of the 
 earlier churches to retain its original location and part of 
 its original building to the present time. Its organization 
 was attributed ''to the spread of the city and the increase 
 of the congregation of the First Church." It was also said 
 to be ''for the benefit of the inhabitants dow^n on the hill." 
 Upon application of a committee, the Penn proprietors granted 
 a lot on "Society Hill" upon which "to erect a church or 
 meeting house, and lay out a burial yard for the use of said 
 Society of Presbyterians forever." In the erection of the 
 church part of the funds were raised by a lottery, as was 
 done in case of some other churches. 
 
 The church suffered severely during the Revolutionary 
 War. The British used it as a hospital. The soldiers burned 
 the pews, stripped the pulpit and the windows and finally 
 used the building as a stable for the horses of dragoons. 
 
 The First, Second and Third were the only Presbyterian 
 churches in Philadelphia during the first century of the 
 Church's history. Many eminent names were connected with 
 them. Rev. Jedediah Andrews, the first pastor of the First 
 Church, served it for nearly fifty years. He was also clerk 
 of Presbytery, and most of the records are in his handwrit- 
 ing until his death in 1847. He was also clerk of Synod and 
 its first moderator. Rev. Francis Alison, D.D., Rev. John 
 Ewing, D.D., Rev. James P. Wilson, D.D., Rev. Albert Barnes 
 and Rev. Dr. TTerrick Johnson were some of the eminent men 
 who succeeded him. 
 
 The first pastor of the Second Church was Rev. Gilbert 
 Tennent; and among those who followed him were Dr. Ash- 
 bel Green, Dr. J. J. Janeway, Dr. Thomas H. Skinner and 
 Dr. C. C. Cuyler. 
 
 As pastors of the Third Church may be mentioned Rev. 
 George Duffield, D.D., a hero of the Revolutionary era; Rev. 
 John Blair Smith, D.D., Rev. Archibald Alexander, D.D., 
 
4 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D.D., and Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D.D. 
 
 The Fourth Church (the fourth also in a century) was or- 
 ganized in 1799, and was first located on Fifth and Gaskill 
 Streets, near Spruce. Later it removed to Twelfth and Lom- 
 bard. Its building there is now occupied by a colored Catholic 
 congregation. Since 1890 it has been located at Forty-seventh 
 Street and Kingsessing Avenue, West Philadelphia. Amid 
 the trying times of 1837 it w^as declared vacant by the Presby- 
 tery of Philadelphia, but it continued to live as a New^ School 
 Church. Rev. W. M. Rice, D.D., was its pastor from 1864 
 to 1874. 
 
 The Fifth Church was organized in 1813 and w^orshiped 
 first in a chapel on Locust Street near Eighth, having Dr. 
 Thomas H. Skinner as pastor. Its location is now occupied 
 by Musical Fund Hall. A church was built on the south side 
 of Arch Street, above Tenth, to which it removed in 1823. 
 In 1850 the Fifth Church, which had joined the New School, 
 was disbanded and the Arch Street Church, Old School, was 
 organized as its successor and purchased its property. Rev. 
 Charles Wadsworth, D.D., became its first pastor. In 1901 
 the Arch Street Church consolidated wath the West Arch 
 Street at Eighteenth and Arch. It retained its name and 
 transferred to the new organization, as endowment, the pro- 
 ceeds of the sale of its property. 
 
 The Sixth Church w^as organized by members from the 
 Third, in the old State House, in 1814. It built a fine brick 
 edifice on the north side of Spruce Street, below Sixth, where 
 for nearly sixty years it exerted a potent influence on the 
 life of the city. Tw^o of its noted pastors were Dr. William 
 Neill and Dr. Joseph H. Jones. In its edifice, sold to the 
 city, was framed the present state constitution of Pennsyl- 
 vania. Modified and reconstructed, it now forms the Horace 
 Binney Public School. In 1873, the Sixth Church united with 
 the Seventh Church, located at the southeast corner of Broad 
 Street and Penn Square. 
 
 The Seventh Church was organized in 1804 by nine Eng- 
 lish Independents, dismissed from the Second Presbyterian 
 Church, as a Congregational Church, and it erected what it 
 
Presbyterian CnuRCiiES of Philadelphia. 5 
 
 called the "Independent Tabernacle," in Ranstead Court, 
 west of Fourth Street, between Chestnut and ^larket, where 
 the Bourse now stands. In 1816 it joined the Dutch Reformed 
 body as the Second Dutch Reformed Church. In 1820 it be- 
 came Presbyterian; its first pastor as such being Rev. Wm. 
 M. Engles, D.D. It was popularly known as "the Assembly 
 Church," inasmuch as the General Assembly for a number 
 of successive years met in it. From it went out in 1837 the 
 New School Branch. In 1840 there was merged with it, by 
 the Presbytery, the "Assembly Church," which had three 
 years previously been organized from members of the Fourth 
 Presbyterian Church; and its pastor. Rev. W. L. ]\IcCalla, 
 became pastor of the Seventh Church. In 1842 it removed 
 to Broad Street and Penn Square, where the Betz Building 
 now stands. Its pastor then was the distinguished Dr. Willis 
 Lord. In 1873, when the Sixth Church united with it, the 
 name ' * Tabernacle, ' ' under which it originally organized, was 
 assumed. It was with this church also that the General As- 
 sembly was meeting when Southern Commissioners withdrew 
 to form a Southern Presbyterian Church. In 1886, during 
 the early ministry of Rev. Dr. H. C. McCook, Tabernacle 
 Church removed to its present location at Thirty-seventh and 
 Chestnut Streets. 
 
 The Eighth Presbyterian Church came into connection with 
 the Presbyterian body in 1822. It was previously known, as 
 later, as the Scots Church, and assumed the name "Eighth" 
 but for a short time. It was organized as an Associate Re- 
 formed Church about 1770. It first worshiped near Fourth 
 and Shippen (now Bainbridge). In 1770 a church was 
 erected on Spruce Street, above Third. In his diary, John 
 Adams, President of the United States, relates that he at- 
 tended preaching services here, and it is an interesting his- 
 torical fact that Louis Philippe, King of France, lived in 
 the adjoining parsonage. Between the years 1866 and 1884 
 the church was closed. 
 
 In 1883, the congregation united with the South Broad 
 Street Church, organized the same year at the southeast cor- 
 ner of Broad Street and Castle Avenue, and removed thither. 
 
6 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 The Ninth Church became Presbyterian in 1822, and as- 
 sumed the name it has ever since borne. It had been organ- 
 ized a few years previously as an Associate Reformed Church. 
 It was located on Thirteenth Street north of ]\Iarket. It 
 continued to worship here until 1838, when some of the origi- 
 nal members, desiring to return to their first love, were given 
 possession of the property. The main portion of the con- 
 gregation withdrew, and after worshiping for a time in the 
 Assembly Building at Tenth and Chestnut, located at the 
 northwest corner of Sixteenth and George (now Sansom) 
 Streets, where the church remained until its removal in 
 1911 to Fifty-seventh Street and Washington Avenue, West 
 Philadelphia, where it consolidated with the Sherwood 
 Church. Dr. William Blackwood was its pastor for forty 
 years. 
 
 The Tenth Church grew out of the Sixth, being organized 
 in its session room in March, 1829. It located on the north- 
 east corner of Twelfth and Walnut Streets and there re- 
 mained until merged (retaining its name) with its daughter, 
 the West Spruce Street Church, at the corner of Seventeenth 
 and Spruce in 1895. Dr. Henry A. Boardman was the hon- 
 ored pastor of this church for more than forty years. 
 
 The Eleventh Church was organized in November, 1828; 
 and, for a time, worshiped at the corner of Juniper and Race 
 Streets. Later a church was erected on Vine Street, above 
 Eleventh. In 1853 it removed to Eighteenth and Arch and 
 assumed the name of "West Arch Street Church." Con- 
 solidation with Arch Street Church and assumption of its 
 name took place in 1901. 
 
 The Twelfth Presbyterian Church was the name for a time 
 borne by a church on Cedar Street (now South) below 
 Twelfth. It was a secession from a church organized in 1818 
 on Catherine Street between Sixth and Seventh as the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Moyamensing, and chartered in 1821 
 as the First Presbyterian Church of Southwark. After a time 
 the Twelfth reorganized and in 1841 was incorporated as the 
 Cedar Street Presbyterian Church. In 1881, it removed to 
 Wharton Street above Broad, and amended its charter to read 
 
Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 7 
 
 "The Presbyterian Church of the Atonement." In 1898, it 
 consolidated with the South Church, organized in 1849 and 
 located on Third Street below Federal, under the name of 
 ''Atonement-South." In 1910 the latter united with the 
 Scots Church, at Broad Street and Castle Avenue. Hence 
 Scots Church will be seen to be the successor of an Associate 
 Reformed Church, of the Eighth Church, of Faith IMission 
 of the Tenth Church, South Broad Street Church, South 
 Church, the Twelfth Church and the Church of the Atone- 
 ment. No other church in the city combines so many historic 
 elements. 
 
 The Thirteenth Presbyterian Church had but a brief ex- 
 istence and seemed to have been entirely forgotten. It has 
 recently been discovered that it was organized in 1836 by the 
 Third Presbji;ery of Philadelphia and was located at Ashton 
 and Schuylkill-Lombard Streets. In 1838 it applied to and 
 was received by the Presbytery of Philadelphia (0. S.). It 
 had as pastor Rev. Charles Williamson from 1839 to 1843 
 with location at Schuylkill Front and Lombard. Owing to 
 financial embarrassments the Presbytery, in October, 1843, 
 directed its session "to convene with a view to coming to a 
 conclusion as to the formal dissolution of the church." Its 
 name does not appear on the minutes of the Assembly the 
 following year. It has been learned that its building was 
 sold to the Second Associate Reformed Church, which effected 
 an organization in that locality, and it is probable that most 
 of its members united with it, which later became the Fourth 
 United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The Fourteenth Presbyterian Church, similarly to the Thir- 
 teenth, seemed, also, to have been consigned, for some years, 
 to oblivion. Its discovery was due, partly at least, to the 
 unearthing of the spade and the revelation of an ancient 
 document. In the city's process of grading and leveling for 
 a park in the vicinity of Seventh and Lombard Streets the 
 remains of a marble slab were found on which was the in- 
 scription, "The Fourteenth Presbyterian Church. Founded 
 1823. Enlarged 1837." Research showed that the "Second 
 African Presbyterian Church," organized about the above- 
 
8 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 mentioned date, was located near the place. The surmise that 
 it may have assumed the name of ''Fourteenth Presbyterian 
 Church" instead of "Second African," as described in eccle- 
 siastical records, was confirmed by the discovery of the fol- 
 lowing paragraph in the Philadelphia Observer of March 
 1837, the year it cast in its lot with the New School Branch, 
 and is recorded as having enlarged its building: "The Sec- 
 ond Presbyterian church of color have commenced enlarging 
 their building and appeal for help to their friends." The 
 building occupied was originally the house of worship of the 
 First Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The church was disbanded in 1862, having previously con- 
 tributed over eighty members to form the Lombard Street 
 Central Church, organized in 1844, near Eighth and Car- 
 penter Streets, now located on Lombard Street below Ninth. 
 
 The Fifteenth Presbyterian Church was constituted by the 
 Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1850, largely out of members 
 from the Union Church on Thirteenth Street, near Spruce. 
 For a few years it worshiped in a hall at the corner of Fif- 
 teenth and Market Streets, while its church was being built 
 at the southwest corner of Fifteenth and Lombard. Having 
 removed thither, it there remained until 1884, when it con- 
 solidated with the West Tasker Street Mission, sold its prop- 
 erty, and moved to Eighteenth and Tasker, and changed its 
 name to ' ' Church of the Evangel. ' ' 
 
 This was the last Presbyterian Church of the city to as- 
 sume a number as its name. 
 
 "We will now go back and review the churches, which, in 
 the meantime, were organized in the city and took other names 
 than numbers or numbers with a distinction of locality or 
 character. 
 
 The first of these to be organized was the "First African 
 Presbyterian," organized in 1807, largely, it is said, through 
 the influence of Dr. Archibald Alexander, then pastor of the 
 Third Presbyterian Church. It was located at the corner of 
 Seventh and Shippen, now Bainbridge, and was the first 
 African Presbyterian Church in the United States. It is now 
 located at Seventeenth and Fitzwater. 
 
Presbyterian ('iiirciies of Piiiladem'iiia. 9 
 
 A Third African Presbyterian was org:anize(l in 18;^') and 
 disbanded in 1841. 
 
 The First ('hureh ol" Northern Liberties, named from a 
 district then beyond tiie city limits, was organized in 1813 
 as the result of missionary efforts carried on for a number 
 of years by the Second Church, then located at Third and 
 Arch. Its first location was at what is now Second Street 
 and Fairmount Avenue. It was known then as the Camping- 
 ton Church. It later moved to its present locality, south side 
 of Buttonwood, below Sixth. Here was established, it is 
 claimed, in 1815, the first Bible Sunday school in Philadel- 
 phia. The present church building was erected in 1833. From 
 this church sprang a group of churches. 
 
 The North Church was organized in 1825 on Third Street 
 below Green as the Second Church of Northern Liberties. 
 Soon after, a second colony was organized as the Third Church 
 of Northern Liberties. It worshiped on Poplar Street, above 
 Green. In 1831 the two united under the name of the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Penn township, which was later 
 changed to North Presbyterian Church, and was located on 
 Sixth Street above Green, where it remained until its removal 
 in 1901 to Broad and Allegheny Avenue. 
 
 The present Temple Church ow^es its origin to certain mem- 
 bers who withdrew from the North Church in 1835 and or- 
 ganized the Central Presbyterian Church of Northern Lib- 
 erties. It worshiped for a time on Third Street below Green, 
 and then removed to Coates Street, now^ Fairmount Avenue, 
 below Fourth. During the sixties removal was effected to 
 Franklin and Thompson Streets, and in 1872 its name was 
 changed to Temple Church. 
 
 Through the missionary efforts of Dr. Thos. L. Janeway, 
 pastor of the North Church, was organized in 1849 "Penn 
 Church" on Tenth Street near Girard Avenue. Its name was 
 changed to North Tenth about 1868. 
 
 Northeast of the above group of churches, was organized, 
 in 1815, in what was known as Fishtown and later as Ken- 
 sington, the First Presbyterian Church of Kensington. It 
 was first located on Palmer Street, near Queen, and later on 
 
10 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 Girard Avenue above Hanover. In a comparatively brief time 
 it grew under the ministry of Rev. George Chandler from 
 nine members to nine hundred. From it was organized, in 
 1867, Bethesda Church. 
 
 South and west of the Northern Liberties group of churches 
 were organized, a few years later, two prominent Presbyterian 
 churches. The first was the Central Church, organized in 
 Whitfield Academy on Fourth Street in 1832, by a colony 
 from the Second Church. It built on the corner of Eighth 
 and Cherry and remained there until 1876, when it removed 
 to Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue, where it had as its 
 pastor Dr. John H. Munro. It united with the North Broad 
 Street Church in 1908 to form the Central-North Broad 
 Street Church. It was through the missionary efforts of the 
 Central Church that the Cohocksink Church, at Franklin 
 Street and Columbia Avenue, was organized in 1840. Dr. 
 Wm. Henry Green, of Princeton, had the Central as his only 
 pastorate. 
 
 The Spring Garden Church was organized on the east side 
 of Eleventh Street, near Spring Garden, in 1846, and to it 
 was transferred, as its first pastor. Rev. John McDowell, 
 D.D., pastor of the Central Church. It remained in its first 
 location until 1892, when it consolidated with the Columbia 
 Avenue-Fairmount Church, at Twenty-first Street and Colum- 
 bia Avenue, which had grown from a Sunday school, estab- 
 lished by members of the Spring Garden Church. The united 
 church took the name of the first distinguished pastor of the 
 Spring Garden Church, and is known as the McDowell 
 Memorial Church. 
 
 A Central Spring Garden Church was organized in 1842 
 by the New School branch, but it does not seem to have long 
 survived. 
 
 An Independent Presb3^terian Church was organized in 
 1826 by members who withdrew from the Ninth Church that 
 they might have the Rev. John Chambers as their pastor. The 
 church located at the northeast corner of Broad and Sansom 
 Streets, where the North American Building now stands. In 
 1873, it united with the Presbytery of Philadelphia and took 
 
Presbyterian Ciurciies of Piiiladelimha. 11 
 
 the name of the Chambers Church, in honor of its distin- 
 guished pastor. In 1897 it united with the Wylie :\Iemorial 
 Church, located on the east side of Broad Street, below Spruce, 
 which had been organized in 1798 at South and Penn Streets 
 as the First Reformed Presbyterian Church, and which had 
 joined the Presbyterian body in 1885, to form the Chambers- 
 Wylie .Memorial Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The ^Mariners' Church, especially for seamen, was organ- 
 ized as early as 1830. It was located on Water Street above 
 Walnut. Later it removed to its present location, P'ront 
 Street above Pine. 
 
 The Union Church was organized in Carpenters' Hall, cor- 
 ner of Thirteenth and Race Streets, in 1840, by a number of 
 members of the Ninth Church. Later it located on Thirteenth 
 below Spruce, where it remained until its removal to Sixty- 
 sixth Street and Woodland Avenue, West Philadelphia, in 
 1899. It was dissolved in 1913. 
 
 Two churches that passed out of existence some years since 
 were the *' Western Presbyterian," organized about 1835, at 
 Seventeenth and Filbert Streets, which in 1873 united with 
 the Third Reformed (Dutch) Church at Tenth and Filbert to 
 form "Immanuel Presbyterian Church," and the Clinton 
 Street Presbyterian Church, organized in 1842 at the north- 
 east comer of Tenth and Clinton Streets by twenty-six mem- 
 bers from the First Presbyterian Church. The above two 
 churches — ' ' Immanuel ' ' and ' ' Clinton Street ' ' — united in 
 1878 to form the Clinton Street-Immanuel, located at Tenth 
 and Clinton Streets, having Dr. Charles Wadsworth as pastor. 
 It disbanded in 1898. 
 
 Another church which went out of existence in the south- 
 ern part of the city was the First Church of Moyamensing, 
 organized in 1818, and chartered in 1821, as the First Church 
 of Southwark. It was located on Catherine Street above 
 Sixth. It was known later as the German Street Church. It 
 disbanded in 1891 and sixty-five members were transferred to 
 the membership of the Third, or ''Old Pine" Street, Church, 
 and the proceeds of the sale of its property were added to 
 the endowment of said church. 
 
12 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 Another Moyamensing church was organized in 1858, on 
 Carpenter Street below Tenth, as the outgrowth of the Moya- 
 mensing Mission of the Tenth Church. Six years later it was 
 dissolved. The Sunday school, however, was kept up as a 
 mission of the Tenth Church, and out of it grew the Harriet 
 Hollond Memorial Church, at Broad and Federal Streets, 
 which was organized in 1882. 
 
 Two other churches in the southern part of the city lost 
 their identity through consolidation — Wharton Street, organ- 
 ized in 1863, at the northeast corner of Ninth and Wharton; 
 and a second South Broad Street Church, organized in 1896 
 on Broad Street near Wolf. These united a few years since 
 to form tlie James Evans Memorial at Broad Street and 
 Moyamensing Avenue. 
 
 The Westminster Church was organized in 1853 and was 
 located at the corner of Broad and Fitzwater Streets until 
 1906, when it sold its property and removed to West Phila- 
 delphia and consolidated with the Greenway Church at Fifty- 
 eighth Street and Chester Avenue, retaining its name. 
 
 Other Presbyterian churches in South Philadelphia which 
 have not come properly in our purview, are Southwestern, 
 at Twentieth and Fitzwater, organized in 1853 ; Bethany, at 
 Twenty-second and Bainbridge, organized in I860; Green- 
 wich Street, organized in 1867 ; Tabor, at Eighteenth and 
 Christian, organized in 1868 ; Grace at Twenty-second and 
 Federal, organized in 1878; Peace (German), at Tenth and 
 Snyder Avenue, organized in 1885; Hope, Thirty-third and 
 Wharton, organized 1891 ; IMizpah, Eighth and Wolf, organ- 
 ized as Meadow Church, 1894; First Italian, Tenth Street 
 above Washington Avenue, organized 1903; John Chambers' 
 ^Memorial, Twenty-eighth and Morris, established 1902. The 
 only Presbyterian Church south of Market Street not here- 
 tofore referred to, is Calvary, at Fifteenth and Locust Streets, 
 organized in 1853, and having had, since 1870, two of its 
 pastors, Drs. Humphrey and Dickey, moderators of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly. 
 
 The first Presbyterian Church to be organized in West 
 Philadelphia was Walnut Street in 1840. It retains its first 
 
Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 13 
 
 location, on Walnut Street between Thirty-ninth and Fortieth 
 Streets. 
 
 Noi-thminster was organized as the First Presbyterian 
 Church of iMantua in 1846. It was located at the comer 
 of Thirty-fifth and Spring Garden Streets. In 1875 it re- 
 moved to its present location at Thirty-fifth and Baring 
 Streets and changed its name to Northminster. 
 
 West Hope Church was organized as the Second ^lantua 
 in 1864, and was at first located on Lancaster Avenue near 
 Holley Street. It moved to its present location. Aspen Street 
 above Fortieth, in 1876 and clianged its name to West Hope 
 in 1888. 
 
 Princeton Church was organized as the ''Lexington Street 
 Church" in "Westminster," West Philadelphia, in 1853. In 
 1857 it was moved to Thirty-ninth Street near Powelton 
 Avenue. In 1858 it removed to the corner of Saunders and 
 Powelton Avenues and took its present name. 
 
 West Park was originally Hestonville Church and w^as 
 located on Lancaster Avenue, near Fifty-second Street. It 
 was organized in 1859. It changed its name in 1882 and its 
 location to Lansdowne Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street about 
 1897. Its former property is now occupied as a Roman 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 A former church of the Philadelphia Presbytery was 
 known as "Belmont." It was located on Belmont Avenue 
 near city line. It was first organized in 1854 and "newly 
 organized" in 1858 and liad Dr. Nathanael West as pastor. 
 It was disbanded in 1878. 
 
 The Patterson Memorial Church, Sixty-third and Vine 
 Streets, was organized as the Sixty-third Street Presbyterian 
 Church in 1880. It took its present name in 1884. 
 
 Emmanuel Church, Forty-second Street and Girard Ave- 
 nue, grew^ from a mission Sunday school of the Walnut Street 
 Church first held in the Centennial Hotel, Forty-first Street 
 above Girard Avenue. It was known as the Elm Avenue 
 Mission. In 1889 it moved to 4122 Girard Avenue, where the 
 church was organized in 1893 and took the name of "Em- 
 manuel." It removed to its present location in January, 1895. 
 
14 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 The Tennent Memorial Church, at Fifty-second and Arch 
 Streets, organized in 1897, had as its first location Fifty- 
 seventh and Market Streets and was known as the "Zion- 
 Fifty-seventh Street Church." 
 
 The Baldwin Church, organized in 1904, at Sixtieth and 
 Walnut Streets, and the Genevan Church, organized in 1904 
 at Fifty-seventh and Arch Streets, were consolidated in 1911 
 as the Richardson Memorial Church and is located on Walnut 
 Street near Sixtieth. 
 
 Overbrook Church, Lancaster and City Avenues, was or- 
 ganized by Philadelphia North Presbytery in 1890. It was 
 transferred to Philadelphia Presbytery in 1904. 
 
 The following additional churches are located in West 
 Philadelphia : Bethany Temple, Fifty-third and Spruce 
 Streets, organized 1906 ; Calvin, Sixtieth and Master Streets, 
 organized 1902; J. Addison Henry Memorial, Sixty-fifth 
 Street and Lansdowne Avenue, organized 1906 ; Second 
 Italian, Simpson and Westminster Avenues, organized 1910 ; 
 St. Paul, Fiftieth Street and Baltimore Avenue, organized 
 1899 ; Woodland, Forty-second and Pine Streets, organ- 
 ized 1866. 
 
 East of the Schuylkill River and north of Market Street 
 were formerly several churches which ceased to exist in name 
 some years since. 
 
 The Fairmount Church was organized in 1832 and was 
 said to be located "near the water works in the village of 
 Morrisville in the vicinity of Philadelphia." A fine church 
 building was dedicated in February, 1834, Drs. John Mc- 
 Dowell, C. C. Cuyler and Ezra Stiles Ely preaching sermons. 
 The locality corresponded to the present Twenty-third Street 
 above Callowhill. Services were maintained here until about 
 1848, when the building was sold to the city for a public 
 school. The present "Thomas Wood Public School" stands 
 on the site. Thomas Wood was an elder in the Fairmount 
 Church and later an elder in the North Broad Street Church, 
 of Avhose pastor, the Rev. Charles Wadsworth, Jr., D.D., he 
 was the father-in-law. In 1849 Fairmount congregation built 
 and dedicated a church at Twentieth and Vine Streets, Revs. 
 
Presbyterian CiirRCiiEs of Philadelphia. 15 
 
 Albert Barnes and John Chambers preach injjf dedication ser- 
 mons. Worship was maintained here until 1875, the ehun-h 
 being commonly known as "the Loo^an Square Presbyterian 
 Church." It had as pastor for a time Rev. Charles Brown, 
 afterwards secretary of ^Ministerial Relief. In 1875 the 
 church was sold to Alexander Kerr, and was occupied by 
 the Second Reformed Presbyterian Church. The past year 
 it was condemned by the city to make way for the Boulevard 
 and torn down. In 1882 a portion of the funds obtained 
 were turned over to the Columbia Avenue Presbyterian Church 
 at Twenty-first Street and Cohunbia Avenue, with which 
 a number of the members of the church had united, and that 
 church took the name of the "Columbia Avenue-Fairmount 
 Church." It continued to bear this name until it consoli- 
 dated with the Sprinc: Garden Church in 1892 and the name 
 of ^IcDowell ^Memorial, in honor of a former pastor of the 
 Sprin<]: Garden Church was assumed. 
 
 The Covenant Presbyterian Church, located on Twenty- 
 second Street above Vine Street, was organized as the Second 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1835. In 1885 it united, 
 along with its pastor. Dr. William Sterrett, with the Phila- 
 delphia Central Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, un- 
 der the name of the Covenant Presbyterian Church. In 
 September, 1908, it consolidated with Olivet Church, organ- 
 ized 1856 at Twenty-second and ]\Iount Vernon Streets and 
 took the name of Olivet-Covenant Church. 
 
 Previous to the aforesaid Covenant Church joining the 
 Presbyterian body, a church by the name of "Covenant" 
 was organized in the spring of 1877 by the Philadelphia Cen- 
 tral Presbyter\^ It consisted of "certain persons residing 
 in the vicinity of Seventeenth and Jefferson Streets," who 
 had formerly been members of the North United Presby- 
 terian Church. The organization was disbanded in ]\Iav, 
 1881. 
 
 The Northwestern Presbyterian Church, located at Nine- 
 teenth and Master Streets, was organized September 2, 1878. 
 It possessed a property formerly belonging to Congregational- 
 ists. Not being able to maintain itself, it was dissolved in 
 
16 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 1883, having been in existence but five years. Its property 
 is now occupied by Baptists. 
 
 A Lehigh Avenue Presbyterian Church was organized in 
 1875 at Sixth Street and Lehigh Avenue. It was dissolved 
 the next year. In October, 1877, a church of the same name 
 in the same locality was organized. Its name was afterwards 
 changed to ''Hodge Memorial." In 1882 it moved to Sus- 
 quehanna Avenue and Marshall Street and subsequently 
 changed its name to the Susquehanna Avenue Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
 Two other churches in the northeastern section of the city 
 gave up their names, and, to an extent, their identity, through 
 consolidation. One was the Kensington Church, located at 
 Frankford and Girard Avenues, which was organized as an 
 Associate Reformed Church in 1844, and joined the Presby- 
 terian body with its pastor. Dr. Wm. 0. Johnstone, in 1853. 
 The other church was the York Street Church at York and 
 Coral Streets. It was organized in 1849 as the Fifth Re- 
 formed Presbyterian Church and joined the Presbyterian 
 body in 1881. These two churches consolidated in 1892 un- 
 der the name of the Union Tabernacle, with Dr. Robert Hun- 
 ter as pastor, and is located at York and Coral Streets. 
 
 The George Chandler Mission Church was organized in the 
 Kensington district in 1872 and was dissolved in 1879. The 
 Cumberland Street Church was organized in the same locality 
 the summer of 1881. Its name was changed to "Chandler 
 Memorial" in 1883 and again in 1885 to "Beacon." It is 
 located at Cumberland and Cedar Streets. 
 
 Oxford Church, at the northeast corner of Broad and Ox- 
 ford Streets, was organized in 1867. A chapel had previously 
 been erected and in 1866 a Sunday school was organized by 
 the union of two schools previously conducted at Twelfth 
 Street and Montgomery Avenue and Seventeenth Street and 
 Montgomery Avenue. It took the name of the ' ' Carmel Pres- 
 byterian Sunday School." When a charter for the church 
 was obtained the name was changed to "Oxford." 
 
 Gaston Church, organized in 1876, was located for five 
 years at Germantown Avenue and Huntingdon Street. It 
 
Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 17 
 
 removed to its present loeatioii, Eleventh Street and Lehigh 
 Avenue, in 1883. 
 
 The Tioga Church was organized in tlie Rising Sun Seliool- 
 house in 1859. It occupied its present edifice, Tioga Street 
 below Sixteenth Street, in 1866. For some years it was 
 called the Kenderton Church. The name was clianged in 
 1874. 
 
 The Bethlehem Church, at the northeast corner of Broad 
 and Diamond Streets, was organized in 1873 as the Broad and 
 Diamond Streets church. The name was changed to Bethle- 
 hem in 1877. 
 
 The West Green Street Church, at the northwest corner of 
 Nineteenth and Green Streets, was organized in 1858. It had 
 as its first corporate name, ''The Alexander Church," in 
 honor of the Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, first professor 
 in Princeton Theological Seminary. It was changed to West 
 Green Street in the early nineties. 
 
 The First German Presbyterian Church was organized at 
 School and How^ard Streets in 1860. It later erected a church 
 edifice on Otter Street and for some time worshiped there. 
 The church having ])een dissolved, the edifice was sold, by 
 order of Philadelphia Central Presbytery, and a building 
 on Corinthian Avenue below Poplar Street purchased with 
 the proceeds. Here the Second German Presbyterian Church 
 was organized in March, 1877. The name was changed to 
 ''Corinthian Avenue" in 1879. 
 
 The latest consolidation of churches in the city has been that 
 of East Park, Thirty-second Street below Berks Street, organ- 
 ized in 1896, and Knox, at Twenty-fifth Street and Indiana 
 Avenue, organized in 1913. The church is known as East 
 Park, located at Twenty-fifth Street and Indiana Avenue. 
 
 The following are additional churches north of IMarket 
 Street belonging to Philadelphia Presbytery: Berean, South 
 College Avenue and Nineteenth Street, organized 1880; 
 Bethel, Nineteenth and York Streets, organized 1899 ; 
 Bethesda, Frankford Avenue and Berks Street, organized 
 1867; Carmel, Nineteenth Street and Susquehanna Avenue, 
 organized 1880; Green Hill, Girard Avenue above Sixteenth 
 
18 Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 
 
 Street, organized 1846; Harper Memorial, Twenty-ninth 
 and Susquehanna Avenue, organized 1892; Hebron Me- 
 morial, Twenty-fifth and Thompson Streets, organized 1884; 
 Mutchmore Memorial, Eighteenth Street and IMontgomery 
 Avenue, organized 1880; Magyar, Franklin and Thomp- 
 son Streets, organized 1908; Ontario Street, Ontario and 
 H Streets, organized 1910; Puritan, Second and Clearfield 
 Streets, organized 1893 ; Richmond, Richmond below Ann 
 Streets, organized 1845; Trinity, Frankford Avenue and 
 Cambria Streets, organized 1861; Zion, Twenty-eighth and 
 Mt. Pleasant Streets, organized 1882. 
 
 North of Erie Avenue and Nicetown Road are twenty-nine 
 churches of the city connected with Philadelphia North 
 Presbytery. 
 
 The oldest is Market Square, Germantown, located on 
 Germantown Avenue near School Lane. It was organized 
 as a German Reformed Church in 1732. It became Presby- 
 terian in 1856. 
 
 The First Church of Frankford, Frankford Avenue and 
 Church Street, was organized in 1770 as a German Reformed 
 Church and formed for a time a pastoral charge with Mar- 
 ket Square, Germantown. It became Presbyterian in 1807. 
 
 The First Church of Germantown was organized as "The 
 English Presbyterian Church of Germantown" in 1810. Its 
 temporal affairs were governed by a "vestry" of twenty-six 
 members, of which the elders were members ex-officio. Its 
 first location was on Germantown Avenue, where the Young 
 Men's Christian Association now stands. It removed to its 
 present location on Chelten Avenue west of Germantown 
 Avenue in 1872. 
 
 Wakefield, Germantown Avenue, organized 1873. ]\Iac- 
 alester Memorial, Torresdale, 1874. Ann Carmichael Me- 
 morial, Fifth Street and Erie Avenue, 1877. Leverington, 
 Roxborough, 1878. Mt. Airy, Germantown and Mt. Pleas- 
 ant Avenues, 1880. Benson Memorial, Fox Chase, 1883. Dis- 
 ston Memorial, Tacony, 1886. Lawndale, 1888. Redeemer, 
 Chew and Wister Streets, Germantown, 1888. Wissinoming, 
 1888. Trinity, Chestnut Hill, 1889. Oak Lane, 1891. West- 
 
Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. 19 
 
 side, Winona and Pulaski Avenues, Germantown, 1892. 
 Summit, Greene Street and Westside Avenue, Germantown, 
 1894. Wissahickon, Ridge and ]\Ianayunk Avenues, 1894. 
 
 The First Church of Manayunk was organized as the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Koxborough township in 1832. 
 
 The Roxborough Church was organized as a Dutch Re- 
 formed Church in 1836. It was received into the Second 
 Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1854. 
 
 The First Church of Bridesburg was organized in 1837 
 by a colony from the Frankford Church. 
 
 The First Church of Chestnut Hill w^as organized in 1852. 
 
 The Ilolmesburg Church, an offshoot of the Frankford 
 Church, was organized in 1853. 
 
 Germantown Second Church, at Tulpohocken and Greene 
 Streets, was organized in 1856. 
 
 Falls of Schuylkill Church, located on Ridge Avenue, was 
 organized in 1856. 
 
 Those later organized, with their dates, are as follows : 
 
 Ilermon, Frankford Avenue and Harrison Street, Frank- 
 ford, 1868. Olney, Tabor Road and Third Street, 1898. 
 Holy Trinity, Eleventh and Rockland Streets, Logan, 1909. 
 Covenant, Limekiln Pike and Chelten Avenue, Germantown, 
 1910. 
 
 July, 1914. 
 
INDEX 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 PAGE. CHURCHES. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 First, 1 
 
 First African, 8 
 
 First German, 17 
 
 First, Germantown, 18 
 
 First Italian, 12 
 
 First, Kensington, 9 
 
 First, Manayunk, 19 
 
 First Mantua, 13 
 
 First, Moyamensing, 6, 11 
 
 First, Northern Liberties, .... 9 
 
 First, Penn Township, 9 
 
 First, Southwark, 6, 11 
 
 Second, 2 
 
 Second African, 7 
 
 Second German, 17 
 
 Second, Germantown, 19 
 
 Second Italian, 14 
 
 Second, Northern Liberties, ... 9 
 
 Second Mantua, 13 
 
 Third, 3 
 
 Third African 9 
 
 Third, Northern Liberties, ... 9 
 
 Fourth, 4 
 
 Fifth, 5 
 
 Sixth, 4, 5, 6 
 
 Seventh, 4, 5 
 
 Eighth, 5 
 
 Ninth, 6 
 
 Tenth, 6 
 
 Eleventh, , 6 
 
 Twelfth, 6, 7 
 
 Thirteenth, 7 
 
 Fourteenth, 7 
 
 Fifteenth, 8 
 
 Alexander, 17 
 
 Ann Carmichael 18 
 
 Arch Street, 4, 6 
 
 Assembly 5 
 
 Atonement, 7 
 
 Atonement-South, 7 
 
 Baldwin, 14 
 
 Beacon 16 
 
 Belmont, 13 
 
 Benson Memorial, 18 
 
 Berean 17 
 
 Bethany, 12 
 
 Bethany Temple, 14 
 
 Bethel, 17 
 
 Bethesda, 10, 17 
 
 Bethlehem, 17 
 
 Bridesburg, 19 
 
 Buttonwood, 2 
 
 Calvary, 12 
 
 Calvin 14 
 
 Campington, 9 
 
 Carmel 16, 17 
 
 Cedar Street, 6 
 
 Central, 10 
 
 Central-North Broad Street. . . 10 
 
 Central, Northern Liberties ... 9 
 
 Chambers, 11 
 
 Chambers' Memorial 12 
 
 Chamber s-Wylie, 11 
 
 Chandler Memorial, 16 
 
 Chestnut Hill, 19 
 
 Clinton Street 11 
 
 Clinton Street — Immanuel, . . 11 
 
 Cohocksink, 10 
 
 Columbia Avenue 15 
 
 Columbia Avenue — Fairmount 
 
 10, 15 
 
 Corinthian Avenue 17 
 
 Covenant, 15 
 
 Covenant, Germantown, 19 
 
 Cumberland Street, 16 
 
 Disston Memorial, 18 
 
 East Park, 17 
 
 Emmanuel, 13 
 
 English 18 
 
 Evans' Memorial, 12 
 
 Evangel, 8 
 
 Fairmount, 14 
 
 Falls of Schuylkill, 39 
 
 Frankford, 18 
 
 Gaston, 16 
 
 Genevan, 14 
 
 German Street, 11 
 
 Grace, 12 
 
 Green Hill, 17 
 
 Greenway, 12 
 
 20 
 
Index 
 
 21 
 
 CHURCHES. PAGE. 
 
 Greenwich, 1- 
 
 Harper Memorial, 18 
 
 Hebron Memorial, 18 
 
 Henry Memorial, 14 
 
 Hernion 19 
 
 Hestonville, 13 
 
 Hodge Memorial 16 
 
 Hollond Memorial 12 
 
 Holmesburgf, 19 
 
 Holy Trinity, 19 
 
 Hope, 1- 
 
 Immanuel, 11 
 
 Independent, 10 
 
 Independent Tabernacle 5 
 
 Kenderton, 17 
 
 Kensington, 16 
 
 Knox, 17 
 
 Lawndale 18 
 
 Lehigh Avenue, 16 
 
 Leverington, 18 
 
 Lexington Street, 13 
 
 Logan Square, 15 
 
 Lombard Street Central, .... 8 
 
 MacAlister Memorial 18 
 
 McDowell Memorial, 15 
 
 Magyar, 18 
 
 Mariners', 11 
 
 Market Square, 18 
 
 Meadow, 12 
 
 Mizpah, 12 
 
 Mt. Airy, 18 
 
 Moyamensing 12 
 
 Mutchmore Memorial, 18 
 
 North, 9 
 
 North Broad Street, 14 
 
 Northminster, 13 
 
 North Tenth, 9 
 
 Northwestern, 15 
 
 Oak Lane, 18 
 
 Olney, 19 
 
 Olivet, 15 
 
 Olivet-Covenant, 15 
 
 Ontario Street 18 
 
 Overbrook 14 
 
 Oxford, 16 
 
 CHURCHES. PAGE. 
 
 Patterson Memorial 13 
 
 Peace, 12 
 
 Penn, 9 
 
 Princeton, 13 
 
 Puritan, 18 
 
 Redeemer, 18 
 
 Richardson Memorial, 14 
 
 Richmond, 18 
 
 Roxborough, 19 
 
 Scots, 5, 7 
 
 Sherwood 6 
 
 Sixty-Third Street, 13 
 
 South, 7 
 
 South Broad Street, 5, 7, 12 
 
 Southwestern, 12 
 
 Spring Garden 10 
 
 St. Paul 14 
 
 Summit, 19 
 
 Susquehanna Avenue 16 
 
 Tabernacle 5 
 
 Tabor, 12 
 
 Temple, 9 
 
 Tennent Memorial 14 
 
 Tioga, 17 
 
 Trinity 18 
 
 Trinity, Chestnut Hill 18 
 
 Union, 11 
 
 Union Tabernacle 16 
 
 Wakefield, 18 
 
 Walnut Street 12 
 
 West Arch Street 4, 6 
 
 West Green Street 17 
 
 West Hope, 13 
 
 Westminster 12 
 
 Westside, 19 
 
 West Spruce Street, 6 
 
 Western, 11 
 
 Wharton Street, 12 
 
 Wissahickon 19 
 
 Wissinoming, 18 
 
 Woodland, 14 
 
 Wylie Memorial 11 
 
 York Street, 16 
 
 Zion, 14, 18