Brief History of Willistown Meeting

1753 One acre of land was conveyed from Anne Smedley to

local Quakers for the construction of a school. A master was to be engaged to teach the children "necessary learning by schedule or by rote."

1769 A marriage was recorded as having taken place in the "Willistown Meeting" which must have been the schoolhouse. However since it is the first time there was a recorded reference to there being a Meetinghouse here, we use 1769 as the founding date.

1793 Anne Yarnell deeded over 1/4 of an acre for the construction of a Meetinghouse or a place to "inter the dead."

1798 Construction of the present Meetinghouse completed. Willistown has continued as an active Meeting in this same building ever since. The two rows of sheds built to shelter the horses were also constructed. A number remain standing to the present day.

1956 A two-story addition was built to house the social room,

kitchen, four classrooms and two bathrooms. The new structure was designed by Fridtjof Tobiessen and built by Samuel Kirk, both members of the Meeting.

2002 On April 10, 2002 the building extension which housed the Smedley Library was destroyed by fire. In addition to the loss of irreplaceable books, the Meetinghouse sustained substantial damage, including the loss of our piano. Fortunately our Caretaker, Joe Simonetti, saw smoke and called the fire department. He then raced into the Meetinghouse and sprayed the inside door to the library with fire retardant. His quick action probably saved the entire building from destruction.

Renewal...
2003 On September 7th of 2003 the Meeting celebrated the restoration of the library and the completion of other repairs to our building. The fire was devastating, but the slow process of rebuilding and restoring the physical property has made us whole again and looking forward to a future in the Light.