Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Here, in its first General Assembly held May 21-24, 1789, the Presbyterian denomination in America was formally organized on a national basis. This took place in the city's Second Presbyterian Church, which was at this site from 1750 to 1837.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the spring of 1789, delegates gathered at Philadelphia's Second Presbyterian Church for the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., knitting scattered colonial-era congregations into a single national denomination. The timing was no accident: the young republic was organizing its own federal government that same year, and America's churches were building parallel national structures freed from British ecclesiastical authority. The meetinghouse itself had stood on this ground since 1750.
Why it matters
It marks the founding of one of the most influential Protestant bodies in the United States and reflects how a newly independent nation reorganized its religious as well as its civil life along national lines.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Betsy Ross Housenearby · 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Illadelph Glass Gallery0.1 mi away · 68 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Paradigm Gallery + Studio0.1 mi away · 12 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Muse Gallery0.1 mi away · 52 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Larry Becker Contemporary Art0.1 mi away · 43 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Museum of Illusions Philadelphia0.2 mi away · 401 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- Benjamin Franklin Grave0.2 mi away
- U.S. Mint at Philadelphia Tour0.2 mi away
- Elfreth's Alley0.2 mi away
- President's House0.3 mi away
- First Bank of the United States0.3 mi away · 120 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Carpenters' Hall0.3 mi away · 320 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Food & drink
- 3J's Cafe0.1 mi away · 317 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Bubble Tea Room0.1 mi away · 319 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- PrimoHoagies0.2 mi away · 304 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Fork0.2 mi away · 306 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Menagerie Coffee0.2 mi away · 18 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- National Mechanics0.2 mi away · 22 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia
Places to stay
- Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District0.1 mi away · 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- The Philadelphia House0.2 mi away · 17 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Penn's View Hotel0.2 mi away · 14 North Front Street, Philadelphia
- Apple Hostels0.2 mi away · 33 Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Best Western Plus Independence Park Hotel0.2 mi away · 237 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels Philadelphia0.2 mi away · 32 South Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related events
- · First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Cyrus Bustill (1732-1806)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992
Born in 1732 of White, Black, and Native American ancestry, Cyrus Bustill bought his own freedom and baked bread for Revolutionary War troops during the struggle for American independence. He became a founder of the Free African Society, one of the earliest Black mutual-aid organizations in the nation, and later opened a school for Black children near this site. His life spanned enslavement, revolution, and the first stirrings of organized Black community building in Philadelphia.
Academy of Natural Sciences
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2013
When the Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in Philadelphia in 1812, the young republic was hungry to catalog the flora, fauna, and fossils of a still-unmapped continent. As the oldest natural science institution in the Americas, it became a hub for naturalists and explorers, amassing collections that helped define the study of life on Earth. It moved to its grand Logan Square home in 1876 and today anchors scientific research at Drexel University.
Anthony J. Drexel (1826-1893)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2005
From an office on this site, financier Anthony J. Drexel built what the marker calls the world's first trans-Atlantic banking network, channeling European capital into the railroads and enterprises driving America's industrial boom. A noted philanthropist, he also founded the institution that became Drexel University. His firm helped make Philadelphia a hub of Gilded Age finance.
Robert Aitken (1734-1802)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2012
In the tense years around American independence, printing was a political act—and Robert Aitken's Philadelphia shop sat at the center of it. In 1782 he produced the first complete English-language Bible printed in the new United States, a feat made possible by wartime import embargoes that cut off British editions, and notable enough to win an endorsement from Congress. Aitken also printed the official Journals of Congress and, through The Pennsylvania Magazine, first carried Thomas Paine's electrifying prose to American readers.