Four people seven churches to become Northeast Philadelphia Hall of Fame members

On October 21, Northeast Philadelphians will gather at Holy Family University. They’ll eat h’ordeuvres, listen to classical music and meet the historians who can answer almost any query about the region’s history.

They’ll be there as four people and seven houses of worship are added to a growing list of  Northeast Philadelphia Hall of Fame inductees. The new class of members was announced yesterday Holy Family, with President Sr. Francesca Onley and steering and selection committee members in attendance.

In October, the following will honored for their contributions to the region, and in most cases, much larger communities:

  • inventor and solar power pioneer Frank Shuman (1862-1918),
  • civil rights leader and anti-apartheid activist Rev.Leon Sullivan (1922-2001),
  • business and community leader Ed Kelly
  • astronaut Chris Ferguson

Seven Northeast houses of worship, at least 200 years old  each, will be inducted as a group:

  • Unity Monthly Meeting in Frankford, founded 1682; and Byberry Monthly Meeting, founded 1683. Both among the earliest Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania
  • Pennepack Baptist Church in Bustleton, founded in 1688 and Pennsylvania’s oldest Baptist Church
  • Trinity Church Oxford in Lawndale, which has been in existence since at least 1698 and is one of the oldest Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania
  • Presbyterian Church of Frankford, founded 1770
  • All Saints Episcopal Church in Torresdale, founded 1772
  • Campbell AME Church in Frankford, founded 1807 and the nation’s second-oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church

The group will join 12 other inductees, added to the Hall of Fame in 2010 and 2009.

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