The Old Town Friends’ Meeting House (also known as the Aisquith Street Meeting or Baltimore Meeting), is one of Baltimore’s few remaining 18th-century buildings and the oldest religious building in the city. The Meeting House is a two-story, brick, rectangular building, with a gable roof and interior end chimney. The Patapsco Friends’ Meeting built the Meeting House in 1781; then changed their name to the Aisquith Street Meeting. Just two of the many influential Quakers who worshiped here are Philip E. Thomas, first President of the B & O Railroad, and Johns Hopkins. The Meeting House became known as the Old Town Friends’ Meeting House when the building was restored in 1967 to its 1845-1850 appearance.
Near the Old Town Friends’ Meeting House is McKim’s School. This Greek Revival, rectangular, gabled-roof building is granite with a full-width, front-pedimented, Doric portico. A local Quaker merchant, John McKim, wanted to help Baltimore’s poor youths by constructing a school. It took John’s sons, Isaac and William D. McKim, to carry out their father’s plans after his death. The McKim’s School opened in 1833. The school served indigent youth of the city until after the Civil War. The Old Town Friends’ Meeting House is located at 1201 East Fayette St. on the corner of Fayette and Aisquith Sts. The McKim’s School is located at 1120 East Baltimore St. Neither are open to the public. |
Old Town Friends’ Meeting House (above)
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