Hicksite Quaker Meeting House

Elias Hicks was a Quaker preacher from Long Island, New York and an early advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. His followers became known as Hicksites. This meeting house in Salem was founded by followers of Elias Hicks.

Early Friends (Quakers) believed that it was important to avoid fanciness in dress, speech, and material possessions, because those things tend to distract one from waiting on God’s personal guidance.

In addition to the simple dress and freedom from luxurious ways, the simple construction of their churches, referred to as Meeting Houses, is evident in the Hicksite Friends Meeting House located just east of Salem, Indiana.

The Blue River Friends Hicksite Meeting House is the oldest extant Quaker Meeting House in the State of Indiana. The building was completed in 1815.