Friends' Almshouse in Philadelphia

16 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. set for ourselves the task of readapting the message of the Society of Friends to the circumstances of today and tomorrow, in a Church that has lost almost all of its traditional power, and which is being examined as never before in the light of the essentials rather than circumstances. I have no doubt that some things will transpire that will not appeal to many of us, as we grow older and conservative , but let each keep for himself a sweetness of approach to our problems and avoid the crystallization of opinions. If we look to the future with that hope and spirit, we will do much to further the future of our Society and of the Kingdom of God which it was raised up to serve. FRIENDS' ALMSHOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA By Davis H. Forsythe, Editor of The Friend (Philadelphia), and former President of Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia. On the twentieth day of the Eighth Month 1924, there passed by purchase to the Maryland Casualty Company, of Baltimore, a plot of land that had belonged to the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for a period of two hundred and eleven years. The history of the plot is a part of Philadelphia history and having for so long a period been entirely under the jurisdiction of Friends it may be appropriate for the Bulletin to chronicle its story. First, however, let us explore the place today. When Henry W. Longfellow returned home from a visit to Philadelphia in his early manhood, he may or he may not have revealed to a friend the impression made upon him by what he described as the "quaintest court" in the city; we know, however, as a matter of record, that in the early forties, when the plan for "Evangeline" had taken shape in his mind after Hawthorne had given him the key to the story, the picture of the Friends' Almshouse in Philadelphia, "by the mysterious and whimsical way memory often unfolds her holdings " fastened itself upon him as the closing scene of the work he was then engaged upon. If you will go with me today on south Fourth Street, crossing Walnut Street, we will turn east by the first narrow alley between FRIENDS' ALMSHOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA17 two tall office buildings, passing an archway that opens into the court of old Saint Joseph's (of which more later) and our feet w.11 be staid as a passage-way opens to our left. Here is a narrow court, less than the tenth of a city square in length, flanked on either side by brick buildings, two stories high, severely plain, with numerous doors and windows, the former opening into narrow halls and staircases leading to the story above. Between these two buildings, about twenty feet apart, are three flower beds, in winter destitute of the faintest vestige of life, in the summer months adding a charm to the spot quite foreign to all else in the neighborhood . To the north all the space between the court where you are standing, and Walnut Street is covered by a six story office building , modern in all its appointments, thoroughly adapted to the needs it serves, but recently occupied, upon completion, by the Maryland Casualty Company and the Aetna Insurance Company. It is this plot of ground, reaching from Walnut Street on the north to Willing's Alley on the south (already referred to) and embracing the new office building in front and the court in the rear, that concerns us in this story. A Philadelph:a daily of recent date under the caption, "First City Almshouse in Philadelphia," reviews briefly the history of the "City Poor House" which, located between Spruce and Pine Streets and extending from Third Street, is mentioned as the first city poor-house. In Deed Book 1, No. 3, page 71, in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, will be found the transcript of the deed (6 mo. 16, 1767) conveying said property to those having the care of the city's poor. This to all intents and purposes was the first City Almshouse and here it remained for two generations , or...