History
When Friends first came to Philadelphia in 1681, they gathered to worship in private homes until the first meeting house was built on the bank of the Delaware River. As the Meeting increased in size, it outgrew a succession of meeting houses until the present large house was built in 1804, on a site originally granted by William Penn as a Friends burying ground. The meeting house was built for this Monthly Meeting and for the holding of Yearly Meeting (the annual session for regional monthly meetings). Mainly used by the Monthly Meeting each week, the building serves as an exhibition and conference center, and is visited by thousands of tourists each year.