York Meetinghouse - York, PA - Lincoln Highway on Waymarking.com

York Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house at 134 West Philadelphia Street in York, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1766 and added to the National Register in 1975. Philadelphia Street goes one way and Market Street runs the other way and both of these are part of the Lincoln Highway system. There are at least two dozen historic sites on the highway.

What is now the east portion of the meeting house was completed in 1766 and has been continually used by the Society since then, giving rise to the claim of being the city's oldest house of worship still in use. John Gibson in his 1866 History of York County stated that the bricks used to build this first section had been "imported from England." Later in 1783 the west room was added to accommodate the "Women's Meeting." Women met separately to conduct business and administer their own money. After these meetings the raised panel partitions that run through the center of the meeting house would be raised and lowered to transform the interior into one large room for Meeting for Worship.

There are a couple of historic markers which document the superlative status of this Meeting House. The building is in good shape. To the rear is a cemetery with interments from the 18th century. It is especially impressive this structure is the oldest worship house in York when considering there are at least a dozen more of various denomination from the 18th century.

There is also a beautiful bronze marker similar to so many others erected by the D.A.R., especially in 18th century towns like Haddonfield and Moorestown, NJ and Columbia and Wrightsville, PA. This sign reads:

This tablet marks the meeting house of the "Society of the People Called Quakers of York Town". The eastern portion was built in the year 1766 from funds subscribed by members of the Society of Friends residing in York and vicinity; the western portion was added in 1783. Since 1764, this meeting has had continuous existence.

In the surrounding burial ground (many in unmarked graves) like the remains of members of York's early English Quaker families.