IT BEGAN WITH ONE MAN PRAYING QUIETLY ON FULTON STREET AND IT BECAME A NATIONAL AWAKENING
Saturday’s thought : August 8, 2026..
What began with one man praying quietly on Fulton Street became a nat... View MoreIT BEGAN WITH ONE MAN PRAYING QUIETLY ON FULTON STREET AND IT BECAME A NATIONAL AWAKENING
Saturday’s thought : August 8, 2026..
What began with one man praying quietly on Fulton Street became a national awakening.
Jeremiah Lanphier was a soft-spoken businessman, not a preacher or public figure, who took a job as a lay missionary with the North Dutch Reformed Church in Lower Manhattan. Grieved by the spiritual indifference around him and stirred by prayer, he began inviting people to a noonday meeting on Fulton Street, just steps from Wall Street. On Wednesday, September 23, 1857, he opened the doors to a small upper room. For thirty minutes, no one came. Then one man entered. By the end of the hour, six were gathered, quietly seeking God in the heart of the financial district.
Encouraged by that small beginning, the men met again the next week.
Word spread.
The following Wednesday, the attendance doubled.
Then it tripled.
Soon, the group began meeting every day at noon. In a city driven by schedules and business deals, men from banks, shipping firms, law offices, and trading houses were stepping away from their desks to pray. The meetings included scripture, brief exhortations, short prayers, and testimonies, all within a single hour, so workers could return to their jobs filled with fresh strength.
Within weeks, the crowds outgrew the original building. Overflow rooms opened, and more churches across Manhattan began offering noonday prayer gatherings. Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago followed. The movement spread across the country with astonishing speed. It is estimated that over ten thousand people were gathering daily for prayer in New York City alone.
Across the nation, over one million people came to Christ during the next year.
Entire towns were stirred. Churches were filled. The spiritual climate of America began to shift.
One of the remarkable features of this move of God was that it was led by everyday people. Businessmen, clerks, tradesmen, and students came together to pray. There was no central personality driving the revival. Instead, the Spirit moved through the prayers of ordinary believers.
People entered with humility and left with hope.
Meetings were marked by sincerity, reverence, and a deep sense of the Lord’s presence.
In the heart of America’s most ambitious city, God drew hearts back to Himself through prayer.
The revival’s timing was extraordinary. In October 1857, just weeks after those first prayer meetings, the stock market crashed. Banks closed. Businesses failed. Wall Street was shaken both economically and spiritually. In the midst of financial collapse, thousands turned to Christ. Some accounts describe men kneeling to pray outside the Stock Exchange. Ships arriving in New York Harbor reported a sense of conviction upon entering the city. The presence of God rested on the streets and sanctuaries of Manhattan.
What began with one man praying quietly on Fulton Street became a national awakening.
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Evangelist Tim Hall
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