Friends General Conference

Together we nurture the spiritual vitality of Friends
A Quaker Congregation near Buffalo, New York

History

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Quaker Meeting House L Shaped Balcony

History of the Orchard Park Friends Meeting

The Religious Society of Friends commonly known as the Quakers has worshiped in Orchard Park for over two hundred years. In 1807, an indulged Meeting for Worship was approved in the district of Erie near Buffalo, now Orchard Park, under the care of Pelham Friends Meeting, New Welland, Ontario. Friends first met in the home of Obadiah Baker on East Quaker Road until a log Meeting House was completed in 1812 near the corner of East Quaker Road and Buffalo Road. David Eddy, the first settler of the Village of Orchard Park who built and operated the first tavern at the four corners, sold the land to the Quakers. In 1817, the Meeting purchased three acres of land at the corner of East Quaker Road and Freeman Road from Aldrich Arnold and obtained the approval of Farmington Quarterly Meeting to build a larger more suitable meeting house. The construction of the current Orchard Park Meeting House was started in 1820 and worship began there sometime in 1821. It is the oldest house of worship in Erie County. Those interested in the construction of the Meeting House itself will notice the hand-hewn beams held by wooden pegs, the moveable partition so that men and women might meet separately for Meetings for Business, the facing benches up front, raised for the elders, and the original L shaped balcony which enabled 300 to worship in the building.

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