Concord and Thornton Road
Concord Friends Meeting was erected in 1728, replacing a log structure built in 1710 on a site leased from John Mendenhall in 1697 for‚ “one peppercorn yearly forever.” It was rebuilt and enlarged after a serious fire in 1788. The meeting itself (the congregation) was organized prior to 1697, and was the sixth such organized in what is now Delaware County.
The meeting seems to have been a social and educational as well as religious center of Concord from the earliest days. The first classes for children were held in 1717, a schoolhouse was built on the site in 1779, and classes were held until 1836 when local government assumed responsibility for secular education.
Accounts of the Battle of the Brandywine state that the Meetinghouse served as a sanctuary for wounded soldiers fleeing the battleground.
Among the memorable moments in the history of the Concord Quarterly Meeting, on February 20, 1800, it declared itself ‚ “Clear of importing, disposing of, or holding mankind as slaves.”
This property is listed as Historic Resource #118.
