Historic St. George’s is the cradle of American Methodism and the denomination’s oldest church building in continuous service. People called “Methodists” have been meeting within its walls since 1769, and our museum helps bring these early years to life.
Francis Asbury, first bishop of the Methodist Church, served here as pastor. Asbury worked tirelessly to bring Methodism to the new land, traveling 270,000 miles on horseback and ordaining more than 4,000 ministers in 35 years. He called St. George's "The Cathedral Church of American Methodism." Our artifacts include his Bible and a silver chalice that Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, sent St. George’s in 1785.
Audio of Dr. Curry, pastor during the American Bicentennial (1976)
St. George’s received the first itinerant preachers sent to America by Wesley. St. George’s appointed Mary Thorne as the first woman to be a class leader. The first Methodist bookstore, the first interdenominational Sunday school and the first Methodist Home Missionary Society all began here. Edward Evans of Philadelphia, an early St. George’s trustee, may be the rightful possessor of the title “First American-born itinerant.”
St. George’s licensed Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, the first African American Lay Preachers of Methodism in 1785. Their successful evangelistic leadership drew a large community of African Americans to the church. As a result, racial tensions flared; after a time, a progressively segregated seating policy for blacks brought Allen and Jones to lead the African congregation in a historic walkout that resulted in the formation of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. However, some African Americans remained in the St. George's congregation. In 1796, many of those remaining built African Zoar Church, led by "Black Harry" Hosier, a frequent companion of Francis Asbury.
We acknowledge our history, and actively seek reconciliation with our African-American brothers and sisters for the racial injustices of the past. On October 25, 2009, Mother Bethel AME held a joint worship service with St. George’s, marking a milestone in the growing relationship between these two congregations.
A Litany of Changes
From 100 members in 1769, the church grew to a peak membership of 3,200 in 1835, leading the congregation to excavate the basement to accommodate a Sunday school. Factories replaced houses in St. George’s neighborhood after the Civil War, reducing the congregation to just 25 by 1900. The building was nearly demolished in the 1920s to make way for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. A court battle saved the historic site, and now St. George's is known, among its many other distinctions, as "the church that moved the bridge."
Vibrancy Today
Today, St. George’s Church is undergoing the same revival as the neighborhood surrounding it. The factories that almost doomed the church a century ago now hold shops, restaurants and condominiums. The church has embraced this new vibrancy with jazz performances, festivals, special Bible study groups and renovations while continuing to honor the past.
Archives, Museum
Our museum and library house books and documents dating to the late 1700s and serve as the archive for the United Methodist Churches of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. We welcome scholars and writers interested in our library for research, and we offer public tours of our museum and sanctuary. Contact the church office 215-925-7788 or e-mail us for more information.
