Darby Meeting

Darby Meeting
Invalid designation
Darby Meeting, November 2009
Darby Meeting is located in Pennsylvania
Darby Meeting
Darby Meeting is located in the United States
Darby Meeting
Location1017 Main Street, Darby, Pennsylvania
Coordinates39°55′15″N 75°15′48″W / 39.92083°N 75.26333°W / 39.92083; -75.26333
Area4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built1805
NRHP reference No.78002392[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 13, 1978
Designated PHMCJune 1952[2]

The Darby Meeting or Darby Friends Meeting House is located in Darby, Pennsylvania. The first recorded minutes of the meeting are dated July 2, 1684, not long after William Penn landed in nearby Chester to establish the colony of Pennsylvania. The first Friends meeting house in Darby was a log cabin built in 1687.[3] The third and present building was built in 1805.[4] It was used during the Revolutionary War by Continental soldiers. During the War of 1812, it was used by the U. S. Army as a hospital.[5]

The 2+1⁄2-story building follows the Quaker tradition of simple and solid buildings. Its design is similar to that of the Horsham Friends Meeting House with separate entrances for men and women. Its walls are coursed fieldstone with stuccoed gables at each end. Brick fireplaces are also on each end of the interior. A covered porch extends along three sides of the ground floor, with the porch roof supported by simple wooden posts. Wooden posts also support the interior balcony. Most of the benches and other furniture are built of pine, but the floor is oak. Electric lighting and the usual utilities have been added, but otherwise the building retains its original form.[3]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1978.[1]

The Darby Friends Meeting & the Darby Friends Schoolhouse (1019 Main st.) were officially recognized as part of the National Park Service's Underground Railroad NETWORK TO FREEDOM PROGRAM on October, 2, 2023. [6] The research continues... As of August 2024, 51 Members have been documented as participating as stationmasters, conductors or stockholders.

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "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 2012-01-06. Note: This includes Charles Dunlevey (1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Darby Meeting" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  4. ^ Ashmeade, Henry Graham (1884). History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. p. 522. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  5. ^ Darby Friends Meeting House[usurped] - history
  6. ^ "The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program announces new listings". National Park Service. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2024-08-27.