Growing the light–inspiring a lifetime of learning.

• 1833 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, in accordance with Friends’ long-standing concern with education, encouraged member Meetings to consider their roles in the education of Quaker children. Many at Birmingham Meeting, then held in West Chester, believed there were too few children to make opening a school economically viable--and there was no teacher available.

• 1834 There was support for a school, and a committee of men and women proposed to the monthly Meeting that a school be established.

• 1836 The school is built using the $1,214.46 and 1/2 cents that had been raised. After construction, a surplus of $3.66 remained for the school's use. Students were of both sexes, but did not have classes together until the late 1800s. School was open all year, with a vacation of two weeks in the fall and two weeks in the spring. School hours were 8:00 AM - 12 noon and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The first principal was David Hoopes, and Hannah Pyle was his assistant. Early families associated with the School were the Hoopes, Sharpless, Darlington, Taylor, Entriken, Smedley, Green, Paxom, Gawthrop, Hickman, Hawley, Dunwoody, Biddle, Satterthwaite, Bartram, Strode, and Hall families.

• 1840 There were various divisions within the School, including a college preparatory.
• 1841 Jesse C. Green was hired by the committee as one of the School’s very first teachers. The committee directed Mr. Green that there should be no corporal punishment. He noted that he had to "study himself to keep ahead of the pupils!"
• Late 1840s The school’s schedule is cut back from 48 weeks to three months because of 1840s financial difficulties.
• Late 1850s With the help of the Meeting and townspeople the school was once again on sound financial footing.

• 1866 Addition built, including two classrooms, for $1,943.31. Tuition was set at $40 per year, with additional charges for Drawing, Latin, Greek, and French. Pupils from a distance could board in local homes for "reasonable rates".
• 1862 The School went under the care of West Chester Preparative Meeting.
• 1865 The School went under the care of Birmingham Meeting at West Chester.

Late 1870s One specific purpose of the School was to prepare students for Swarthmore College. If a student graduated from Friends Graded School, no entrance exams were required. Tuition at this time was $50 for 42 weeks of classes.

Among the School’s philosophies at that time:
"No rivalry in dress is attempted. This we think, is one striking characteristic of our school that will have its effect at a time when excess and extravagance are so general as to be deplored by many who without example will lack the moral courage to resist the evil."

The Literary and Debate Society flourished, and among the topics of debate in 1872 were
"That novel reading is detrimental to society"
"That man's conscience is a correct guide"
"That conscience is a creation of education" and
"That woman's mind is inferior to that of man."
All were decided in the affirmative, but a graduate later commented that "it is hoped that this decision on the last subject did not settle the question for all time."

Also of interest during this time is that
"the first baseball game played in West Chester was played on this corner lot between the nine of the public school and the nine of the Friends, among the latter of whom were our well known townsmen, William P. Sharpless, Thomas H. Jackson, Abram S. Williams, Alfred Paschall, Mark Darlington, Wilmer Cox, William Perdue, Thomas Smedley, James Taylor, A. Darlington Strode, P.M. Sharples, C. H. Hannum, and Alban Ingram, the game being umpired by the Principal of the school.”

• 1882 Julia Davis, a young Black girl living in a Quaker household, enrolled at the Friends Graded School, becoming the first Black child to attend a previously all-White school. Later she became a nurse and local activist, the grandmother of Bayard Rustin, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. 
• 1886 The front of the School was torn down and a hornblend addition built for $7,176.83.
• 1880s During this period, teachers were Quaker, usually young people who taught before going on to college themselves, but a few had advanced degrees.
• 1890s "One principal resigned after two years with the following report to the Daily Local News, "...(He) has decided to give up teaching for a time and devote his attention to some branch of industry which will be less wearing on the nervous system. He hopes to improve his health by engaging in the raising of poultry...."

• 1920s The college preparatory (upper school) division is laid down.
• 1936 Seventh and eighth grades are laid down.
• 1943 The School met in private homes due to fuel shortage.
• 1954 The PrePrimary Building was built.
• 1970s The Activities building is constructed.
• 1985 Seventh and eighth grades reintroduced. Science, Art & Music are taught at the Lenape campus for two years.
• 1990 Seventh & eighth laid down.
• 1996 Sixth grade laid down. Early Start (pre-kindergarten) began.

• 2005 West Chester Friends School is an independent, coeducational Quaker elementary school located on the "Quaker Block," next to the West Chester Friends Monthly Meeting House, and the Hickman Home, a Friends retirement facility with which the school conducts intergenerational programs. The campus includes a classroom building with eight classrooms, a library, language arts lab, mathematics lab, teacher workroom, and lunchroom; an activities building which houses the computer lab, science lab, art room, gymnasium, and Kindergarten classrooms; a classroom annex for Pre-Kindergarten; and an administration building, which houses offices for the Head of School, the school psychologist, and the departments of Admissions, Development, Business, and Maintenance.
• 2009 The new library and administration building opens. The old library is renamed the Eisman Room.
• 2010 The Friends Play School, for three-year-olds, begins with six students.