Editing Quaker Philadelphia (section)

== Quaker Institutions ==

Philadelphia's Quakers created an array of institutions that shaped the city's development and continue to operate today. The earliest meeting houses—simple brick buildings reflecting Quaker plainness—served as community centers as well as places of worship. The Arch Street Meeting House, built in 1804, remains the largest Quaker meeting house in the world and hosts Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the regional Quaker organization. The Free Quaker Meeting House at 5th and Arch Streets, built in 1783 for Friends who had supported the Revolution (and were therefore disowned by pacifist meetings), stands as a reminder of the divisions the war created within the Quaker community.<ref name="kashatus">{{cite book |last=Kashatus |first=William C. |title=Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia |year=2016 |publisher=History Press |location=Charleston, SC}}</ref>

Beyond meeting houses, Quakers founded many of Philadelphia's most important educational and philanthropic institutions. Friends established some of the earliest schools in Pennsylvania, believing that education was essential for both boys and girls—a progressive stance for the era. Penn Charter School, founded in 1689 (and claiming to be the oldest Quaker school in the world), continues to operate in East Falls. Quakers were instrumental in founding the Pennsylvania Hospital (1751), America's first hospital, and the Institute for Colored Youth (1837), one of the earliest institutions of higher education for African Americans. The Quaker commitment to reform extended to prison conditions, with Philadelphia Friends pioneering the penitentiary system at Eastern State Penitentiary, designed to encourage reflection and rehabilitation rather than simply punishment.<ref name="soderlund">{{cite book |last=Soderlund |first=Jean R. |title=Quakers and Slavery: A Divided Spirit |year=1985 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ}}</ref>