Frankford Friends Meeting House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Frankford Friends Meeting House |
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Frankford Friends Meeting House from the Historic American Buildings Survey
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| Location | Unity and Waln Sts. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
The Frankford Friends Meeting House is a very old and important building in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a special kind of church for Quakers, who are also called "Friends." The oldest parts of this building were built way back in 1775 and 1776. This makes it the oldest Quaker meeting house still standing in Philadelphia! Today, it's not just a place for Quakers to meet; it's also a busy community center for everyone in the neighborhood. You can find it at the corner of Unity and Waln Streets.
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Understanding the Frankford Friends Meeting
The Quaker group that meets here has had a few different names over the years. When it first started in 1683, it was called "Tacony." This name came from a nearby creek. Later, it was known as "Oxford" because of the township it was in. Then it became "Frankford," and finally "Unity." The name "Unity" helped people tell it apart from another Quaker meeting in Frankford. This meeting group is part of the larger Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Exploring the Historic Building
The Frankford Friends Meeting House is truly special because its first part was built between 1775 and 1776. This makes it the oldest Quaker meeting house still standing in all of Philadelphia. Many other meeting houses built around the same time were later replaced.
How the Building Grew Over Time
When it was first built, the meeting house was a single, simple room. It had three sections on one side and two on the other. But as more Quakers joined, the building needed to grow. So, in 1811 and 1812, a smaller section was added. This addition made the building bigger and also changed how the Quakers used the space.
Special Design for Quaker Meetings
Quakers used to meet in one big room for worship. Then, for business meetings, they would separate into different areas, often men and women in different "apartments" or rooms. The original Frankford Meeting House had a partition that could divide the main room. The women's section was smaller, which was common in English Quaker traditions.
However, by the late 1700s, American Quakers started to change how they met. They began to worship on separate sides of a partition. For business meetings, this partition would be lowered to create two separate, equal-sized rooms. This new way of meeting led to a standard design for Quaker meeting houses: two equal-sized rooms. The addition in 1811–12 helped the Frankford Meeting House fit this new design. It's a rare example of an older, single-room building that was changed to create separate spaces for women's meetings. This shows an important step in how Quaker meeting houses were designed.
Unique Building Materials
The Frankford Meeting House is also interesting because it uses a mix of building materials. The sides of the building that face the street are made of fancy brickwork. This is called "Flemish-bond brick" and has shiny, glazed bricks mixed in. But the other sides, like the back, are made of rougher, locally found stone.
Why the mix? It was probably to save money! Quakers are known for being thrifty. They likely reused materials from an even older meeting house that was there before. This meant they didn't have to buy as much new, more expensive brick.
