Benjamin D. Price
Benjamin Detwiler Price (September 3, 1845 - September 19, 1922) was an architect known principally for his catalogue sales of plans for churches. He reportedly sold over 6,000 copies of his church plans, and several of the churches he designed are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
Also recorded as Benjamin Detwiler Price
Benjamin D. Price

Benjamin D. Price · "Church Plans" by Benjamin D. Price at archive.org · Public domain
- Born
- 1845 · North Coventry Township.
- Died
- 1922 · Punta Gorda.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- architect
- Fields
- church architecture · architectural design · mail order
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Benjamin Detwiler Price (September 3, 1845 - September 19, 1922) was an architect known principally for his catalogue sales of plans for churches. He reportedly sold over 6,000 copies of his church plans, and several of the churches he designed are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4888457 · wikipedia · Benjamin D. Price
In this article
Family and personal life
Family and personal life
Price was married in 1872 to Mary W. Dingee. Price and his son, Max Charles Price, co-authored later editions of "Church Plans" and also formed a company to manufacture and sell paper imitation stained glass. By 1900, he had moved to Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. By 1920, he had moved to Punta Gorda, Florida. In 1922, Price died in Punta Gorda, Florida.
Works
Works
• Illustration — Darby Free Library A number of Price's works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His works include: • Changewater Methodist Episcopal Church (1900), Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey • Darby Free Library (1872) in Darby, Pennsylvania • First Christian Church (1911), North Main Street, Nashville, Arkansas (Price, Benjamin D.; Price, Max Charles), NRHP-listed • First Methodist Church (1888), Mays Landing, New Jersey • Illustration — First Presbyterian Church of Margaretville, New York • First Presbyterian Church of Margaretville, Orchard Street, Margaretville, New York • Illustration — Mt. Zion Memorial Church, Princess Anne, Maryland • First United Methodist Church (1885 major remodel of 1858 structure), 91 West Main St., Freehold, New Jersey • Hartford Baptist Church and Cemetery, 56 NY 23 (Main St.), Hartford, New York (Price, Benjamin D.), NRHP-listed • Manatawna Baptist Church (1913), now Andorra Baptist Church, 8711 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Methodist church, Groveville, New Jersey • Methodist church, Navesink, New Jersey • Mt. Zion Memorial Church, 29071 Polks Road, Princess Anne, Maryland (Price, Benjamin D.), NRHP-listed • Niotaze Methodist Episcopal Church (c. 1895), 301 North F Street, Niotaze, Kansas (Price, Benjamin D.), NRHP-listed • Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church (1899), 9449 Harrison Street, Greenville, Indiana (Price, Benjamin D.), NRHP-listed • Snoqualmie American Legion Renton-Pickering Post #79, originally Snoqualmie Methodist Church. Built in 1892 from Price's Church Plans by Edmund Kinsey (father of photographer's Darius and Clark Kinsey); moved across street in 1920s and converted to Legion Hall in 1926. King County Historic Landmark as part of Snoqualmie Historic Commercial District. • Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church (1881), Millville, New Jersey (probably based on plans #6 and 6b in the 1906 edition of "Church Plans") • Wanakena Presbyterian Church, 32 Second Street, Wanakena, New York (Price, Benjamin D.), NRHP-listed
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1845–1922
The full dated record · 5 entries
1845
Benjamin D. Price born at North Coventry Township.
1891
Hartford Baptist Church is dated 1891.
1895
Niotaze Methodist Episcopal Church is dated 1895.
1901
Elk Rapids First Methodist Episcopal Church is dated 1901.
1922
Benjamin D. Price died at Punta Gorda.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Middletown, Philadelphia and Punta Gorda
Residences
North Coventry Township.
Birth place
Punta Gorda.
Death place
Architectural practice
Born in North Coventry, Pennsylvania, he established his architectural practice at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 1870s, he began marketing plans for churches through the mail. In 1876, Price began working with the Methodist Episcopal Board of Church Extension and prepared 67 church plans for them. The Methodist Episcopal Church Board sold copies of Price's plans by mail for prices ranging from two to fifty dollars. By 1885, the Board had sold 1,975 copies of Price's plans. In 1889, Price reacquired the rights to his designs from the Board. In the 1892 edition of "Church Plans," Price wrote that he had sold 600 copies of his plans in 1891 and that a total of 5,350 plans had been sold through December 31, 1891. He claimed to have sold more than 6,000 copies of his plans between 1876 and 1907. A number of editions of his book "Church Plans" were published from 1885 to 1906. • Illustration — Hartford Baptist Church • Illustration — Wanakena Presbyterian Church
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4888457: Benjamin D. Price
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Benjamin D. Price”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The New Jersey Churchscape. Benjamin Price & the Board of Church Extension. March 2009.
- 2.Benjamin D. Price. Church Plans. c. 1892.
- 3.Census entry for Benj. D. Price (identified as a farmer and architect) and family (including wife Mary and son Max). Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Year: 1900; Census Place: Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey; Roll: 986; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 132; FHL microfilm: 1240986.
- 4.Census entry for Max Price and Benjamin D. Price (both identified as architects). Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Year: 1920; Census Place: Punta Gorda, De Soto, Florida; Roll: T625_217; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 14; Image: 204.
- 5.Ancestry.com. Florida Death Index, 1877-1998 [database on-line].
- 6.2010a.
- 7.The New Jersey Churchscape. Changewater Methodist Episcopal Church.
- 8.Preservation Alliance. Andorra Baptist Church.
- 9.Kansas Historical Society. National and State Registers of Historic Places County: Chautauqua.
- 10.Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum, Assistant Director
- 11.The New Jersey Churchscape. Trinity Methodist Church, Millville, Cumberland County.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q4888457: Benjamin D. PriceWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Price worked in church architecture, architectural design and mail order. He worked at Atlantic Highlands, Philadelphia, Middletown and Punta Gorda. The identifiers under which Benjamin D. Price may be traced in institutional catalogues.
Career and activity
Elk Rapids First Methodist Episcopal Church
1901
Niotaze Methodist Episcopal Church
1895
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
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