The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

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Plainfield Friends Meeting
Plainfield, Union County

The Quakers came to Plainfield very early, as this building sits at the north side of what was once the commons; the society was organized in 1723 or 1725 by members of the Woodbridge Meeting, and this meetinghouse, apparently identical to the original one erected in 1736, was built in 1788. Here is an account of the building of this structure:

The plans were settled on the 15th of November, 1787. The dimensions of the building were to be thirty-four by forty-eight feet. It is substantially the same as when it was erected eighty-five years ago. A recent fire injured the southern part of it, but it was repaired in a style similar to the unburnt portion. This meeting-house does not stand on the site of the old one, but was built on a ground situated near the house of "John Webster the third" - so called to distinguish him from two other Johns. May it long remain as a memento of that time long past, of which all our dreams are poetic, but, which, alas! was a time to many of bitter griefs and scalding tears.

Dally, Joseph, Woodbridge and Vicinity, A.E.Gordon, 1873. Additional information on this history of this congregation may be found at www.quaker.org/plainfield_nj.html

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