Whitefield’s Preaching House

On this site stood the first campus of the University of Pennsylvania. In a deal brokered by Benjamin Franklin, the Preaching House was sold to the then Academy and Charitable School of Pennsylvania in 1750. The “New Building” had been built ten years prior as the city’s largest structure to accommodate the capacity crowds wanting to hear Rev. George Whitefield preach. Other Awakening preachers were also welcome to use the building. The Second Presbyterian Church rented the building as its initial meeting place. It is also the likely location where Whitefield baptized the infant Elias Boudinot, future patriot, president of the Continental Congress, and founder of American Bible Society.