Photo Credit: Chris Kendig Photography

The Opportunity

Wharton-Wesley United Methodist Church, embedded in the surrounding residential fabric of the Cobbs Creek neighborhood, once had a congregation of 700. Today, most of its 150 members travel from outside the neighborhood to attend services. High utility costs and aging infrastructure make the church and Sunday school building costly and challenging to maintain. Having just completed a strategic planning process, the congregation is attuned to the challenges faced by the surrounding community. Community partner, ACHIEVEability, is eager to increase the impact of its work to improve the lives of residents in the Haddington/Cobbs Creek neighborhood through collaboration with Wharton-Wesley.

Photo Credit: Chris Kending Photography

Current Conditions

The most traditional of the three sites, Wharton-Wesley contains a sanctuary, a chapel, Sunday school classrooms, and a fellowship hall. There are hidden treasures inside - a sanctuary with great acoustics and exquisite stained glass windows, a commercial kitchen, and flexible space for community programming. The church has several entraces, enabling multiple programs to take place simultaneously. The space surrounding the building provides valuable off-street parking and room for outdoor programming.

Photo Credit: Chris Kending Photography

Brief Site History of Wharton-Wesley United Methodist Church

Wharton Wesley can trace its origins to 1842, to the founding of Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church. First located at 4th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia, Wharton Street was an offshoot of two thriving Methodist congregations, Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church and Bethesda Methodist Episcopal Church.

By 1900, the membership of Wharton Street had largely relocated to the streetcar suburb of West Philadelphia. The church followed its membership—selling its 4th and Wharton location to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and erecting the present building at 54th and Catharine Streets in West Philadelphia.

Dedicated in 1907, Wharton Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church was designed by Philadelphia-born architect Wesley Lesher Blithe (1873-1943) and features an early set of stained glass windows by D’Ascenzo Studios (fl. 1905-1954).

Nearby in West Philadelphia, the predominantly African American congregation of John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1893 by visionaries Rev. A. R. Shockley, George Raisen, Terry Alexander, and Noah Brisden. John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church grew and thrived throughout the twentieth century—outgrowing a 46th Street storefront, a church at 46th and Aspen, a church at Holly and Aspen Streets, and a church at 42nd and Parrish Streets.

However, as John Wesley grew, Wharton Memorial declined. The result was a strategic merger of the two Methodist congregations in 1973—of a declining Anglo American congregation that was struggling to sustain its historic building and a thriving African American congregation that better reflected the community. Rev. Herman T. Moody oversaw this transition, and played a role in persuading the newly merged congregation to adopt and invest in the present site.