Concord Meeting was the first Friends meeting in Ohio and the first organized Christian religious congregation in Belmont County. It was located in Colerain Township, though its location changed twice.
The first, unofficial, worship at Concord was held in the initial log cabin built by Jonathan Taylor. This meeting was attended by several families of Friends from Core Sound and Trent Meetings in North Carolina who were looking for land in the Northwest Territory. After Westland MM officially opened Concord in 1800, a log meeting house was built relatively central to the new settlers. This building burned in 1815; a piece of brick from the chimney is owned by Short Creek MM today.
A brick meeting house was built in 1815. In the decade and a half since the original meeting house was built, the road system had emerged in the area, and the old meeting house site had become inconvenient. James Steer donated land for a new meeting house that was centrally located to those who were attending in 1815. It was a 1-story, 6-bay building that reflected the Quaker Plan.
Concord was hit heavily by divisions in 1828 and 1863, in addition to a small Gurney separation in 1854. The most severe was that of the Hicksites, who locked the Orthodox out of the meeting house. In 1898, they reduced the size of the meeting house, creating the building that remains today.
The third meeting house was built c. 1830 by the Orthodox Friends. In the generation since the second meeting house was constructed, the village of Colerain began to emerge along an improved road connecting Harrisville to Wheeling. The meeting house was constructed just off this road.
The fourth meeting house was built on the site of the third around 1860, when a 1-story, 6-bay frame meeting house was built. This building remained in use as long as the meeting existed. In the late 1800s, Short Creek MM was comprised of two relatively large PMs: Concord and Harrisville. In the 1870s, many of those who had formed the Primitive Meeting in 1863 returned to membership. One of them, Jacob Maule, was recognized as a minister. Concord Meeting was laid down soon after his death.
After the meeting was laid down, the meeting house was moved across the road. It was later converted into two apartments. |
