A peek back in time at St. Stephen’s at Lent--flooding the streets at midday!

This photo of St. Stephen’s at midday appeared in the parish newsletter of another church: the Church of the Saviour in University City—today the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. People flow in and out of all three doors AND gates (now gone) literally into the street (the congregation sought an iron railing on the pavement since at least 1857). Easter fell on April 10 in 1898. Thank you, Mike Krasulski, for including this in philadelphiastudies.org.

I wonder where the photographer stood? Possibly at the window of an upper floor of these two buildings (especially the one at right) across the street that may date from these decades--here powerfully imprinted with St. Stephen’s distinctive contour in the morning light.

—Suzanne Glover Lindsay, St. Stephen’s historian and curator

St. Stephen’s at midday

Across the street from St. Stephen’s