Architectural Historian Frederic C. Detwiller wrote in 1975 that the Old Red Church is  “One of the most authentic displays of the evolution of our church and education system in the region.”

 This building was not the first meeting house in Standish.  The original meeting house was constructed at the intersection of routes 25 & 35 just outside of the fort and used from 1766 to 1804 when this new meeting house was constructed. 

  The poet Thomas Shaw wrote of the destruction of the Old Meeting House. He tells us that when the men of the militia were in high spirits, they took the old Meeting house apart. 

Shaw Poem : 

Excerpts : 

      A training day was in Standish town 

Before the old house was torn down... 

And when we abroad did go 

People then did to us throw 

That our old house had had a fight 

With Satan on a training night...

So Standish has a bad name 

By Bad men that live the same 

And good and bad now must it bare  

And everyone his equal share

And now there Satan chose to dwell

Because the people suit him well…

The construction of this meeting house  took about two years starting in 1804 being completed in 1806. When completed the meeting housed measured forty-eight feet by sixty feet.  The design is typical of a plain country meeting house. 

The building has seen many changes since it was first opened. The church as it appeared when first constructed had a different facade. Research indicates that a single door and a two story enclosed porch served as the entrance to the building. The building was also without the tower structure that is present today. The structure was used as a meeting house, church, academy and the first high school in Standish. In 1976 the second floor became a museum of the Standish Historical Society. 

Located at 55 Oak Hill Road Standish 

Old Red Church Site