Orthodox Friends Meeting House (1956 - 2010) - Haddonfield, NJ - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

The angle on this was kind of touch to get just right. I had to stand in the middle of the road, in a landscaped rotary while passing cars gawked at me and my camera. I faced about south, southwest. People stared at me as I held the picture in my right hand and in my left, the camera. I still do not think it is perfect but it looks very close in angle and location. The whole place looks so different. There have been additions made, the side and front porticos removed, an old wood fence removed and a parking lot made. The structure used to stand alone. Now it sits amidst of a modern day development, and lots of commercial properties. Still, there is no mistaking the original structure. My photo came from a Facebook group which focuses on this part of south Jersey.

This grocery store at the southern end of town once served as a Friends Meeting House before the turn of the 20th century. Once the schism between the two factions of Quakers had ended, the Meeting House across the way became the meeting place.

"The schism in the 1820s that split the Society of Friends affected Haddonfield's Quakers, as it did most societies in the state. In this case the Hicksite group was in the minority so by 1851 they erected this traditional brick meetinghouse, just a few blocks from the orthodox one. It is now the central section of an Acme market." SOURCE

I discovered this meeting house by accident. I observed the dated stone located directly in the middle of this structure, facing the south, about 35-40 feet off the ground. The initials F.M. (along with the date beneath the initials, 1851) are above this rectangular pale stone and I can only assume it stands for Friends Meeting. There is also a historic marker (see photo gallery) at about eye level directly beneath the dated stone marker. Parking is plentiful and if you are a visit hound, there are another 80 or so waymarks within several hundred feet hitting almost all categories.

It seems there was a split between the Hicksite and Orthodox Friends in the 1800s and so two meeting houses were needed. I also found this to be the case in Philadelphia and Moorestown, there being a split among Friends as well. This structure, although much longer then most meeting houses of the area and similar era, is fairly typical being made of brick and simple in design and architecture. There appears to be additions made on both the east and west sides, which accounts for the lengthiness of the structure.

I did manage to find this about the Hicksites:
"Haddonfield Preparative Meeting was established in 1717. In 1827, after the Hicksite Separation in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the preparative meeting split into Hicksite and Orthodox branches. Haddonfield Preparative Meeting (Orthodox) was discontinued in 1920. In 1953, Haddonfield Preparative Meeting (Hicksite) was merged into the body of trustees of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting."
SOURCE