Atlantic City Area Monthly Meeting Records

Atlantic City Friends Meeting traces its origins to 1856, soon after the establishment of Atlantic City as a resort town. Several prominent Friends raised the necessary funds to acquire property on South Carolina and Pacific Avenues. They formed the Trustees for Friends Meeting House and Lots, a body charged with overseeing the finances and property holdings of the Atlantic City meeting. In 1872, a permanent meeting house was built. In 1874, Atlantic City Meeting became an indulged meeting for worship under the care of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting (Orthodox).

In 1900, the Atlantic City Friends School was started for members' children, and a second floor was added to the meeting house. In 1926, a larger Colonial Revival building designed by Walter Price was built on the lot, incorporating the old meeting house. The meeting in Atlantic City was very active in the 1950s, and it was set off as a separate monthly meeting in 1956 with a membership of about 60. A high school adjacent to the main school grounds was also founded in this period.

Beginning in the late 1960s, the Atlantic City Meeting and, in particular, the Friends School, were hit by a financial crisis. The downturn was linked to economic recession in Atlantic City. They sold the Atlantic City property in 1985, and moved to Galloway Township in 1988, adding "Area" to the meeting name. Atlantic Friends School was laid down by the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee in August 1988.