Springfield Friends Meeting
Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Site of Friends' Meeting since 1686. Present building erected, 1851. A school and library were established here in 1832. Benjamin West, noted American artist, attended this Meeting when he was a boy.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Quakers have gathered on this ground since 1686, only a few years after William Penn founded his colony as a haven for the Society of Friends. The stone meetinghouse standing today dates to 1851, but the congregation's roots reach back into the earliest decades of Pennsylvania. In 1832 the community added a school and library here, and generations earlier a young Benjamin West—who would become one of America's first internationally celebrated painters—worshipped with this Meeting as a boy.
Why it matters
It links Penn's founding vision of religious tolerance to the rise of an American-born artist, showing how a modest rural congregation helped shape both faith and culture in the young nation.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Bridgette Mayer10.3 mi away · 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- African American Museum in Philadelphia10.4 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Congress Hall10.4 mi away · Philadelphia, PA
- Liberty Bell Center10.4 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia
- Independence Hall10.4 mi away · 520 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center10.5 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- American Bandstand7.2 mi away
- Philadelphia Zoo8.3 mi away
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge8.4 mi away
- Discovery Center at East Park Reservoir8.6 mi away
- Rocky Steps9.0 mi away
- The Universal Sphere9.4 mi away
Food & drink
- Munchie’s Cafe10.3 mi away · 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Philly Pretzel Factory10.3 mi away
- Talula's Garden10.3 mi away · 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Talula's Daily10.3 mi away · 208 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Fat Salmon10.3 mi away · 719 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Burger King10.3 mi away
Places to stay
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City9.7 mi away · 237 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown - Center City9.7 mi away · 219 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Holiday Inn Express9.8 mi away · 1305-11 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Fairfield Inn & Suites9.8 mi away · 261 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City9.8 mi away · 1 East Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA
- The Notary Hotel9.8 mi away · 21 North Juniper Street, Philadelphia
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Benjamin West
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chester, PA · est. 1984
Before he became the towering figure of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. spent three formative years in the Chester area as a divinity student, mentored by the Rev. J. Pius Barbour and graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. Here he honed the theology and preaching that would carry him to national leadership. A little over a decade later he helped lead the 1963 March on Washington and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992
Laura Wheeler Waring built her career as a portrait painter in an era when few Black women found a place in the American art world. Trained in Philadelphia and in France, she captured the faces of leading African Americans and led the art department at Cheyney State College, shaping generations of students. Her portraits now hang in the National Portrait Gallery and other major collections.
Julian Francis Abele (1881-1950)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1991
In an era when the profession was almost entirely closed to Black Americans, Julian Abele broke through as the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania's architecture school. As chief designer in Horace Trumbauer's prominent firm, he shaped some of Philadelphia's grandest civic buildings, including the monumental Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library on Logan Square. For much of his career his contributions went publicly uncredited, hidden behind the firm's name even as his designs defined the city's Beaux-Arts skyline.
Berwyn School Fight
Tredyffrin Township, PA · est. 2020
In 1932 the Tredyffrin and Easttown school districts began segregating their elementary schools, sending Black children to separate classrooms. Local Black families and their allies gathered at Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church and organized a boycott, keeping their children out of school for more than 300 days rather than accept the order. The pressure worked: officials rescinded segregation, and by 1934 the children returned to integrated schools — a victory that helped spur Pennsylvania's 1935 Equal Rights Bill.