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Old Chester Friends Burial Ground

Also known as Chester Hicksite Friends Burial Ground

Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA

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  • Get directions 615–621 Avenue of the States
    Chester, Pennsylvania 19013 United States
    Coordinates: 39.85015, -75.36057
  • This cemetery is marked as being historical or removed.
  • No longer accepting burials
  • Cemetery ID:

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Chester Friends Meeting is one of the oldest Friends meetings in Pennsylvania. The original small meeting house was built in 1693 on the west side of Edgmont Avenue (now the Avenue of the States, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, and on this lot a burial ground was established. It remained a place of worship until it became too small to accommodate all the members and was abandoned for a meeting house built in 1736 on Market street, south of the old Market Square.


Following divisions in the Society of Friends in the 1820s, the meeting and burial ground were used by the Hicksite sect prior to their reconciliation with the Orthodox sect in the mid-20th century. The Orthodox Friends built a separate meeting house at 24th and Chestnut Streets in 1829, and established their own burial ground there at that time which is still used today.


Though the 17th-century meeting house was torn down about 1851, the burial ground here was continued to be used by the Hicksites into the 20th century. In 1946, the Friends attempted to sell the land for new retail construction and remove those interred there to Cumberland Cemetery in Middletown Township; this action, however, was blocked by the courts. By October 1959, arrangements had been finalized to sell the land and at that time the remaining interments were removed to various cemeteries including Chester Rural Cemetery, the Old Swedish Burial Ground, Upland Baptist Church Cemetery, and elsewhere.456 other graves were removed from the lot in November 1959 and reinterred at the now-reconciled Chester Friends Cemetery, marked with a common flat stone.


After February 1, 1926, the Hicksite Friends met at the Orthodox Friends Meetinghouse, which today houses the reconciled Chester Friends Meeting. No burials are thought to remain in this cemetery.

Chester Friends Meeting is one of the oldest Friends meetings in Pennsylvania. The original small meeting house was built in 1693 on the west side of Edgmont Avenue (now the Avenue of the States, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, and on this lot a burial ground was established. It remained a place of worship until it became too small to accommodate all the members and was abandoned for a meeting house built in 1736 on Market street, south of the old Market Square.


Following divisions in the Society of Friends in the 1820s, the meeting and burial ground were used by the Hicksite sect prior to their reconciliation with the Orthodox sect in the mid-20th century. The Orthodox Friends built a separate meeting house at 24th and Chestnut Streets in 1829, and established their own burial ground there at that time which is still used today.


Though the 17th-century meeting house was torn down about 1851, the burial ground here was continued to be used by the Hicksites into the 20th century. In 1946, the Friends attempted to sell the land for new retail construction and remove those interred there to Cumberland Cemetery in Middletown Township; this action, however, was blocked by the courts. By October 1959, arrangements had been finalized to sell the land and at that time the remaining interments were removed to various cemeteries including Chester Rural Cemetery, the Old Swedish Burial Ground, Upland Baptist Church Cemetery, and elsewhere.456 other graves were removed from the lot in November 1959 and reinterred at the now-reconciled Chester Friends Cemetery, marked with a common flat stone.


After February 1, 1926, the Hicksite Friends met at the Orthodox Friends Meetinghouse, which today houses the reconciled Chester Friends Meeting. No burials are thought to remain in this cemetery.

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  • Added: 7 Mar 2022
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2748631