Members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, were among the earliest settlers in Rush Township, having emigrated from eastern states, mostly Pennsylvania and North Carolina. They first held services in their homes and then built a small framed meeting house on this site in 1842. The present Friends Church replaced the original building in the 1870s at a cost of $4,245. Although it was not a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church supported local abolitionists who helped runaway slaves reach freedom in Canada. An epidemic during the winter of 1850-1851 reduced the Friends' membership and led several Quaker families to relocate to Iowa. The final religious service was held here on October 26, 1997, after which the church was donated to the village of North Lewisburg. The Quaker cemetery west of the church was used from about 1846 through about 1885 and was one of the earliest cemeteries in Champaign County. Its first recorded burial was Moses Winder on August 5, 1846, and its last recorded burial was Caroline S. Pim on May 18, 1885. Those buried there include Civil War veteran William W. Fell, Lewisburg's first marshal Harmon Limes, and early trustee Abner Winder Jr. As church membership dwindled, the cemetery fell into neglect and disrepair, and like the church it was donated to the village of North Lewisburg in 1997.