On the 16th of June, 1872, Rev. Ebenezer Allen began street preaching on the corner of Delaware, Geddes, Davis, and Fulton streets; he was then also serving as pastor of the Magnolia Street Methodist church, organized in 1869, on the hill north of the Idiot Asylum, a few members of which lived in the vicinity where Mr. Arnold was preaching in the streets. Mr. Arnold hoped to remove the old church and reorganize in the west part of the city, uniting the old with such new members as could be gathered there. The meetings were continued three seasons and in the meantime a church site was purchased and $1,400 paid on it. The Delaware Street Methodist Episcopal church was organized on this basis in 1873, with about forty members from the old church. In 1876 the brick church was erected at a cost of about $12,000. Meanwhile Alexander J. Brown had devoted much time and means to the welfare of the society and in his honor the church was re-named the Brown Memorial church.
Submitted 12 July 1998