Arch Street Friends Meeting House

Neighborhood:Center City

Address:
302-338 Arch St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Significance:
Quaker women played a major role in the abolition movement. Several prominent African-American women were members of this congregation, including Sarah Mapps Douglass (1806-1882), a teacher and active member of the Female Anti-Slavery Society. According to Blockson, the congregation also included the former owner of the freed slave Olaudah Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa), whose 1789 autobiography is credited with helping to abolish slavery in Great Britain. To learn more about Arch Street Friends Meetinghouse, visit http://www.archstreetfriends.org/

Type of Historic Resource:church

Date Built / Architect:1804, O. Biddle

Extant: yes

Philadelphia Register of Historic Places:Philadelphia Register (6/26/1956; 302 Arch St.; 304 Arch St. aka 33-49 N. 4th; 32-38 Arch St.)

Philadelphia Historic District:Old City Historic District (12/12/2003)

National Register of Historic Places:National Register (5/27/1971)

National Register Historic District:Old City National Register Historic District, status unclear

Listed in PHMC Cultural Resources Database:yes

Other surveys, if applicable:HABS (PA-1388)

Historical Marker:PA Historical Marker (1954)

Text of Historical Marker:
This meetinghouse was erected in 1804. It is used for Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings of Friends. The ground was first used for burial purposes under patent issued by William Penn in 1701.