Whittier Friends Meeting House, meeting house in Linn Count, Iowa
Whittier Friends Meeting House is a simple Quaker meeting house located in rural Linn County. The white wooden structure with a gable roof was completed in 1893 and was intentionally designed to be functional and unadorned, with high ceilings and a flexible interior divided by a retractable wooden wall.
An earlier meeting house stood on this site from 1864, but it was replaced by the current building in 1893 to better serve the growing community. The Wilburite Friends, who arrived in the area during the 1850s from Ohio and New England, established this as a central place for their faith practices.
The building reflects the values of the Wilburite Friends, a Quaker group that emphasized silence and simplicity in worship. The plain interior with benches facing each other shows how the community centered gatherings around equality and inner reflection.
The building and adjacent cemetery can be visited, though the site is remote and located in a rural area requiring a car to reach. The location is quietest on weekday mornings when fewer people are present.
From 1864 to 1873, the building also served as a school for children of local Quaker families before a separate schoolhouse was built nearby. This dual purpose reveals how central the meeting house was to daily life in the small, isolated community.
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