Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Meeting House, Church
Architectural style: Colonial
Date constructed: 1750-1803
Description: The original meeting house sat close to the existing Congregational Church that it replaced. The original building’s frame was 48 feet by 36 feet, and was “covered” and had windows. However, these initial expenses were such that more improvements were not started until 1754 when a pulpit, seats and pews were installed, as well as to “seal” the building up to the windows, and to make two pairs of stairs. In 1755, it was voted by the committee to provide “joice and boards” for the gallery floor. In 1756, a lock and “suitable fastenings” for the meeting house were installed. By 1770, the work on the galleries was completed. Parishioners voted to erect pews for the “body part” of the meeting house, and in 1782 the voted to shingle the front side of the roof. In 1787, the voted to procure pine clapboards to cover the front and two ends of the meeting house, and the following year, the north side was covered with pine clapboards too. In 1789, the inside of the house and the outside doors were painted. In 1792, they plastered the interior walls, and later they painted the exterior and installed a new roof replacing the chestnut shingles with pine shingles, and painted the roof. In 1803, the house was finished, when the congregation voted to pay Eleazer Strong $30 to underpin and lay the steps.
Significance: After 54 years, and several ministers, the Meeting house was completed, just as the town of Marlborough was incorporated (1803). Fortunately, a vivid description was given of the meeting house and its construction that we can gather a description. In 1841 it was decided that a new church was needed, as the current house had become, “cold, uncomfortable and unpleasant as a place of worship.” The house was torn down, and the new church was built within a year, with the opening sermon in 1842. This new church remains standing, just slightly back from where the original house stood.
Sources: Ives, Rev. Joel. “Historical Sermon” in Hall, Mary. Report of the celebration of the Centennial of the incorporation of the Town of Marlborough: August 23rd and 25th, 1903. Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company. 1904.
Notes: This image is an artist’s concept of the first meeting house, based upon the description in the above history, and other historical documents. Today, a rock monument stands at the site of the original meeting house.