In 1825, 104 Presbyterians in Philadelphia successfully petitioned their church elders to organize a new congregation in the Northern Liberties. After several periods of division and unification, a building committee gathered in 1834 to discuss "purchasing a lot of ground and the erection thereon of a building of sufficient dimensions to accommodate a congregation . . . Sunday and infant schools, and any other object by which the morals and minds of youth in this neighborhood may be improved." The following year, a congregation of twenty-one parishioners organized "The Central Presbyterian Church in the Northern Liberties."

The congregation purchased two adjoining lots on the north side of Coates Street (now Fairmount), below Fourth, paying for these lots with church "stock" held at $200 per share. These two properties were subsequently joined, forming a total front of 80 feet on Coates Street, with a depth of 157 feet. The lots were cleared of all but the two houses that stood at the front of the first lot oriented to Coates Street. An avenue, 80 feet wide, was opened in the center, running back 81 feet from the building line on Coates street. Where this avenue ended, the front of the church building stood.

Construction proceeded rapidly, and the church edifice was largely complete by the end of 1835. The building itself was 61 feet wide by 66 feet deep. It was built of stone and rough-cast. Its design was plain and was in rigid conformity to the style of church architecture common in that day. When the church was erected, as much attention was given to accommodations for the dead as to the church edifice itself. Twenty-six burial vaults were constructed in the churchyard: ten in front and sixteen on the east side of the building. Some of the vaults were designed for the poor of the church, some for rent to outside parties, and some for sale to any desiring to purchase.

The congregation came to find their building was less than ideal for their purposes. So, they attempted to sell their church on November 24, 1868, at an auction for no less than $15,000; however, it did not receive a single bid. It remained on the market until April 27, 1869, when it was purchased by the Salem German Reformed congregation. The Central Presbyterian congregation removed to a lot on the corner of Franklin and Thompson Streets and changed their name to the Temple Presbyterian Church in 1872, where it remains today as the Temple United Presbyterian Church. The remains of those entombed in the old churchyard vaults at Fourth and Fairmount were apparently removed.

The Salem congregation proceed to demolish the old church, and a new building was built and dedicated in 1874. In 1923, it was purchased by the Saint Michael the Archangel Russian Orthodox Church, which remains there today.