Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revere William Penn and other founding leaders as servants of God in establishing Pennsylvania and the United States of America as places of liberty and religious freedom. Latter-day Saint scripture, the Book of Mormon, points to these leaders and William Penn’s “holy experiment” as laying the foundation for the subsequent organization of the Church.
Early Church History
Latter-day Saint history in the Philadelphia area began in 1825 when Church founder Joseph Smith came to Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to work as a day laborer. Joseph met his wife, Emma Hale, in what was then known as Harmony. With the assistance of Emma and others, Joseph translated most of the Book of Mormon in the area. On April 6, 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized in Fayette, New York. Missionaries were then sent to nearby eastern states to preach of Jesus Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection as revealed in the Holy Bible and Book of Mormon.
One of the first Church missionaries, Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, sold a copy of the Book of Mormon to Phineas Young, who showed it to his brother Brigham Young. In January 1832, the Young brothers and their wives journeyed about 130 miles to visit the nearest Church congregation in Columbia, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. They stayed for six days to learn more about the Church. In early April 1832, two of Brigham’s brothers and his father returned to Columbia and were baptized somewhere near the Susquehanna River.
In 1836 and 1838 Don Carlos Smith, another of Joseph Smith’s brothers, preached in several eastern states, including Pennsylvania. Another missionary, Jedediah M. Grant, who later became the leader of the Philadelphia branch and a member of the Church’s highest governing body, recorded in his missionary journal that in company with others he travelled through New Jersey to Philadelphia “preaching by the way.”
Church Growth
The nascent Church began to grow in the Delaware River Valley in the 1830s and 1840s. In Chester County, Pennsylvania, Edward Hunter, a wealthy Quaker farmer, had constructed a schoolhouse called the West Nantmeal Seminary, where the missionaries wished to preach. There was much opposition in the community, but Hunter insisted that the missionaries be accorded the same rights as others. The meeting was held and many joined the Church, including the Hunters.
In the winter of 1839–1840, Joseph Smith visited Philadelphia and the Hunter home. He selected leaders for a new congregation in Philadelphia on December 23, 1839. On January 14 of the following year, he spoke to an audience of about 3,000 at the First Independent Church of Christ (later the First Universalist Church and now a Jewish synagogue) in downtown Philadelphia. He also preached at the Nantmeal Seminary. The Brandywine Branch, as this congregation of Chester County members was called, had about 135 members, and the area where they lived became known as “Mormon Hollow.”
In the 1840s, 18 Latter-day Saint congregations were found throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. The members in these branches would later be a source of great strength to the Church as it settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, and later moved westward to the Salt Lake Valley.
The Church Today
The Mormon presence in the Delaware Valley area from the 1860s to 1920s remained small as many members migrated to Utah and the western states. Over time, young Church members began coming to Philadelphia for business or to attend one of the area’s respected educational institutions. This infusion of western Latter-day Saints combined with local converts provided a strong foundation for the Church in the area. An important milestone occurred in 1938 when the Church’s first chapel in the area was built at 316 South 46th Street in West Philadelphia.
From the few hundred members in the 1840s, Church membership in the area has continued to grow, and today there are about 15,000 members in the Philadelphia metro area. The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple will serve over 41,000 people from Harrisburg on the west, Williamsport and Scranton on the north, southern New Jersey on the east and Delaware on the south. These Mormons build on their rich heritage in the area as they continue to contribute to William Penn’s community.