diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index f7b59d768ccdc..44b01ba00c83d 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -1000,6 +1000,7 @@ export
     bind,
     connect,
     close,
+    isopen,
     countlines,
     readcsv,
     writecsv,
diff --git a/base/stream.jl b/base/stream.jl
index 8dfa8600545f5..1a4179bc3ade8 100644
--- a/base/stream.jl
+++ b/base/stream.jl
@@ -558,10 +558,16 @@ function link_pipe(read_end::Ptr{Void},readable_julia_only::Bool,write_end::Name
 end
 close_pipe_sync(handle::UVHandle) = ccall(:uv_pipe_close_sync,Void,(UVHandle,),handle)
 
+function isopen(stream::AsyncStream)
+    stream.open
+end
+
+_uv_hook_isopen(stream::AsyncStream) = int32(isopen(stream))
+
 function close(stream::AsyncStream)
     if stream.open
-        stream.open = false
         ccall(:jl_close_uv,Void,(Ptr{Void},),stream.handle)
+        stream.open = false
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index f08103b65ff2a..31590e96517d1 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -246,12 +246,7 @@ void sigint_handler(int sig, siginfo_t *info, void *context)
 
 struct uv_shutdown_queue_item { uv_handle_t *h; struct uv_shutdown_queue_item *next; };
 struct uv_shutdown_queue { struct uv_shutdown_queue_item *first; struct uv_shutdown_queue_item *last; };
-static void jl_shutdown_uv_cb(uv_shutdown_t* req, int status)
-{
-    //if (status == 0)
-        jl_close_uv((uv_handle_t*)req->handle);
-    free(req);
-}
+
 static void jl_uv_exitcleanup_add(uv_handle_t* handle, struct uv_shutdown_queue *queue)
 {
     struct uv_shutdown_queue_item *item = malloc(sizeof(struct uv_shutdown_queue_item));
@@ -300,17 +295,8 @@ DLLEXPORT void uv_atexit_hook()
 //#endif
         case UV_TCP:
         case UV_NAMED_PIPE:
-            if (uv_is_writable((uv_stream_t*)handle)) { // uv_shutdown returns an error if not writable
-                uv_shutdown_t *req = malloc(sizeof(uv_shutdown_t));
-                int err = uv_shutdown(req, (uv_stream_t*)handle, jl_shutdown_uv_cb);
-                if (err != 0) {
-                    printf("shutdown err: %s\n", uv_strerror(uv_last_error(jl_global_event_loop())));
-                    jl_close_uv(handle);
-                }
-            }
-            else {
-                jl_close_uv(handle);
-            }
+            // These will be shut down in jl_close_uv.
+            jl_close_uv(handle);
             break;
         //Don't close these directly, but rather let the GC take care of it
         case UV_POLL:
diff --git a/src/jl_uv.c b/src/jl_uv.c
index dcd09b8cbc63d..6b5f742bf3010 100644
--- a/src/jl_uv.c
+++ b/src/jl_uv.c
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ extern "C" {
     XX(getaddrinfo) \
     XX(pollcb) \
     XX(fspollcb) \
+    XX(isopen) \
     XX(fseventscb)
 //TODO add UDP and other missing callbacks
 
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ DLLEXPORT void jl_get_uv_hooks()
 int base_module_conflict = 0; //set to 1 if Base is getting redefined since it means there are two place to try the callbacks
 // warning: this is defined without the standard do {...} while (0) wrapper, since I wanted ret to escape
 // warning: during bootstrapping, callbacks will be called twice if a MethodError occured at ANY time during callback call
+// Use:  JULIA_CB(hook, arg1, numberOfAdditionalArgs, arg2Type, arg2, ..., argNType, argN)
 #define JULIA_CB(hook,args...) \
     jl_value_t *ret; \
     if (!base_module_conflict) { \
@@ -131,6 +133,12 @@ void closeHandle(uv_handle_t* handle)
     free(handle);
 }
 
+void shutdownCallback(uv_shutdown_t* req, int status)
+{
+    uv_close((uv_handle_t*) req->handle,&closeHandle);
+    free(req);
+}
+
 void jl_return_spawn(uv_process_t *p, int exit_status, int term_signal)
 {
     JULIA_CB(return_spawn,p->data,2,CB_INT32,exit_status,CB_INT32,term_signal);
@@ -286,11 +294,32 @@ DLLEXPORT uv_pipe_t *jl_init_pipe(uv_pipe_t *pipe, int writable, int julia_only,
 
 DLLEXPORT void jl_close_uv(uv_handle_t *handle)
 {
-    if (!handle)
+    if (!handle || uv_is_closing(handle))
        return;
     if (handle->type==UV_TTY)
         uv_tty_set_mode((uv_tty_t*)handle,0);
-    uv_close(handle,&closeHandle);
+
+    if ( (handle->type == UV_NAMED_PIPE || handle->type == UV_TCP) && uv_is_writable( (uv_stream_t *) handle)) { 
+        // Make sure that the stream has not already been marked closed in Julia.
+        // A double shutdown would cause the process to hang on exit.
+        JULIA_CB(isopen, handle->data, 0);
+        if (!jl_is_int32(ret)) {
+            jl_error("jl_close_uv: _uv_hook_isopen must return an int32.");
+        }
+        if (!jl_unbox_int32(ret)){
+            return;
+        }
+
+        uv_shutdown_t *req = malloc(sizeof(uv_shutdown_t));
+        int err = uv_shutdown(req, (uv_stream_t*)handle, &shutdownCallback);
+        if (err != 0) {
+            printf("shutdown err: %s\n", uv_strerror(uv_last_error(jl_global_event_loop())));
+            uv_close(handle, &closeHandle);
+        }
+    }
+    else {
+        uv_close(handle,&closeHandle);
+    }
 }
 
 DLLEXPORT void jl_uv_associate_julia_struct(uv_handle_t *handle, jl_value_t *data)
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index f7c9f10ffd8a7..9a6646af8e564 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -41,3 +41,20 @@ if false
     @test  success(ignorestatus(`false` | `false`))
     @test  success(ignorestatus(`false` & `false`))
 end
+
+# Here we test that if we close a stream with pending writes, we don't lose the writes.
+str = ""
+for i=1:1000
+  str = "$str\n $(randstring(10))"
+end
+stdout, stdin, proc = readandwrite(`cat -`)
+write(stdin, str)
+close(stdin)
+str2 = readall(stdout)
+@test str2 == str
+
+# This test hangs if the end of run walk across uv streams calls shutdown on a stream that is shutting down.
+file = tempname()
+stdout, stdin, proc = readandwrite(`cat -` > file)
+write(stdin, str)
+close(stdin)