FUMCOG has been a fixture along the historic Germantown Avenue corridor since the congregation’s founding in 1796. Over the centuries, the church has witnessed the surrounding neighborhood transition from a wealthy enclave into a working-class community and later, after experiencing the effects of white flight, a low-income neighborhood. The property was purchased at the end of the eighteenth century from Daniel Pastorius, descendant of the prominent Quaker abolitionist Francis Pastorius. Notably, George Washington, who stayed in Germantown during the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic, frequented the Greentree Tavern, which is now part of FUMCOG’s campus and known as the Greentree Building. FUMCOG’s Gothic Revival sanctuary building was designed by the prolific local architecture firm Rankin & Kellogg and built between 1896 and 1898. Constructed of local Holmesburg granite with limestone trimmings, the sanctuary features a 130-foot-tall bell tower and 16 Tiffany stained-glass windows.

FUMCOG has long utilized its buildings to fulfill its faith mission of “beloved community.” Throughout the twentieth century, the church was pivotal in forming and supporting local organizations serving those in need. Today, FUMCOG sustains this legacy of giving by sharing its space with an array of community-serving businesses and organizations. The church offers partially or fully subsidized space to around a dozen local businesses and organizations, including Miss Marty’s Day Care, Urban Resources Development Corporation, Germantown Community Fridge, Dirtbaby Farm, and Northwest Victim Services. FUMCOG also hosts regular lectures and readings by writers of marginalized identities, the Germantown Jazz Festival concerts, and annual holiday events.

A National Fund grant of $100,000 matched with $100,000 raised by the congregation will allow FUMCOG to make critical masonry repairs to the bell tower and install an ADA-compliant entrance ramp, enabling FUMCOG to open space to new community groups while ensuring the stability of its historic building.

Photo by Thomas Loder