The visitor experience begins the moment you arrive at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site. The new Welcome Center will set the tone for hundreds of thousands of visitors like you each year, allowing each person who walks through our front gate to more fully engage with the site’s history, learn about the criminal justice system today, and imagine a more just future.

Thanks to a generous $807,500 grant from the William Penn Foundation, significant support from state government officials, and gifts from many individual donors, the project is nearly 100% funded. Want to help us in this final stretch? Make a gift today

 

 

The Eastern State Welcome Center will transform a once-abandoned electrical building and its surroundings into a calm, accessible entry experience. In August 2025, crews diligently cleaned out and stabilized the space—fixing a collapsing roof, disposing of piles of debris, and salvaging historic artifacts. Construction began in summer 2026, and now, the Welcome Center is on track to open its doors in 2027.

While preserving key historic elements, the Welcome Center will provide long-overdue amenities, including:

  • universal-design public restrooms with ADA-accessible stalls and tactile signage (the first permanent public restrooms in Eastern State’s history!),
  • an orientation hub with clear wayfinding,
  • a gathering space with seating and a hydration station,
  • and lighting, safety, and signage improvements.

Constructed in 1952, this former electrical building contained switch gears, transformers, and batteries that provided power to the penitentiary.

The Welcome Center’s footprint integrates modern conveniences with historic finishes. The inside will be lit by both skylight and historic light fixtures that were salvaged from the space. Behind the building’s facade, which will also remain largely unchanged, two exposed stone walls and a large switchgear will provide visual interest, honor the space’s past, and invite conversation connecting past to present. This Welcome Center will fill a longstanding capital need and help us welcome visitors like you to the historic site with dignity, care, and context—for generations to come.

We hope you'll consider making a gift today to support this project and more.

 

 

The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is committed to expanding access to resources and opportunities that promote a more vital and just city and region for all.

Financial Assistance provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Honorable Josh Shapiro, Governor.

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Financing Authority.