The congregation organized by Zinzindorf consisted of thirty-four persons. They took up a lot on the east side of Bread Street and south of Sassafras (now Race) Street, which on August 20, 1742, was transferred by William Allen and wife to Samuel Powell, Joseph Powell, Edward Evans, William Rice, John Okley, and Owen Rice, for another lot on Sassafras Street.
The parties named were not all Moravians, but the deed was made to them in trust for “a certain congregation of Christian people, as well German as English, residing in the City of Philadelphia, belonging to the church of the Evangelical Brethren, who have caused to be erected thereon a new building for and to their use and service as a church and school house to S. Lewis Zinzindorf, David Nitschmann, Joseph Spangenberg, Henry Antes, John Bloomfield, and Charles Brockden.”
Additional real estate was acquired and the church building was commenced immediately. The corner stone was laid September 10, 1742, by Count Zinzindorf, and the work proceeded so rapidly that it was dedicated by him on November 25, following.
This building was set back from Sassafras Street thirty-five feet. It had a front of forty-five feet on Bread Street, afterward called Moravian Alley.
The edifice was two stories high, the first story being used as the church proper. This room was twenty feet in height from the floor, wainscoted about five feet, and whitewashed above to the ceiling. The roof was of the hip-roof design. There were large windows in each side. The congregation used this church for more than fifty years without a stove in winter.
The first Moravian congregation in Philadelphia contained those who had left the Lutherans when the Pyrlaeus affair occurred, and a number of Moravians who had been awhile at Nazareth and Bethlehem.
On the evening of his departure from America Count Zinzindorf organized these members into the First Moravian Church.
British and Seneca Indian Allies Destroy
Fort Freeland, July 28, 1779
