Friends meeting houses in Pennsylvania

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Friends meeting houses are places of worship for the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. A "meeting" is the equivalent of a church congregation, and a "meeting house" is the equivalent of a church building.

Contents

Several Friends meetings were founded in Pennsylvania in the early 1680s. [lower-alpha 1] The Merion Friends Meeting House is the only surviving meeting house constructed before 1700. [3] Thirty-two surviving Pennsylvania meeting houses were constructed before 1800, and are listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or as contributing properties in historic districts. [4] More than one hundred meeting houses constructed before 1900 were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey, and published in Silent Witness: Quaker Meeting Houses in the Delaware Valley, 1695 to the Present (2002). [5] Those that were involved in the Underground Railroad have been identified by the Federal NETWORK TO FREEDOM program (NTF).

One of the key tenets of the Religious Society of Friends is pacifism, adherence to the Peace Testimony. The "Free Quakers" were supporters of the American Revolutionary War, separated from the Society, and built their own meeting house in Philadelphia, at 5th & Arch Streets (1783).

In 1827, the Great Separation divided Pennsylvania Quakers into two branches, Orthodox and Hicksite. Many individual meetings also separated, but one branch generally kept possession of the meeting house. The two branches reunited in the 1950s.

Meeting houses

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NamePhotoFoundedConstructedBranchNotesLocationReference
Abington Friends Meeting House Abington Friends Meeting House MontCo PA Planning.jpg 16831786Hicksite520 Meeting House Rd., Jenkintown
40°05′38″N75°07′06″W / 40.0939°N 75.1182°W / 40.0939; -75.1182 (Abington) 		FMHS
Arch Street Friends Meeting House Arch Street Meetinghouse from front.jpg 16811804, 1811Orthodox Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 304 Arch St., Philadelphia
39°57′07″N75°08′46″W / 39.9519°N 75.1462°W / 39.9519; -75.1462 (Arch St.) 		NHL
Bart Friends Meeting Bart Friends meeting LanCo PA 1.jpg 18201825HicksiteQuaker Church Rd., Christiana
39°55′58″N76°02′50″W / 39.9328°N 76.0473°W / 39.9328; -76.0473 (Bart)
Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse, PA - looking north.jpg
More images 		17261763HicksiteBirmingham Rd. near Rt. 926, West Chester
39°54′21″N75°35′39″W / 39.9057°N 75.5943°W / 39.9057; -75.5943 (Birmingham) 		NRHP
Birmingham Orthodox Friends Meeting House Birmingham Orthodox Friends Meetinghouse.JPG About 100 yd (91 m) from Hicksite meeting house.
Now a private home.		NRHP
Bradford Friends Meetinghouse Bradford Meeting.jpg 1716, 17261765Orthodox1364 West Strasburg Road, Marshallton
39°56′59″N75°40′48″W / 39.9496°N 75.6800°W / 39.9496; -75.6800 (Bradford) 		NRHP
Bristol Friends Meeting House Bristol Friends.JPG 1707, 17111713-19HicksiteMarket & Woods St., Bristol
40°05′47″N74°51′26″W / 40.0963°N 74.8572°W / 40.0963; -74.8572 (Bristol) 		FMHS
NRHP HD [6]
Buckingham Friends Meeting House Buckingham Friends BucksCo PA from SE.jpg
More images 		1701, 17051768Hicksite5684 York Rd. (Rt 202), Lahaska
40°20′41″N75°02′19″W / 40.3447°N 75.0387°W / 40.3447; -75.0387 (Buckingham) 		NHL [7]
Byberry Friends Meeting House1683, 17011808Hicksite3001 Byberry Rd., Philadelphia
40°06′09″N74°58′51″W / 40.1025°N 74.9809°W / 40.1025; -74.9809 (Byberry)
Caln Meeting House CalnMeetingHouse.jpeg 17161782SharedIn 1907 the Orthodox Meeting moved to CoatesvilleRt. 340, Thorndale
40°00′26″N75°45′53″W / 40.0073°N 75.7646°W / 40.0073; -75.7646 (Caln) 		FMHS
Catawissa Friends Meetinghouse Catawissa Friends Meetinghouse.jpg 1775, 17931794South St., Catawissa
40°57′04″N76°27′42″W / 40.9510°N 76.4617°W / 40.9510; -76.4617 (Catawissa) 		FMHS
NRHP
Chester Friends Meetinghouse Chester Meeting Delco.jpg 1675, 16981829, 195424th at Chestnut St. Chester
39°52′10″N75°21′50″W / 39.8694°N 75.3639°W / 39.8694; -75.3639 (Chester) 		NRHP
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6688-2.tif 19241931, 2012-2013Shared
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting - side view of exterior of meeting room.jpg
The 2013 building features a
"Skyspace," a sky-lighted room for
quiet contemplation.		100 E. Mermaid Ln, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia
40°04′07″N75°11′46″W / 40.0685°N 75.196°W / 40.0685; -75.196 (Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting) 		HABS
Chichester Friends Meetinghouse Chichester Meeting 2.jpg 1682, 17011769HicksiteMeeting House Rd., Boothwyn
39°50′11″N75°25′53″W / 39.8365°N 75.4313°W / 39.8365; -75.4313 (Chichester) 		NRHP
Concord Friends Meetinghouse ConcordFriends.JPG 16841728. 1788HicksiteOld Concord Rd, Concordville
39°53′05″N75°31′09″W / 39.8848°N 75.5192°W / 39.8848; -75.5192 (Old Concord) 		NRHP, FMHS
Darby Friends Meeting DarbyMeeting2.JPG 16821805Hicksite1015 Main St., Darby
39°55′16″N75°15′46″W / 39.9211°N 75.2629°W / 39.9211; -75.2629 (Darby) 		NRHP NTF
Doe Run Doe Run Friends ChesCo PA front.jpg 1808, 1811188381 Greenlaw Rd, Cochraneville
39°53′21″N75°52′17″W / 39.8892°N 75.8715°W / 39.8892; -75.8715 (Doe Run)
Downingtown Friends Meeting House Downingtown Friends Meeting House, 800 East Lancaster Avenue, Downingtown, Chester County, PA HABS PA-6653-2.tif 1784, 18111806Uwchlan Monthly Meeting moved here in 1900800 E. Lancaster Ave, Downingtown
40°00′51″N75°41′20″W / 40.0141°N 75.6889°W / 40.0141; -75.6889 (Downingtown) 		FMHS
Exeter Friends Meeting House Exeter Friends Meeting BerksCo PA.JPG 1715, 17251759OrthodoxMeeting House Rd., Stonersville
40°18′48″N75°47′04″W / 40.3132°N 75.7845°W / 40.3132; -75.7845 (Exeter) 		FMHS
Fair Hill Friends Meeting House 1702, 18801883Cambria St. at Germantown Ave., Philadelphia
39°59′46″N75°08′48″W / 39.9962°N 75.1467°W / 39.9962; -75.1467 (Fair Hill)
Fallowfield Friends Meeting House Ercildoun PA C.JPG 1792, 17961801 (1811?)HicksiteRt. 82 at Buck Run Rd., Ercildoun
39°56′46″N75°50′18″W / 39.9461°N 75.8384°W / 39.9461; -75.8384 (Fallowfield) 		FMHS
2nd Falls Friends Meeting House Gambrel roofed house Fallsington PA 1.jpg 16831728NAReplaced by the 1789 third meeting house
Housed a Friends School
Now divided into apartments		Tyburn Rd. at New Falls Rd., Fallsington
40°11′06″N74°49′12″W / 40.1850°N 74.8200°W / 40.1850; -74.8200 (Falls Meeting Houses) 		FMHS
3rd Falls Friends Meeting House
(now William Penn Center)		 Fallsington PA William Penn Center.jpg 1789OrthodoxHouses the William Penn Center9300 New Falls Rd., Fallsington
40°11′06″N74°49′11″W / 40.1849°N 74.8196°W / 40.1849; -74.8196 (Falls (1789)) 		FMHS
4th Falls Friends Meeting House
(located just north of the William Penn Center)		 Current Fallsington PA meeting house.jpg 1841Hicksite
Interior Falls Friends Meetinghouse PA.jpg

Interior:		9300 New Falls Rd., Fallsington
Frankford Friends Meeting House Frankford (Preparative) Friends Meeting House, Corner of Unity and Waln Streets, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6652-8.tif 16841775-76HicksiteOrthodox counterpart on Orthodox St.Unity and Waln Sts., Philadelphia
40°00′40″N75°05′03″W / 40.0111°N 75.0843°W / 40.0111; -75.0843 (Frankford) 		FMHS
Free Quaker Meetinghouse Free Quaker Meeting House from northeast.jpg 17801783-84Free Quaker
Freequakermeetinghouse.jpg
Closed 1836
Home of the Apprentices' Library,
1841-1897 [8]
In an 1884 engraving:		5th and Arch, Philadelphia
39°57′09″N75°08′55″W / 39.9524°N 75.1487°W / 39.9524; -75.1487 (Free Quaker) 		NRHP
Germantown Friends Meeting House GermantownFriends.jpg 16901868-69 Samuel Sloan & Addison Hutton, architects47 W. Coulter, Philadelphia
40°01′57″N75°10′19″W / 40.0324°N 75.1720°W / 40.0324; -75.1720 (Germantown)
Goshen Friends Meeting House Goshen Friends Meeting House Chesco PA.jpg 17091855814 Chester Rd, Goshenville
39°59′36″N75°32′37″W / 39.9933°N 75.5435°W / 39.9933; -75.5435 (Goshen)
Gwynedd Friends Meeting House Gwynedd Valley Meeting house in the snow.jpg 1689, 16981823Hicksite
Spring House & Pennllyn Turnpike, Lower Gwyynedd
40°12′11″N75°15′21″W / 40.2031°N 75.2557°W / 40.2031; -75.2557 (Gwynedd))
Old Haverford Friends Meetinghouse 1683 Haverford Friends.jpg 1682, 16841701Hicksite235 E. Eagles Road, Havertown
39°59′27″N75°18′17″W / 39.9907°N 75.3047°W / 39.9907; -75.3047 (Old Haverford) 		FMHS [4]
Homeville Friends Meeting House Homeville Friends Upper Oxford Chesco PA.JPG 18391839Newark Rd. Rt 896, Homeville
39°51′39″N75°59′14″W / 39.8608°N 75.9872°W / 39.8608; -75.9872 (Homeville)
Horsham Friends Meeting Horsham Friends Meeting PA 02.JPG 1714, 17171803HicksiteRte. 611 & Horsham Rd., Horsham Township
40°11′01″N75°07′54″W / 40.1836°N 75.1316°W / 40.1836; -75.1316 (Horsham) 		FMHS
Horsham Orthodox Friends Meeting House18901890OrthodoxExtant?Saw Mill Lane & Dreshertown Rd., Horsham Township
40°10′39″N75°08′23″W / 40.1775°N 75.1397°W / 40.1775; -75.1397 (Horsham Orthodox)
Old Kennett Meetinghouse Kennett Meeting House.jpg 1707, 17111731 c.Hicksite US Route 1, Kennett Square
39°52′16″N75°38′53″W / 39.8711°N 75.6481°W / 39.8711; -75.6481 (Old Kennett) 		FMHS
Lampeter Friends Meeting House Lampeter Friends Bird-in-Hand PA.JPG 1728, 17321889Rt. 340, Bird-in-Hand
40°02′20″N76°11′06″W / 40.0390°N 76.1850°W / 40.0390; -76.1850 (Lampeter)
Little Elk Friends Meeting House Little Elk Friends Meeting ChesCo PA 1.jpg 1826Media Rd, Hickory Hill
39°44′55″N75°55′49″W / 39.7485°N 75.9304°W / 39.7485; -75.9304 (Little Elk)
London Grove Friends Meeting House London Grove Friends Meeting 2 Chesco.JPG 1724, 17751818Rt. 926 at Newark Rd, West Marlborough Township
39°52′11″N75°46′25″W / 39.8696°N 75.7735°W / 39.8696; -75.7735 (London Grove))
Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting House Longwood Meeting House.jpg 18541854Rt. 1 at Longwood Gardens
39°52′07″N75°40′17″W / 39.8687°N 75.6713°W / 39.8687; -75.6713 (Longwood)
Maidencreek Friends Meeting House1732, 17351759HicksiteWest Shore Dr., Kindts Corner (building moved 1929)
40°27′44″N75°55′51″W / 40.4622°N 75.9308°W / 40.4622; -75.9308 (Maidencreek) 		FMHS
Makefield Friends Meeting House Makefield Meeting, Dolington 1.JPG 1750, 17901760, 1764Hicksite877 Dolington Rd, Lower Makefield
40°15′57″N74°53′12″W / 40.2658°N 74.8868°W / 40.2658; -74.8868 (Makefield) 		NRHP, FMHS
Marlboro Friends Meeting House Marlboro Meeting.JPG 1799, 18021801Part of Marlborough Village Historic District 901 Marlborough Springs Rd., Marlborough Village
39°53′44″N75°42′17″W / 39.8956°N 75.7046°W / 39.8956; -75.7046 (Marlboro) 		FMHS
Media Monthly Meeting House Media PA Friends Meeting.JPG 18781875Orthodoxknown as Chester Monthly Meeting until 1950?Third St., Media
39°55′17″N75°23′29″W / 39.9213°N 75.3913°W / 39.9213; -75.3913 (Media)
Merion Friends Meeting House MerionFriendsMeetinghouse2.jpg
More images 		16831695-1714Hicksite
Boisseau Premier Temple des Quakers a Philadelphie 1837.jpg
In an 1837 engraving:		615 Montgomery Ave., Merion Station
40°00′35″N75°15′16″W / 40.0097°N 75.2544°W / 40.0097; -75.2544 (Merion) 		NHL [9]
Middletown Friends Meeting House1680, 16831793Hicksite453 W. Maple Ave., Langhorne
40°10′31″N74°55′44″W / 40.1752°N 74.9288°W / 40.1752; -74.9288 (Middletown (Langhorne)) 		FMHS
Middletown Friends Meetinghouse Middletown Friends Meeting House Lima PA.jpg 1686, 17011702, 1770s, 1888435 Middletown Rd, Lima
39°55′28″N75°26′34″W / 39.9245°N 75.4429°W / 39.9245; -75.4429 (Middletown (Lima))
Millville Friends Meeting House Millville PA Friends 1795.jpg 17951846HicksiteMain at Maple St., Millville
41°07′23″N76°31′34″W / 41.1231°N 76.5260°W / 41.1231; -76.5260 (Millville) 		HABS
New Garden Friends Meeting House New Garden Friends Meeting ChesCo PA.jpg 1712, 17151743HicksiteNewark Rd., Toughkenamon
39°48′54″N75°45′09″W / 39.8150°N 75.7526°W / 39.8150; -75.7526 (New Garden) 		FMHS
Newtown Friends Meeting House Newtown Friends Meetinghouse.JPG 1815, 18171817, 1868Hicksite219 Court St. Newtown
40°13′33″N74°56′09″W / 40.2257°N 74.9357°W / 40.2257; -74.9357 (Newtown (Bucks Co.))
Newtown Square Friends Meeting House Newtown Square Meeting House DelCo PA 2.jpg 1696, 17061791Hicksite120 Newtown Rd. (Rt 252), Newtown Square
39°59′30″N75°24′18″W / 39.9918°N 75.4050°W / 39.9918; -75.4050 (Newtown Square) 		FMHS
Norristown Friends Meeting House Norristown Montco PA Friends.jpg 1890Swede & Pine Sts., Norristown
Oxford Friends Meeting House Oxford PA Friends Meeting House.jpg 18761879S. 3rd St., Oxford
39°46′48″N75°58′51″W / 39.7801°N 75.9808°W / 39.7801; -75.9808 (Oxford (Chesco))
Parkersville Friends Meetinghouse Parkersville PA Friends Meetinghouse.JPG 18301830HicksiteParkersville Rd. s of Rt 926 Parkersville
39°53′10″N75°38′43″W / 39.8861°N 75.6452°W / 39.8861; -75.6452 (Parkersville) 		NRHP
Plumsted Friends Meeting House17301752, 18764914 Point Pleasant Pike, Danboro
40°22′02″N75°06′52″W / 40.3671°N 75.1145°W / 40.3671; -75.1145 (Plumsted) 		FMHS
Plymouth Friends Meetinghouse Plymouth Meeting Montco PA.jpg
More images 		1703, 17101708, 1780HicksiteGermantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting
40°06′09″N75°16′45″W / 40.1025°N 75.2792°W / 40.1025; -75.2792 (Plymouth) 		NRHP [10]
Providence Friends Meeting House Providence Friends Meeting Media.JPG 16861700, 1727, 1753HicksiteProvidence Rd., Media
39°55′06″N75°22′52″W / 39.9183°N 75.3810°W / 39.9183; -75.3810 (Providence (Media)) 		HABS
Providence Quaker Cemetery and Chapel Quaker Perryopolis.JPG 17891793closed 1870Jct. of PA 4038 and PA 4036 W, Perryopolis
40°04′22″N79°46′56″W / 40.072778°N 79.782222°W / 40.072778; -79.782222 (Providence Quaker Cemetery and Chapel) ,		NRHP
Race Street Friends Meeting House Race Street Meetinghouse from Race Street.jpg 1855-57
Race Street Friends Meeting House, Race Street west of Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6687-13.tif
Interior:		1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia
39°57′21″N75°09′54″W / 39.9559°N 75.1651°W / 39.9559; -75.1651 (Race St.) 		NRHP
Radnor Friends Meetinghouse RadnorFriendsMeetinghouse.jpg
More images 		1684, 16981717-18HicksiteSproul Rd. (Rt 320), Ithan
40°01′48″N75°21′51″W / 40.0300°N 75.3643°W / 40.0300; -75.3643 (Radnor)
Reading Friends Meeting House Reading Friends Meeting summer.jpg 1750, 17561868Wilson Eyre108 N. 6th St., Reading
40°20′15″N75°55′35″W / 40.3375°N 75.9263°W / 40.3375; -75.9263 (Reading)
Richlands Friends Meeting House Quakertown Friends PA 2.jpg 1710, 17231862Main St and Mill Rd, Quakertown
40°26′12″N75°21′08″W / 40.4367°N 75.3522°W / 40.4367; -75.3522 (Richlands)
Roaring Creek Friends Meeting Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House.JPG 1786, 17961795-96Hicksite
Roaring Creek Meeting House facing benches.jpg
Interior:		Quaker Meeting Rd., Numidia
40°53′53″N76°23′55″W / 40.8981°N 76.3986°W / 40.8981; -76.3986 (Roaring Creek) 		FMHS
Sadsbury Friends Meeting House Sadsbury Meeting 1896.jpg 1723, 17251747HicksiteSimmontown Rd, Gap
39°58′15″N75°59′27″W / 39.9709°N 75.9908°W / 39.9709; -75.9908 (Sadsbury) 		FMHS
Schuylkill Friends Meeting House Schuylkill-Friends-Meeting-House.jpg 18121807, 1816HicksiteCharlestown Friends until 182637 N. Whitehorse Rd., Phoenixville
40°07′15″N75°30′07″W / 40.1209°N 75.5019°W / 40.1209; -75.5019 (Schuylkill Friends Meeting House)
Solebury Friends Meeting House1806, 181118062680 Sugan Rd., New Hope
40°22′22″N74°59′15″W / 40.3728°N 74.9874°W / 40.3728; -74.9874 (Solebury)
Springfield Friends Meetinghouse Springfield Friends Delco.jpg 16861703, 1783, 1850
Swarthmore Friends Meeting House Swarthmore Friends Meeting a.jpg 1863, 18931881Hicksite12 Whittier Place, Swarthmore
39°54′26″N75°21′12″W / 39.9073°N 75.3533°W / 39.9073; -75.3533 (Swarthmore)
Twelfth Street Meeting House
(now George School Meeting House)		 Photocopy of photograph, photographer unknown, before 1892. City of Philadelphia Records Department, Photo No. 41097. Original print in the Penrose Collection, Historical HABS PA,51-PHILA,674-1.jpg
Circa-1892 photograph
DISMANTLING OF ROOF. Removal of the first truss with crane and cradle. Note the reinforcing plates at the panel points. The rear of the PSFS building is beyond. Note that the HABS PA,51-PHILA,674-47.jpg
Disassembled, July 1972		1813-1814
relocated 1972		OrthodoxBuilt by carpenter John D. Smith using elements of
the Greater Meeting House, 1813-1814.

Disassembled and relocated, Summer 1972.
Rebuilt on campus of the George School, 1973-1974.
Charles Hough, restoration architect [11]
Re-dedicated, September 24, 1974		Original:
20 South 12th Street, Philadelphia
39°57′04″N75°09′37″W / 39.951167°N 75.160278°W / 39.951167; -75.160278 (PSFS)

Current:
George School, Newtown, Bucks County
40°12′41″N74°56′02″W / 40.211278°N 74.93375°W / 40.211278; -74.93375 (George School) 		HABS [12]
Unionville Friends Meeting House Unionville PA Friends front.jpg 18451845Now Grange HallRt. 82, Unionville
39°53′44″N75°43′51″W / 39.8956°N 75.7307°W / 39.8956; -75.7307 (Unionville) 		FMHS
Upper Dublin Friends Meeting House UpperDublinFriendsMeetinghouse.jpg 18141814HicksiteFt. Washington & Limekiln Rd. Upper Dublin
40°09′44″N75°11′16″W / 40.1622°N 75.1878°W / 40.1622; -75.1878 (Upper Dublin)
Upper Providence Friends Meeting House Upper Providence Friends Meetinghouse, 8207 Black Rock Road, Oaks, Montgomery County, PA HABS PA-6706-4.tif 1716, 17331828Hicksite8207 Black Rock Road, Oaks
40°08′56″N75°28′33″W / 40.1490°N 75.4758°W / 40.1490; -75.4758 (Upper Providence) 		HABS
Uwchlan Meetinghouse Uwchlan Meeting.JPG 1712, 17141763 c.OrthodoxVillage Ave. North, Lionville
40°03′16″N75°39′36″W / 40.0545°N 75.6599°W / 40.0545; -75.6599 (Uwchlan) 		FMHS
Valley Friends Meeting House1698, 181018711121 Old Eagle School Rd., Wayne
40°04′57″N75°24′54″W / 40.0826°N 75.4151°W / 40.0826; -75.4151 (Valley)
Warrington Friends Meeting House Warrington Friends near Wellsboro PA.JPG 1769Carlisle Rd, Wellsville
40°03′12″N76°55′47″W / 40.0532°N 76.9298°W / 40.0532; -76.9298 (Warrington)
West Chester Meeting House1810, 18131810, 1868Hicksite425 N. High, West Chester
39°57′51″N75°36′28″W / 39.9642°N 75.6078°W / 39.9642; -75.6078 (West Chester)
West Philadelphia Orthodox Friends Meeting House West Philadelphia Friends Meeting House, 3500 Lancaster Avenue at Thirty-fifth Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6664-3.tif 18781878OrthodoxPowelton & 42nd St., Philadelphia
39°57′33″N75°12′24″W / 39.9592°N 75.2066°W / 39.9592; -75.2066 (West Philadelphia)
Willistown Friends Meeting House Willistown Friends Meeting House Chesco PA.jpg 1753, 17941798HicksitePart of Okehocking Historic District 7069 Goshen Rd., Whitehorse
39°59′19″N75°28′51″W / 39.9886°N 75.4809°W / 39.9886; -75.4809 (Willistown) 		FMHS
Wrightstown Friends Meeting Complex Wrightstown Friends Meeting House 01.JPG 16861787HicksiteRt. 413, 4 miles north of Newtown
40°15′57″N74°58′54″W / 40.2657°N 74.9818°W / 40.2657; -74.9818 (Wrightstown) 		NRHP, FMHS
York Friends Meeting House York Meeting SW.JPG 1754, 17671766, 1783HicksitePhiladelphia St., York
39°57′47″N76°43′54″W / 39.9630°N 76.7317°W / 39.9630; -76.7317 (York) 		FMHS

Demolished meeting houses

NameImageFoundedConstructedDemolishedNotesLocationReference
Centre Square Meeting House 1687 Thomas Holme Map detail.jpg
Shown at center of map		16841685-1687 [13] [lower-alpha 2] Summer 1702 [15] Built on what is now the site of Philadelphia City Hall

Salvaged materials from it were used to build the Bank
Meeting House		Broad and High (Market) Streets, Philadelphia
Chester Friends Meeting House Chester Friends Meetinghouse.png 16751687–1693c.1735William Penn attended meeting in Chester, probably in a
private home, soon after his October 1682 arrival.		 3rd and Market in Chester PA
Evening Meeting House [lower-alpha 3]
replaced on the same site by Bank Meeting House		16821683-1685 [lower-alpha 4] 1698A temporary, wood-frame building, built on Bank Hill,
along the Delaware River. [14] [lower-alpha 5]
Also used for meetings of the Pennsylvania General
Assembly and Provincial Council. [17] 		W. side of Front Street, btw. Race & Vine Streets, Philadelphia
Bank Meeting House [lower-alpha 6] Scharf&Westcott HistoryofPhiladelphia vol.1 p.121.jpg 1703A large two-story, three-bay brick building, 50 ft (15 m)
square, with separate entrances for men and women. [18] : 28 
Built using salvaged materials from the demolished
Centre Square Meeting House. [18] : 27 
Sold 1791. [15]
Fourth Street Meeting House and School1763-1764 [19] 1859 [19] A two-story brick building, "76 feet front on Fourth street,
42 feet deep." [19]
Built beside the Friends Public School (for boys). A school
for girls occupied the meeting house's second floor. [19] 		E. side of Fourth Street, btw. Chestnut & Sansom Streets, PhiladelphiaPAB [20]
Great Meeting House
(High Street Meeting House)
replaced on the same site by Greater Meeting House		 2nd & Market Sts Philadelphia Wade 1875.jpg
Great Meeting House		16951755Interior lighted by a roof lantern. [lower-alpha 7] SW. corner 2nd & Market Streets, PhiladelphiaPAB [22]
Greater Meeting House Breton FriendsMeetingHouse SW corner 2nd&High Sts.jpg
Greater Meeting House		17551812-1813A square, two-and-a-half-story brick building, 57 ft (17 m)
per side, built by carpenter Abraham Carlisle and his
apprentice Isaac Coates. [lower-alpha 8]

Dismantled by carpenter John D. Smith, and used to
build Twelfth Street Meeting House, 1813-1814.
Green Street Meeting House
Home of the North Monthly Meeting until c.1828		1815-1816 [15] c.1970"The dimensions of the building were forty-seven by
seventy-three feet." [23]
Home of the Monthly Meeting for the Northern District
until the 1827-28 Hicksite/Orthodox schism. [24]

Discontinued as a meeting, 1914.
Reopened as Friends Neighborhood House, a
settlement house serving immigrant communities. [24] 		SE. corner 4th & Green Streets, Philadelphia
Key's Alley Meeting House
Home of the North Monthly Meeting, 1790-1816		1790Dimensions: "68 by 50 feet, … an additional apartment
of brick 40 by 45 feet on the north side of the building,
for a Monthly Meeting room." [15]

Home of the North Meeting until 1816, when it moved to
Green Street Meeting House. [15]
The former meeting house became a Philadelphia public
school. [15] 		N. side of New Street, btw. Front & 2nd Streets, Philadelphia
North Meeting House [24] 1838c.1968Built for Orthodox Friends who separated from the Hicksite
Green Street Meeting House.
"The dimensions of the building were 118 by 65 feet, with
a height of 30 feet." [24]

Discontinued as a meeting, 1914.
Sold 1918; became a community center and playground. [24] 		SW. corner 6th & Noble Streets, Philadelphia
Pine Street Meeting House
(Hill Meeting House)		17471752-1753 [19] Land donated by Samuel Powel. [25]
"The meeting agrees that a brick house of 60 feet front,
and 43 feet deep shall be built on said lot." [19]
A two-story, three-bay brick building, with separate
entrances for men and women. [18] : 28 
Robert Smith, builder		S. side of Pine Street, btw. Front & 2nd Streets, PhiladelphiaPAB [26]

Notes

  1. ↑ Charles II of England granted a charter to William Penn for the Pennsylvania Colony in 1681, in repayment of a large debt to Penn's late father. Penn, a Quaker, quickly drew up plans to divide the land within the colony, but in a way that encouraged settlement rather than real estate speculation. Initially, Pennsylvania was a predominantly, but not exclusively, Quaker colony, with Huguenots, Jews, and other persecuted religious minorities among the settlers. Penn was one of about sixty passengers who arrived at Philadelphia aboard The Welcome, in October 1682. [1] It is estimated that more than 2,000 European settlers arrived by ship in the first two years of the colony. [2]
  2. ↑ "We are now laying the foundation of a new brick meeting-house in the Centre [Square] (sixty feet long and about forty feet broad), and hope to soon have it up, there being many hearts and hands at work that will do it." — Robert Turner to William Penn, August 3, 1685. [14]
  3. ↑ "Friends were long accustomed to hold night meetings on the Sabbath. Their house on the Bank Hill, on Front Street, was at first called Evening Meeting because [it was] chiefly made for such a convenience when that at Centre Square was too far off." [16]
  4. ↑ "[Construction of a] large meeting-house, fifty feet long and thirty-eight broad, also going on in the front of the river for an evening meeting." — Robert Turner to William Penn, August 3, 1685. [14]
  5. ↑ The Evening Meeting House was located on the west side of Front Street, at or slightly north of the present crossing of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
  6. ↑ The ministers' galleries from the Bank Meeting House survive at the Sadsbury Meeting House in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [18]
  7. ↑ "It was surmounted, in the centre of its four-angled roof, by a raised frame of glass-work so constructed as to let light down into the meeting below, after the manner of the former Burlington [New Jersey] meeting-house." [21]
  8. ↑ A floor joist from the Greater Meeting House is initialed and dated: "AC + IC 1755," spelled out in nailheads.

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References

  1. ↑ List of passengers aboard The Welcome, from The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania.
  2. ↑ Cary Hutto, "What ship carried William Penn and some of the first settlers to Pennsylvania across the Atlantic?" Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
  3. ↑ Tyson, Rae. "Our First Friends, The Early Quakers". www.phmc.state.pa.us. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Friend Meeting House Survey, Historic American Buildings Survey, 2002, notes used for Silent Witness, available at Friends Historic Library at Swarthmore College.
  5. ↑ Historic American Buildings Survey (2002). Silent Witness: Quaker Meeting Houses in the Delaware Valley, 1695 to the Present. p. 56.
  6. ↑ Patrick W. O'Bannon, 1986, NRHP Nomination Form - Bristol Historic District
  7. ↑ National Historic Landmark Nomination, Buckingham Friends Meeting House
  8. ↑ Seventy-Seventh Annual Report of the Managers of the Apprentices' Library of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Spangler & Davis, 1897), pp. 7-8.
  9. ↑ Bill Bolger; David G. Orr & Catherine LaVoie (February 3, 1998). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Merion Friends Meeting House" (pdf). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 9 photos, exterior and interior, from 1987.  (32 KB)
  10. ↑ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania". CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2016-05-31.Note: This includes Helen Reichart Mirras (December 1969). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Plymouth Friends Meetinghouse" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-05-24.
  11. ↑ Charles Hough, "It's all about the trusses," April 2008 lecture, from The George School.
  12. ↑ Twelfth Street Meeting House, from HABS.
  13. ↑ J. W. Lippincott, "Early Meetinghouses of Friends," Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, vol. 46, no. 29 (September 20, 1889), pp. 452-54.
  14. 1 2 3 J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, Volume 2 (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884), p. 1242.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 J. W. Lippincott, "Early Meetinghouses of Friends," Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, vol. 46, no. 30 (September 27, 1889), pp. 467-69.
  16. ↑ William McKoy, Reminiscences (1829), quoted in John Fanning Watson, Annals of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1830).
  17. ↑ J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, Volume 1 (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1888), p. 121.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Seth Beeson Hinshaw, The Evolution of Quaker Meeting Houses in North America, 1670-2000 (master's thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2001).(PDF)
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 J. W. Lippincott, "Early Meetinghouses of Friends," Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, vol. 46, no. 31 (October 3, 1889), pp. 486-87.
  20. ↑ 4th Street Meeting House and School, from PAB.
  21. ↑ John Fanning Watson, Annals of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1830), vol. 1, p. 355.
  22. ↑ Great Meeting House, from PAB.
  23. ↑ J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, Volume 2 (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1888), p. 1260.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Passing of the North Meeting-House, Philadelphia," Quaker History, vol. 8, no. 3 (November 1918), pp. 106-08.
  25. ↑ J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, Volume 2 (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1888), p. 1250.
  26. ↑ Pine Street Meeting, from PAB.

Further reading

See also

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