1781 Friends Meeting House - Baltimore MD - Quaker Meeting Houses on Waymarking.com

TEXT from Historical Marker in front of the building:

The Friends Meeting House is the oldest religious building in Baltimore. In 1781, the Patapsco Friends Meeting, formerly located on Harford Road two miles north of the Inner Harbor, moved to this site. In 1784 a group of Quakers established a school here, which "provided guarded education for their children." The school eventually became the Friends School of Baltimore.

By the mid eighteenth century the Society of Friends exerted a strong influence socially, politically, and economically in Baltimore. Among the influential Baltimore Quakers who worshipped at this site were Philip E. Thomas (first President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad) Johns Hopkins, Moses Sheppard (philanthropist) and the Ellicott family (who founded Ellicott City). Meeting members Elisha Tyson, Robert Townsend, and James Carey organized the Baltimore Abolition Society in 1789. In 1796, they were successful in overturning a 1753 law that forbade the freeing of slaves (manumisson) at the time of their owners' death. On occasion, the Baltimore Abolition Society was represented in court by Francis Scott Key. By the first decade of the nineteenth Century, Baltimore Quakers were deeply involved in the Committee of Indian Affairs, which advocated and at times litigated on behalf of the rights of Native Americans.

Group that erected the marker: City of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, mayor, rededicated 2005 by Martin O'Malley, mayor

Web Address: [Web Link] Physical Address: 1201 East Fayette Street Baltimore, MD United States 21202 Year Built: 1781 Still in Use?: No Hours of Worship: Not Listed

Visit Instructions:
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2. Give the date and a description of your visit
3. Post at least one photo taken at the time of your visit

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   01/11/2022 Don.Morfe visited it