Friends Meetinghouse, Wilmington

Friends Meetinghouse, Wilmington

Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house in the Quaker Hill neighborhood. The meeting is still active with a membership of about 400 and is part of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. It was built in 1815–1817 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The first Quaker meeting for worship in Delaware was held in New Castle at the house of Governor Lovelace in September 1672, when George Fox visited the town. After William Penn became proprietor of the "Three Lower Counties," as Delaware was then known, regular meetings were formed in Newark, Centre 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 25 feet (7.6 m) 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. In 1937 the school moved from Quaker Hill to the Alapocas neighborhood of Wilmington.

John Dickinson, the "penman of the Revolution," is buried in the adjoining burial ground, as are abolitionist Thomas Garrett and Delaware Governor Caleb P. Bennett. Garrett, one of the best known conductors on the Underground Railroad, was a member of the meeting, and lived on Quaker Hill at 227 Shipley Street. He worked closely with Harriet Tubman 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 spoke.
Sight description based on Wikipedia.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Wilmington. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

Download The GPSmyCity App

Friends Meetinghouse on Map

Sight Name: Friends Meetinghouse
Sight Location: Wilmington, USA (See walking tours in Wilmington)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in Wilmington, Delaware

Create Your Own Walk in Wilmington

Create Your Own Walk in Wilmington

Creating your own self-guided walk in Wilmington is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Quaker Hill and Downtown Historical Buildings

Quaker Hill and Downtown Historical Buildings

For many visitors to Delaware's Wilmington, the downtown district is the main area of interest.

Indeed, the majority of Wilmington's most distinguished attractions are found here. Steeped in history, this part of the city still carries legacy of its first Swedish settlers much as that of the du Pont family who left a great deal of mark on the town's history. Some of the key local...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles
Wilmington Introduction Walking Tour

Wilmington Introduction Walking Tour

Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware. It lies at the confluence of the Brandywine and Christina Rivers. Wilmington was originally home to the Lenape people. However, the land was purchased from Chief Mattahorn by the Swedish South Company in 1638. They built Fort Christina at the mouth of what would later be called the Christina River.

The Swedish lost control of the Fort Christina...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles