17-19 Seventh Street, 1785

17-19 Seventh Street, 1785, National Historic Landmark

This structure was the original Friends Meeting House located on Spring Street. In 1824, the Society of Friends embarked on the construction of a new brick Meeting House on Spring Street and sold this structure. Records indicate that the building was constructed in 1785, when the larger Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Friends deemed the New Bedford congregation large enough to build a separate meetinghouse. By the early 1820s, however, the 1785 structure was too small for the congregation. Purchased by Nathan Johnson, the building was moved into an adjacent site at the corner of Seventh and Spring where it sits today. Evidence of the building’s origins as a Meeting House are evident in the entrance, which is separated for men and women.