[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 140 (Thursday, September 20, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING THE FORTY FORT MEETING HOUSE ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 
                           200TH ANNIVERSARY

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                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2007

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed 
colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to the Forty 
Fort Meeting House which is celebrating its 200th anniversary as a 
place for citizens to congregate for the purpose of worshipping God and 
serving their communities.
  A national historic landmark, the Forty Fort Meeting House, located 
in the Wyoming Valley of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, is the oldest 
existing house of worship in northeastern Pennsylvania.
  Two hundred years ago, the colonists viewed the discussion of 
religion and politics as fundamental to the success and prosperity of 
their community and they created an institution strictly for that 
purpose--the meeting house.
  The origins of the Forty Fort Meeting House are rooted in colonial 
New England where members of the local community gathered inside plain 
wooden structures twice on Sunday to worship and during the midweek to 
discuss community affairs and elect local officials.
  The Forty Fort Meeting House served as a place of worship until 1837 
when the Presbyterians and Methodists built their own churches, leaving 
the Meeting House and adjoining cemetery to become neglected.
  In 1860, the Forty Fort Cemetery Association was established and with 
it came a renewed sense of responsibility for stewardship of the 
Meeting House. William Swetland, the association's first president, 
replaced the roof, painted the exterior and repaired the fence. For the 
next 130 years, the structure received only cosmetic repairs to the 
exterior.
  Today, efforts are underway to restore the structure through an 
endowment project that seeks to raise funds for the work and to 
continue preservation well into the future.
  The Forty Fort Meeting House stands as a legacy to the spiritual 
fortitude, fierce determination and moral courage of the Connecticut 
Yankees who settled the Wyoming Valley.
  Madam Speaker, please join me in celebrating the 200th anniversary of 
the Forty Fort Meeting House and in urging citizens from throughout the 
region to support the ongoing preservation project fund raiser to 
insure that a vital part of our Nation's past remains intact so future 
generations can appreciate how their ancestors laid the foundation for 
our present great society.

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