First Parish Church - Portland, ME
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 43° 39.504 W 070° 15.481
19T E 398562 N 4834702
A memorial plaque inside First Parish honors Prentiss Mellen. Pews within the church are marked for the abolitionist Fessenden and Thomas families.
Waymark Code: WMKB3P
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 03/13/2014
Views: 10
County of church: Cumberland County
Location of church: 415 Congress St., Portland
office hours Tues.-Fri. 9:00 to 2:00
Phone: 207-773-5747
"The First Parish Church's steeple is about to undergo the first major renovation since it was built -- not bad, considering it's 186 years old.
"The job includes removing the uppermost part of the steeple, the belfry, and hauling it to Vermont for repairs.
"Jenks said the last significant repairs were in 1977. The company hired for the job this time said the 1977 work was structurally sound, but not historically accurate."
- Portland Press Herald January 30, 2012
History:
"The history of the First Parish Church of Portland is directly linked to the founding of the city of Portland and to the earliest settlers of this area. Portland was originally called Machigonne by the native people who first lived here. In the fall of 1632, George Cleeve and Richard Tucker settled near the junction of what is now Fore and India Streets in Portland and established a fishing and trading settlement. They called their settlement Casco.
'Like many of the men and women who joined them here, they were coarse, practical, sturdy, and fiercely independent. As one historian of the era notes, the men who emigrated were from the nature of their circumstances the most active, hardy, daring, bold and resolute spirits, and probably the most mischievous also. This historian suggests that the earliest settlers of Portland, Maine had a strong dislike of authority and had a difficult time fitting into normal society." ~ © The First Parish in Portland, Maine, Unitarian Universalist 2010
"The history of the First Parish Church is linked to the founding of Portland and of Maine. This Unitarian-Universalist church, the oldest house of worship in the city, was commissioned in 1824 to replace "Old Jerusalem," a wooden structure built in 1740. "Old Jerusalem" was damaged by British cannonballs in 1775; the Maine Constitution was drafted in the church building in 1819. First Parish is listed on National Register of Historic Places."
- Portland Convention and Visitors Bureau