Valley Friends Meeting History

Thus was realized the vision of our founder, Lewis Walker, a Welsh Quaker who, sometime before 1708, had become the first British settler of the Tredyffrin Township area. After 1713, Meeting for Worship continued to be held in the homes of Lewis Walker and Joseph Richardson until 1731, when Valley�s first Meeting House was completed. The Meeting House was probably made of logs, and it remained in the southeast corner of the present Burial Ground for many years.

This original Meeting House was also used as a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers of General Washington�s troops while quartered at Valley Forge. The Friends treated these men with compassion and gave as generously as possible of food, medical supplies, warm clothing and blankets. Later General Washington observed the before he arrived at Valley Forge he had looked upon the Friends as sympathizers with the British, but during the winter of 1777/1778 he found them to be extraordinarily kind and completely reliable.

One hundred and forty years after the first Meeting House had been built, Valley Preparative Meeting, still under the care of Radnor Monthly Meeting, began a series of Sunday afternoon meetings. As the meetings became increasingly successful, it was apparent that the old Meeting House was too small for the crowds, and too cold in the winter. The Friends decided to build a new Meeting House.

The site for the new building, in which we meet today, was bought for $100.00. A two-story building was constructed and the older Meeting House was later torn down. It took only a year to construct the new building, and it was opened for worship on April 23, 1872, all at a cost of a little over $9500. The carriage sheds remaining can be seen at the back of this Meeting House, and similar sheds at one time extended along the north border of the property.

A Minute from Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, dated February 7, 1871, records the beginning of further use of the Meeting House, as a place to hold its summer meetings in August -- a wonderful gathering of Friends, making their way up Meeting House Lane, now known a Old Eagle School Road, then a dirt road, directing horse and carriage into the Meeting House Grounds.

This new Meeting House was divided by a moveable partition, which allowed the men and women, at certain times, to hold their separate business and worship meetings. This arrangement followed faithfully the belief of Friends -- then and now -- that men and women are equal in the sight of God. The original machinery used to raise and lower these partitions remains stored in the attic of the Meeting House.

Three years after this Meeting House was opened, and elementary school was established. A teacher was employed for $50 a month. In September of 1875, the school opened with 25 pupils. Tuition was $25 for the 10-month term, with an additional fee of $10 for instruction in Latin. The school remained open for ten years, and then was discontinued because of a lack of students. Seventy years later, in 1955, the Valley Cooperative Preschool was opened in the Meeting House. Today we continue to welcome this school and the pupils and their parents it brings to our Meeting House.

Valley Preparative Meeting became a Monthly Meeting in the late 1930s, thus becoming independent of Radnor Monthly Meeting. This important step enabled Valley have oversight of both Meetings for Worship for the conduct of weddings, and Memorial Meetings for Worship in time of death, as well as its own Monthly Meeting for Business.

To study the history of this Meeting in more detail we suggest that you visit the Quaker collections at Swarthmore College and Haverford College. In addition, a more immediate source of information can be found in the Historical Albums of the Valley Preparative and Monthly Meetings

Now, 285 years later, we are a thriving, active meeting. Almost all our nearby members and attenders are involved in important committee work so vital to the continuing life of Valley Monthly Meeting, from Worship and Ministry to social concerns. Members of Valley Meeting are active participants in Haverford Quarterly and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings.

Through the years, Valley Meeting has been shaped by history, �the world that time and space have known,� and by the Spirit, as discovered in the silent worship and vocal ministry of many, many meetings through the years, and so we feel it appropriate to close with these lines, written by the Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier:

          And so I find it well to come
          For deeper rest to this still room,
          For here the habit of the soul
          Feels less the outer world�s control;
          The strength of mutual purpose pleads
          More earnestly our common needs;
          And from the silence multiplied
          By these still forms on either side
          The world that time and space have known
          Falls off and leaves us, God alone.

We thank Jean Kadyk for this history of Valley Friends Meeting presented at a meeting of the Tredyffrin Eastown History Club in the Meeting House on the 280th aniversary of Valley Friends Meeting.