Arch Street Meeting House (ASMH), an 1804 Quaker meetinghouse in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa., saw a significant increase in visitors in 2023, with over 52,000 individuals touring the historic site. This marks an 18,000 visitor increase from 2022, its previous best year.
In late February, ASMH reopened for museum visitation after a winter hiatus, and has since welcomed hundreds of Friends, tourists, and seekers. In March, ASMH partnered with the Betsy Ross House for “Abolition Women: The Sisters Who Turned the World Upside Down,” a first-person interpretive program about nineteenth-century Quakers Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Funding provided by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Healing the Planet Grant Program (which is funded by the Giant Company) supported the installation of a new community fridge and food pantry on ASMH’s historic grounds, in an effort to address food insecurity. Launched in late fall 2023, Friends Pantry is a collaborative project between Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust (ASMHPT) and the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia.
ASMH staff, trustees, and volunteers are preparing to launch a capital campaign in the coming months. ASMH will employ engineers, architects, historians, and preservationists from around the region to complete the meetinghouse’s capital improvements.
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