Friends Meetinghouse is a historic

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

meeting house at 4th and West Streets in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

in the Quaker Hill neighborhood. The meeting is still active with a membership of about 400 and is part of the

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, or PYM, is the central organizing body for Quaker meetings in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, area, including parts of Pennsylvan ...

. It was built in 1815–1817 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1976.

History

The first Quaker meeting for worship in Delaware was held in New Castle at the house of Governor LovelaceLikely,

Francis Lovelace Francis Lovelace (c. 1621–1675) was an English Royalist and the second Governor of New York colony. Early life Lovelace was born circa 1621. He was the third son of Sir William Lovelace (1584–1627) and his wife Anne Barne of Lovelace Plac ...

, 2nd Governor of New York in September 1672, when

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

visited the town. After

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

became proprietor of the "Three Lower Counties," as Delaware was then known, regular meetings were formed in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and New Castle. Regular meetings did not begin in Wilmington until 1735 when William and Elizabeth Shipley built a one-story brick house near Fourth and Shipley Streets that was used for worship as a Preparative Meeting, officially beginning in 1738. In 1750 the status of Monthly Meeting was granted by the Concord Quarterly Meeting. The first dedicated meetinghouse was built across the street from the current site in 1738 and measured square. The second meetinghouse was built in 1748 on the current site and could hold 500 people. The present building was opened on September 25, 1817 and is said to hold 700 people. A school was founded here in 1748 in the meetinghouse built in 1738, which has evolved into the

Wilmington Friends School Wilmington Friends School is a private Preschool- 12 school in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, United States, near Wilmington. It is affiliated with the Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers. History The school was founded i ...

. In 1937 the school moved from Quaker Hill to the Alapocas neighborhood of Wilmington.

John Dickinson John Dickinson (November 13 Julian_calendar">/nowiki>Julian_calendar_November_2.html" ;"title="Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar">/nowiki>Julian calendar November 2">Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar" ...

, the "penman of the Revolution," is buried in the adjoining burial ground, as are

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Thomas Garrett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

and Delaware Governor

Caleb P. Bennett Caleb Prew Bennett (November 11, 1758May 9, 1836) was an American soldier and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and a member of the Democratic Pa ...

. Garrett, one of the best known conductors on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

, was a member of the meeting, and lived on Quaker Hill at 227 Shipley Street. He worked closely with

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, us ...

and is said to have helped 2,700 slaves reach freedom. About 1,500 people came to his funeral at the meetinghouse in January, 1871 where

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...

spoke.

References

External links

*
Wilmington Friends Meeting website
{{John Dickinson Historic American Buildings Survey in Delaware Churches completed in 1815 19th-century Quaker meeting houses Churches in Wilmington, Delaware Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Quaker meeting houses in Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware