Old Meeting House

Lynnfield, MA

1714

The Meeting House is thought to be the third oldest Puritan meeting house in New England still standing on its original “Green”. Built 61 years before the Revolutionary War, it is older than the Old South Meeting House, Faneuil Hall or King’s Chapel in Boston. As one noted historian has said, “It is without question the most historic building within the limits of the original town of Lynn.

On November 17, 1712 by order of the General Court, that part of Lynn now called Lynnfield was established as a parish. This would free the inhabitants from paying parish taxes to Lynn as soon as a meetinghouse could be built. On November 22, 1713, 32 men and one woman voted to build the meetinghouse, chose a site, and subscribed 130 pounds to pay for it. The deed of land on which this building stands was dated “This seventh day of December 1714 and in ye reign of our sovereign lord George, King of Great Britain, Etc.” The deed further reads “All that land whereon ye SD precinct meetinghouse now standeth….”

Originally built, the Meeting House was almost square. The pulpit stood upon the northeastern side, a sounding board above. There were three outside doors with large horse blocks for dismounting before each. There were galleries on three sides where the slaves and hired men sat and where, in one corner, the gunpowder was stored. The building had neither paint nor plaster and had no steeple or provision for heat, until a stove was added in 1824.

In 1751 it was voted to plaster, clapboard, shingle, and install new window frames. In 1782, the Meeting House was literally cut in two and a fourteen foot section inserted in the middle. In 1800 it was voted to raise $100 to paint the Meeting House; the next year the vote was rescinded and fifty years passed before it was finally painted.

In 1832 eighteen people dissented from the growing Unitarian theology and left to build their own church across from the Meeting House. This still stands as the chapel of the Congregational Church. In 1836 the remaining members, burdened by the cost of maintenance of the building, proposed to the town that a second floor could be used for church services and the lower story be given to the inhabitants of Lynnfield for a town house provided the town of Lynnfield pay one half of the cost of the expenses and repairs. The proposal was accepted and the lower floor was used as a town hall and meeting place for over fifty years. Dedication of a new town hall in 1892 brought about the final separation of church and state, as all civic activities were transferred to the new building.

However, the lower hall soon served the community in new ways. It served as a primary school in the center district until the two room center school was built on Main Street in 1903 and then became the fire station for Lynnfield Center and was known as the “Chemical House”. Large barn doors replaced the original door on the main side of the building, part of the floor was lowered to accommodate the fire engines, and in 1918 a belfry was added to house the large bell that served as the fire alarm. The bell was installed on a block of granite on the common in 1964.

In May of 1960 the dedication of the present fire and police station brought an end to this era in the Meeting House. The Lynnfield Historical Society, founded in 1954, became custodian of the Meeting House, and under the ownership of the town of Lynnfield, it pays for the annual maintenance and upkeep of the building. The town appropriated $2,000 to remove the belfry, replace the fire engine doors and restore the windows on the Main Street end of the Building. The Historical Society raised the money for the rest of the restoration work.