Welcome

The two acre lot at the intersection of 4th and Arch Streets was given to the Philadelphia Quakers by William Penn in 1693.  In 1804 the building was erected to house the annual gatherings of Quakers in the Delaware Valley.  Quaker women, who enjoyed spiritual and social equality, lobbied for a structure that would provide equal space for business meetings and for charitable work.  The result was two large meeting rooms of identical size forming the largest Quaker meeting house in the United States.

 

Today the meeting house, designed with elegant simplicity by Owen Biddle, is a place of worship for the local congregation, a place for spirit led work by numerous Quaker organization, and a center for interpretation which offers permanent and special exhibitions as well as information sharing by our staff of docents on Quakerism and the founding of  Pennsylvania.  But beyond its brick and mortar, the building stands as an enduring symbol of Quaker William Penn’s Holy Experiment in representational government based on the rule of law where men and women lived peaceably in a climate of religious and civil liberties.  

 

Penn’s experiment made his colony, especially his capital city Philadelphia, an enlightened, socially conscious, and ethnically diverse place. In the mid 1700’s a French visitor to Philadelphia noted that people of 33 different religious persuasions and from 23 ethnic groups lived side by side in this city.   Peace in this diverse colony was achieved through mutual respect and dialogue.  From the beginning, William Penn approached the Native Americans as fellow human beings and respected their cultures.  “Any differences between European Settlers and Native Americans”, he wrote, “would be ended through dialogue with six Natives and six settlers so we may live peaceably together.”  

 

Quakers believe that there is that of God in every person, and that divine revelation is directly available to all of us.  This belief in turn shapes our form of worship.  We worship in silent expectance, without clergy and prepared sermons, to wait on the spirit of God.  Sometimes it moves us to speak; otherwise silence.  

 

You are sitting on benches dating from 1720s to 1820s in a room where social reformer Lucretia Mott, abolitionist and educator Anthony Benezet, and African American educator Sarah Mapps Douglass worshipped.  You are also in the spiritual home of William Penn whose Holy Experiment still defines us as Americans:  our fundamental belief in human rights and personal liberties and our diverse community which often presents us profound challenges.   That diversity, guided by the original spirit of Philadelphia, through dialogue and mutual respect, strengthens us and offers cultural and social richness beyond our imaginings.  

 

I welcome you to Arch Street Friends Meeting House.

 

Nancy Gibbs, Director 

Arch Street Meeting House

320 Arch Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106