HISTORY
Fir
st Church was the very first church in Pittsfield and we have been actively engaged in the welfare of the city since 1764. As a part of the United Church of Christ – the church of the Pilgrims in American history – we celebrate a long tradition of democracy, social justice, equal rights and progressive thinking. For example, our tradition began choosing our own clergy in 1630, introduced a free press to the New World in 1640, wrote the first anti-slavery pamphlet in America in 1700, ordained this country’ first African American minister, Lemuel Haynes, in 1785, founded the first American school for the deaf in 1817 and ordained the first woman minister in the US, Antoinette Brown, in 1853.
Specifically, our congregation has been instru
mental in the history of Pittsfield. Twelve years after the first settlement of Pontoosuck Township, First Church of Christ in Pittsfield was organized by eight Foundation Men on February 7, 1764. The early meeting house was owned by the town, as landowners had taxed themselves four shillings a lot for its creation. In the early days of the Commonwealth, a town required the establishment of a Congregational church. So, for 30 years the initial church building was used for town meetings as well as for public worship. In fact, until 1834 the civic administration was by the church in ecclesiastical matters and by the parish in things temporal.
Our found
ing pastor, Thomas Allen of Northampton, was a 20 year old graduate of Harvard College. His wages included a salary of 60 pounds, 40 cords of wood and ownership of a 100 acre lot bounded by the North, East and First Streets and extending beyond Maplewood Avenue. Allen is perhaps best remembered as the “Fighting Parson” who, during the Revolutionary War era carried a musket into his pulpit and fired the first shot against the British at the Battle of Bennington.
Throughout our 246 years, First Church has been a leader in cultural and civic concerns. For more information on the “firsts in the UCC” please visit this link.
