ASUMC Historic Timeline
1862
Arch Street UMC is establish. A room is rented on the second floor of the German-American Trust Company at the Northeast corner of Broad and Arch Streets. Founding members Charles W. Higgins, George Cookman, and James R. White can be seen to the left.
February
Rev. Arron Rittenhouse (right) is the first pastor appointed to serve Arch Street UMC
1864
April
July 7th 1864
The cornerstone of the chapel was laid in a ceremony with distinguished guests including Bishop Matthew Simpson (pictured below) and Levi Scott.
Fun Fact
To the left you can see a depiction of the lot at 55 N broad street that would become the home of Arch Street UMC. Before the purchase this lot contained a coal yard and a seller of cemetery markers.
1865
April
After his assassination on April 15th, Lincoln’s funeral procession passed the unfinished chapel on its way to Independence Hall where it lay in state for a day. Bishop Matthew Simpson, who helped found and build ASUMC, was an advisor to Lincoln advocating for the freeing of all slaves and gave the final address at Lincoln’s funeral.
June
1869
Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Grant, visited Arch Street UMC to attend the wedding of Hannah Simpson, daughter to Bishop Simpson.
1870
November
The new sanctuary, also designed by architect Addison Hutton, is completed.
Above the sanctuary is a hung plaster ceiling with a large open space between it and the roof which draws hot air up and out of the sanctuary. Arch Street UMC was one of the first buildings to use this induced airflow method to cool the interior in summer.
1871
May
A Standbridge organ has 17 registers with 1,008 pipes in the great organ, 9 registers and 489 pipes in the choir organ, 14 registers and 709 pipes in the swell organ, and 4 registers and 116 pipes in the pedal organ, with 7 additional couplers and mechanical stops for a total of 51 registers and 2,322 pipes.
1888
June
Arch Street accepted the deed to the land at 53rd and Chestnut Streets to start a new congregation eventually becoming St. Matthews
1883
November 4th
Arthur M. Burton, a member and trustee of Arch Street, founded St. Luke’s Methodist Episcopal Church at Broad and Jackson Streets in South Philadelphia.
1899
An even larger facility was built for Simpson House near Belmont Plateau which remains in operation to this day and is America’s oldest retirement community.
Fun Fact!
The baptismal picture here is made of wood from the once three-tiered pulpit at City Road Chapel in London. This church was founded by John Wesley and originally built in 1777.
This historic baptismal is still used at Arch Street UMC services today!
1914
Electricity was installed in the church
1971
December
Duke Ellington and his orchestra performed a sacred concert at the church
1990s
Installed handicap accessible bathroom for use of unhoused/unsheltered people
2006
Church became a reconciling congregation affirming LGBTQ+ individuals as full members of the church
September
Worked with nation fund for sacred spaces to complete a master plan for the churches restoration
2009
Completed restoration of sanctuaries stain glass window
2019
Hosted organizing meeting for Occupy Philly
Took over programing and responsibility for Serenity House to maintain a United Methodist presence in north Philadelphia
2012
Founding member of Power, an interfaith organization committed to radical and economic justice on a liveable planet.
2016
Partnered with Nurses to form a wellness space for our unhouse and unsheltered neighbors
ASUMC becomes a Sanctuary congregation welcoming Javier Flores into our space as he sought approval of his U-Visa application.
2018
The Center-Philadelphia became it’s own 501C3 born out of the many outreach ministries at Arch Street UMC
2020
The Center opens a drop-in center providing showers, laundry, case management, a clothing closet, meals, and more to our unhoused and unsheltered neighbors
