Our History

Our meetinghouse has been in use since Friends first worshiped here on April 26, 1885. The facilities are also used by community groups. Over the years, those have included Sufis, Buddhists, atheists (Ethical Cultural Society), neighborhood associations, ACLU, Grandmothers Outside, self-help and recovery groups, among others.

Quakers in San Jose since 1861

1861Quakers began assembling in private homes in San Jose. Joel and Hannah Bean worshiped with San Jose Friends on their way from Iowa to Hawaii.
1866San Jose Friends built a meetinghouse (on Ninth and St. John Streets), establishing the first Quaker meeting on the West Coast. The building was sold in 1883 to Methodists; it later burned down.
1877After Joel Bean’s Iowa meeting was taken over by a radical revivalist faction, Bean became “not only the revival’s foremost opponent but also its famous victim.”
1882Joel and Hannah Bean sold their Iowa farm and moved to San Jose to escape theological controversy that had erupted among Iowa Quakers. Emissaries from Iowa followed the Beans to San Jose, bringing the controversy with them, and the meeting split into two factions.
1883“The Beans were booted out of the original group” and started worshipping in downtown San Jose above a saloon.

Oldest Quaker Meetinghouse West of Iowa, Built in 1885

1885Four San Jose families financed a new meetinghouse at 1020 Morse Street. As the Library of Congress records, it was “Erected in five weeks in 1885 [March and April], its plain unassuming architecture exemplifies the theology of the Quakers.” The inaugural gathering was held April 26. This is now the oldest Quaker meetinghouse west of Iowa.
1889The meeting was officially incorporated as The College Park Association of Friends, after the newly designated College Park neighborhood. (In turn, we now have College Park Quarterly Meeting.)
By 1906A vestibule in front and a room for socializing and eating at the back were soon added to the building.
1918The bylaws were amended to allow monthly meetings to join the College Park Association of Friends. Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Los Gatos Meetings joined at the outset, with 30 by 1928. That association would be a major part of the Pacific Coast Association of Friends organized in 1931 by the Beans’ granddaughter and her husband (Anna Cox Brinton and Howard Brinton), which would become Pacific Yearly Meeting in 1947. In the 1970s PacYM expanded into three yearly meetings: Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain.
1958Meetinghouse was moved 200 feet to make way for construction of Highway 17 (now Interstate 880), and bathrooms were added at the back. Address is now 1041 Morse Street.
1970Adopted the name San Jose Monthly Meeting and purchased the house next door (1051 Morse Street) to accommodate a children’s program, potlucks, and other gatherings.
2015Name legally changed to San Jose Friends Meeting.
2024–PresentFinal architectural drawings completed for wheelchair accessibility for the historic building, additions, and bathrooms. Permits expected in 2026. Fundraising continues for the wheelchair accessibility project.

San Jose Quaker meetinghouse, December 1885, photographer unknown. See a list of names here.

Drawing from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (with text added).

Our meetinghouse still stands and is in use today by Quakers and community groups. Photo by Charles Barry, April 27, 2025.

Help preserve this historic meetinghouse for all generations.
Join the effort to upgrade this 1885 building for another century of worship, service, and action.

Donate to the Accessibility Fund

Sources & References