IX. The First Parish Meeting House

The First Parish Meeting House was the first church in Portland (then Falmouth) and was built in 1720. It is a Unitarian church. According to the First Parish's website, "The poverty of the citizens prevented them from building a house of worship until February 1720, when they voted to build a meeting house. Due to lack of funds, nothing was done until the next year when a tax was imposed for the purpose of purchasing building materials. In July 1721, a site was chosen on the north corner of Middle and India Streets, and in February 1724, the rustic structure was clapboarded. Finally in 1726 the windows were set and glazed, the glass a gift from Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire; The interior was completed in the spring of 1728." Although the house worked for the most part, it began to get too small for Falmouth's growing population. "In 1740, the new meeting-house, Old Jerusalem, was built on the site where First Parish now stands, a 2-story, plain, rectangular shaped meeting house was constructed." In 1759 they errected the steeple and in 1794 the clock tower was put into place. Due to a growing parish, though, "In 1825, construction began on the second granite church in Maine. The completed church was dedicated in February 1826."

The Meeting House was more than a church though. The building was also where official documents of the time were signed and put into action. "In 1749, the “Treaty with the Eastern Indians,” which secured a tenuous peace with the Norridgewock Indians, was signed in First Parish’s Meeting House." It was also the site of the drafting of Maine's constitution in 1819. The Meeting House was also a site for the anti-slavery movement in Maine. In 1882, William Lloyd Garrison spoke at the church against slavery. His words birthed the Maine Anti-Slavery Society when Prentiss Mellon heard him speak and decided to found the society of which he was the first president.

The meeting house/church is still used today for regular church services as well as other community service and rally type events. Last spring I attended the Take Back the Night rally at the church in order to march for the victims of sexual assult. The First Parish Meeting House holds a lot of history for the city of Portland.

When I visited the site around 3:30 in the afternoon, there were a couple of people talking outside the church and using the little gated garden to walk their dog. On other occasions I have seen the church be a site of many posters and projects from locals to help protect the rights of others. I did not go inside but have been into the meeting house portion of the bulding. Inside, there is a cannon ball that hangs from a chain that hit the church in 1775 when the British attacked and burned Falmouth.

I got all of my information from this website. http://www.firstparishportland.org/history3.html