PART III: Property

SCHOOLS AT GWYNEDD FRIENDS MEETING

The history of schools at Gwynedd Meeting is rather sketchy. In 1721 a school is listed in Meeting records. In 1778 a Committee of Education was appointed, and in 1793 a school is mentioned as being in the Meeting House. (1)

An addition was built onto a schoolhouse in 1814. The addition had a cellar and was two stories high, running the full 16-foot width of the original building. In our secretary's office there is a list of teachers from 1821 to 1925. The busiest time seems to have been 1833, when 61 students attended. The average size of the school in the 1800's was 21 students, about one-third being Quakers.

The first public school in Gwynedd Township opened in 1840, when education was first mandated by the state. In 1844-45 a house for the caretaker of the Meeting and a school was built on Meeting grounds. (1)

By this time there were three other schools in the township and the total number of children being educated was 255 boys and 197 girls.

By 1857 a new schoolhouse was needed and $509.07 was spent to build a one room fieldstone schoolhouse - the room nearest Route 202. The money was raised by selling a 3/4-acre lot to Jacob Acuff, a hotelkeeper, in 1855. An early teacher was Laura Lippincott, who later married and had a son, Tom Foulke (m. Eliza Ambler).

Around 1886, after being closed for some years, revived interest caused the school to be reopened with a second room of frame construction added to the back of the 1857 school house. Drinking water was brought in buckets from the well at the Meeting caretaker's house nearby. Arthur Jenkins attended the school from 1886 to 1893. In 1940 he wrote about those years. He remembers "skating" on a puddle of water the size of a dinner table which would collect beside the Meeting House and freeze over. Older boys would occasionally sneak across the road to the blacksmith shop and watch elderly Harry Lowry hammer on white-hot horseshoes. The great blizzard of 1888 closed school for a week and left drifts along the State Road "20 feet High".

In 1903 the 1857 School House was sold to neighbor Judge William H. Staake and the proceeds were used to build a wing attached to the back of the Meeting House. This structure was used for Quarterly Meeting lunches, classrooms for school children and other purposes. Grade school continued in the 1903 wing with the possible exception of 1909-1910. The school grew in number until about 1924 when pupils began attending the public schools and the large Friends Schools. Classes continued until 1927 when the cost of running the school did not seem justified.

In 1943 Gwynedd Meeting Preschool was started in the 1903 wing. There were nine children, one teacher (Emily Hallowell Phillips Johnson) and a volunteer "grandmother" (Eleanor Evans). She was present in case of an emergency because there was no telephone. The Preschool program has grown to include 118 children in the year 2000.

In 1966, the 1857 School House was purchased and remodeled by Meeting members Gus and Marion Martin and given to the Meeting for First Day School and Community use. A bathroom, kitchenette, new flooring, and heating were put in at that time. The building was used for First Day School classes, the Abington Quarterly Meeting coordinator, counseling services, spiritual direction, and dance classes.

In 1998 repairs were made to the School House to prepare for Preschool use for one year during the renovations to the main building. Dick Ott oversaw the work by “The Carpenter’s Son,” who did repairs and painting of the exterior. In 2000 an exterior drainage ditch was dug for moisture control, and repairs, painting and floor refinishing were done to create comfortable and attractive space for First Day School use and for the new Preschool Kindergarten. [editor’s note: Jan Henderson, Arnold Trueblood, Neil Trueblood, and Robert Russell (who restored the shutters) all worked hard on this project.]

– Janet Henderson & Reba Mohan


1998 Addition to the Meetinghouse

In 1995, the Long-Range Planning Committee recommended to the Monthly Meeting that the 1903 building be town down a new facility created that would include classrooms, kitchen, and a community room, and would be handicap accessible. In the late 1980s a committee had explored building expansion possibilities, but had found that the time was not right.

A fund-raising campaign chaired by Richard Willis began to raise $1.3 million. Connie Lezenby, a Meeting member, became the primary architect, with Lynn Taylor as an associate consultant to the whole community. Lewis Walton, also a Meeting member, was a great support. Doug Tweddale served as Gwynedd Meeting’s construction representative and June Hallowell served as the treasurer of the project. The plans included a wrap-around porch along the 1823 Meetinghouse, East Room, the 1948 building, and the large new section. All was accomplished with no debt. One new use for the community room is a monthly coffeehouse that reaches out to the community.

A formal groundbreaking was held, as well as a dedication. The building was ready for our 300th anniversary; the cornerstone reads 1998. A landing stone, or entrance stone, found under the portico of the Meeting, is now located beside the parking lot as one enters the gathering garden. Joan Meschter has been responsible for developing the landscaping and planting the many gardens.

- Reba Mohan

The Trees at Gwynedd Meeting

The trees on our Gwynedd Meeting property add to its beauty as well as its history. These 149 trees surveyed early in the year 2000 represent 48 different species. While Black Walnut is the most common tree surveyed in our cemetery and mowed lawn area, the 16 various Oak species represent almost 40% of the total number of trees. We are a unique “Oakarium.”

Meeting members have had a special affection for the two William Penn White Oaks with trunk circumferences of 158” and 126”. These are said to have been present when William Penn visited the Meeting about 1701. Also this special affection and individual care has been given to the American Linden, sometimes called Basswood, just outside the Meeting House entrance. This tree, now 152” around, was pictured in 1823 when the Meeting House was first opened for use.

From early records, we know that W. S. Hallowell planted 18 trees in seven varieties in 1924; C.F. Jenkins, nine Oaks in 1910 and 1919; Joseph Evans at least four in 1900, 1907, and 1912; H. C. Evans four in 1955 and earlier; and that there were nine trees, including six different Oaks, planted by a Meeting Committee in 1955. In the 1980’s Ruth Carter planted beds of ornamental shrubs along our edge of Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike.

In 1971 a survey by Bill Pye, his son John, and a State Forester identified 130 trees which were located on a Site Plan by Robert Russell. These tree numbers were then used when the Property Committee asked Morris Arboretum staff to conduct a professional tree inventory and condition assessment March 2000. Their report documented a recommendation for pruning needs, cabling needs, and recommended removals, along with tree life expectancy, for the current 159 trees.

Our sub-committee, including Bill Evans, Dick Ott, Bill Pye, and Lewis Walton, are following through with these recommendations. Another sub-committee of the Property Committed, Joan Meschter, Dick Ott, Bill Pye, and Donna Swanson, will plan for tree replacement, memorial trees and future care, with the goal of maintaining our landscape with a mixed age and mixed species population.

(contributed by Bill Pye, August 2000)

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