STATE GRANT AWARDED FOR MERION MEETING HOUSE

HARRISBURG, AUG. 26 – Early Pennsylvanians worked hard to create the Keystone state that everyone knows today. The stories and history of that time in the state’s history are valuable to the present and to the future, according to state Sen. Connie Williams.

“It was 1695 in Montgomery County when a group of Welsh Quakers, built the Merion Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends,” Williams said. “The stone meeting house became a key focal point for the early community and today continues to be an important landmark. If the landmark is going to continue to be a tangible link to our past, it is imperative that the structure be preserved.”

The meeting house where William Penn visited and preached became a National Historic Landmark. Today it is showing signs of possible structural failure. In 1997, the U.S. Department of the Interior looked at the building. Recently, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission awarded Montgomery County a $15,000 Historic Preservation grant to allow historical architects and structural engineers to study the building and provide a plan to permanently rectify any structural deficiencies.

Merion Meeting House was one of 127 projects chosen to share $1.16 million in state grants. Recipients were chosen by an independent panel that made selections on a competitive basis in four categories – archives and records management, historic preservation, local history and museum projects.

“Preserving our links to the past is important to understanding our community today and building the community of tomorrow,” Williams said. “It is a credit to Montgomery County that the initiative is being taken to preserve Merion Meeting House.”