Green Street Monthly Meeting Records

Green Street Monthly Meeting of Friends was established in 1816 by Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting out of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting for the Northern District. Its original location of the Green Street meeting house was at 4th and Green Streets in Philadelphia. In 1827, at the time of the Hicksite separation in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the meeting remained with Hicksite Friends. Orthodox Friends were transferred to Philadelphia Monthly Meeting for the Northern District.

Green Street Monthly Meeting left the Green Street meeting house in 1913 and circulated between the meeting houses at Girard Avenue and Germantown. By 1917, the monthly meeting was held entirely at Germantown. Green Street Monthly Meeting reunited with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) in 1955 and is currently active. Greene Street Friends School's history dates to the 1855 creation of a School Committee by Hicksite Quakers in Germantown. The school expanded several times through the years. It remains under the oversight of Green Street Monthly Meeting.

Fair Hill Indulged Meeting (also called Fair Hill Worship Group) was at the site of Fair Hill Meeting House, which traces meeting for worship back to 1703. The property came under the care of Green Street in 1818 but meeting for worship was not regularly held until 1882. In the early 20th century Fair Hill had a very active First Day School, attracting many neighborhood attenders who were not Quakers. Meeting attendance declined through the 1960s and the meeting was discontinued in 1972.

Fair Hill Burial Ground was established on land bequeathed by George Fox in 1690, although property ownership was tangled for the first several decades. The land came under care of Green Street Monthly Meeting in 1818 and while interments had happened previously it was not then regularly used for burials. The Burial Ground was established around 1830 for the three Hicksite monthly meetings in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Spruce Street, and Green Street). For a time, a joint committee of the Hicksite monthly meetings managed the burial ground. In the 20th century, the redlining of Fairhill caused disinvestment in the area; Green Street and Fair Hill trustees made several attempts to re-purpose or sell Fair Hill Burial Ground, finally selling in 1985 to Ephesians Baptist Church. Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting bought the property back in 1993, the same year Historic Fair Hill, a community non-profit , was incorporated (under the name Fair Hill Burial Ground).

Frankford Preparative Meeting (also known as "Frankford Friends Meeting, Waln Street," "Frankford Indulged Meeting," and "Frankford Particular Meeting") was under care of Green Street Monthly Meeting from 1827 through 1999, when it became a monthly meeting under the name "Unity Monthly Meeting, Frankford."

Germantown Preparative Meeting (Hicksite) was established in 1877 but discontinued after Green Street Monthly Meeting removed to the area in 1914. The meeting at Germantown included an active group of members, the Germantown Friends Association, in the early 20th century. Germantown Friends Association was primarily a social group, and it was established during the Preparative Meeting and continued after Green Street's business meeting removed to the School Lane Meeting House.

Girard Avenue Indulged Meeting was set up by Greene Street in 1859 for Quakers in northwest Philadelphia. After Green Street left its original location at 4th and Green in 1913, the Girard Avenue Meeting House was used for Green Street's monthly meeting for business on a bimonthly basis between 1914 and 1917, when it permanently removed to Germantown. There was a school held there, first at the meetinghouse and then in a dedicated building, between 1872 and 1923. After years of declining attendence at meeting for worship, the indulged meeting was discontinued in 1934 and the property was sold in 1941.