{"nrhp_refnum":"74000395","name":"Friends Meetinghouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Uxbridge on MA 146","address_restricted":false,"city":"Uxbridge","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.03925897600004,"lon":-71.62062126599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-01-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Quaker meetinghouse on a wooded knoll beside Quaker Highway (Route 146) near Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts, erected between 1770 and 1776 on land bought from Moses Farnum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is architecturally significant as an unusual brick meetinghouse in eighteenth-century New England and a good example of the Quaker meetinghouse type. Its moveable partition and separate entrances reflect the nineteenth-century custom of separating women and men at certain times. It is also locally significant for its role in the town's development, since the woolen mills Uxbridge is known for were founded by members of the Meeting.","narrative":"Built between 1770 and 1776 on land purchased from Moses Farnum, an elder and first minister of the Meeting, this brick Quaker meetinghouse sits on a wooded knoll above Quaker Highway in Uxbridge. The building is rectangular, three bays wide and two deep, with brick laid in common bond and a gently sloped gable roof. A two-story vestibule was added to the south front in the early nineteenth century, and a moveable interior partition let the first floor be split into two meeting spaces. Furnishings are plain, with facing banks of benches and a seldom-used second-floor gallery. Brick is unusual for an eighteenth-century New England meetinghouse, and its use is explained by the domestic character of Quaker buildings and by the brick houses then standing in Uxbridge. The Quaker faith reached the town from Smithfield, Rhode Island, and members of the Meeting founded the woolen mills that shaped local growth. Restoration took place in 1954 and 1955, and a reconstructed horse shed and ox brake stand nearby.","period_of_significance":"1770-1776","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is given as excellent and altered, on its original site. It was restored in 1954-1955, and the form lists it as occupied, with religious and museum uses.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.105316-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7974/63797444/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000395.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000395/3a3993af8e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000395/3a3993af8e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ksherin (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FreindsmeetinghouseUxbridgeMA_040.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ksherin (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FreindsmeetinghouseUxbridgeMA_040.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797444","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends_Meetinghouse_(Uxbridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5504192"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/friends-meetinghouse-74000395/"}