The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-11-09
CHURCHES OF RICHMOND
"Whitewnter,, Friends Meeting.

our vicinity, and therefore, deserves the
first notice. The first actual settlers OF
Richmond were Friends, and came here
sth Month, 1906 In the fall Of the
same year, John Simpson, Of Philadei-
phia, held the first meeting in the cabin
of jeremiah Cox, near where is now the
corner of Vine and Seventh streets. He
is said to have been an able speaker and
a good man, and his meeting was at
tended by thirty-five Friends. There
were at that time, supposed to be, eighty.
four Friends in this vicinity. Meet
ings were regularly held after the sum
mer Of 1907. From this date the in
crease by immigration was very rapid
and large. The principal cause which
led to this immigration, was the hatred
Of slavery, the opposition to which,
even at that early day, was SO promin ent
characteristic of the Society. The
great majority of the immigrants came
from the Carolinas. A log Meeting
House was erected in 1903, short dis
lance west Of where the present Brick
one stands.
The first Monthly Meeting in Indiana,
was established 30th OF Ninth Month,
1SO9-several years before Richmond
was laid out-and consisted Of two hun
dred and forty five persons 1t contin-
ued to assemble in the log house until
1921, when the erection OF the present
building, for the use of the I carly Meet
ing, was begun. The new edifice was
not fully completed until 1927. When
this building was erected, it was the
largest and finest structure in the settle
ments; and, on the occasion of the an
nual gatherings, attracted great numbers
of visitors, who came may miles to see
tit being esteemed great curiosity.
1t is built in the unvarying, stiff, monot-
onous style, which characterized the
buildings of the carly Fri ,nds, and be-
longs to an auste,e era now rapidly pas
sing away. On entering it, the first
thing that strikes the eye is the, great
board partition, dividing the interior in
two equal portions-one for the fair and
the other for the sterncr sex. Several
rows Of successfully raised seats extend
across the room in the front of the audi
ence, and constitute what is known as
the Elders Gallcry-being occupied by
the venerable portion OF the congrega-
ton and the ministers and elders. Over
your head rs you enter, is what is called
the Youths Gallery, supported on pill
lars set in the centre of tue House, and
throws its gloomy shadow over one half
of the auditorium. As the floor rises
from the first row Of pillars, to the back
of the house, the seats are so sloping as
to be very uncomfortable to sit upon,
| and it is indeed a penetrating voice
which can be heard in the far-off recess
ses of those spiders nests, which orna-
| ment the rear portion Of the room. 1t
would be sight which the young and
rising generation" have not been per-
mitted to enjoy, could this antiquated
structure be again filed with the somber
hued and silent worshippers, who sat i'll
its ''dim religious light under the
great arched sounding board, with their
plain bonnets, or stiff broad brimmed
hats stei My retained on their Leads. But
such sights arc fast disappearing, and the
old building-now in q ruinous condi
tion-will soon follow.
The structure is some one hundred
by fifty feet in size, and has contained
three thousand people. It's acoustic
properties arc the worst ble-the
principal idea involved in its construc-
ton seems to have been to place a man
in the most Portable position pos
sible- and, in SO ungainly a building,
that his thoughts, finding nothing at
tractive in exterior Surroundings, must
turn inwardly, and lead him to that silent
self contemplation, which was at that
time supposed to be the one thing need
| full.
! From 1909 till 1927, the Society must
| have increased at very rapid rate. Du-
ring that and the succeeding year which
mark the date of the discussions which
led to the Hicksite schisn, (Which for
the time paralyzed the usefulness of the
! Society, we find that this Monthly
| Meeting alone, contained twelve hundred
memberships of these retain cd the Or
! thodox' Faith, and 236 were separa-
lists. The great i'm migration Of Friends
to Iowa, Kansas and the far west, has
/ kept the members down, but it is a sing
ular coincidence that the last report of
the Monthly Meeting showed exactly
the same number of members (985) as
were left after the separation 40 years
before. The Quarterly Meeting has
twenty-fi five hundred to three thousand,
and this Yearly Meeting, H. e. Indiana.
I CONN Fl .toata hun1lrn m nora =