First Parish Church of Dorchester

First Parish Dorchester
First Parish Church of Dorchester
42°18′29″N 71°03′43″W / 42.3081°N 71.0620°W / 42.3081; -71.0620
Location	Meeting House Hill
Address	10 Parish St., Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts
Country	United States
Denomination	Unitarian Universalist
Previous denomination	Calvinist Puritan Congregational Unitarian
Website	Church website
History
Founded	1630
Dedicated	May 1897
Associated people	John Maverick Richard Mather Thaddeus Mason Harris Samuel J. Barrows Abigail Adams Eliot
Architecture
Architect(s)	Arthur Greene Everett and Samuel W. Mead
Style	Colonial Revival
Years built	1897
Clergy
Minister(s)	Rev. Elizabeth A. Carrier-Ladd

First Parish Dorchester is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It was founded by English Puritans who initially saw themselves as reformers rather than separatists, but increasingly intolerable conditions in England and at the urging of Reverend John White of Dorchester, Dorset, they emigrated to New England. On March 20, 1630 as they set sail from Plymouth, England on the Mary and John, the congregation wrote its founding church covenant. Nearly all of the 140 ship passengers originated in the West Country counties of Somerset, Dorset and Devon. In late May, the ship landed first at what became called Hull, Massachusetts, and then in June at a place called "Mattapan" by the indigenous people including the Massachusett and Wampanoag. The Puritans named their new home "Dorchester Plantation."

Over time, the congregation's theology changed from its Calvinist Puritan roots to Congregationalism, then Unitarianism around 1816. The American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America in 1961, forming the Unitarian Universalist Association and ushering in Unitarian Universalism, a contemporary faith tradition with a long history.

The first church building was a crude log cabin thatched with grass.^[1] Beyond the church, the Puritans founded the first elementary school supported by public money in the American colonies. They held the first Town Meeting at the church, also called a Meetinghouse, which determined policy through open and frequent discussion. The congregation's fifth building burned in February 1896, and the current building was completed in 1897.^[2]

As of spring 2015, First Parish completed the third of five phases in a $7 million restoration project, which began November 2006. The most recent phase included accessibility improvements, exterior repairs and painting, and steeple restoration.^[3] Future work will include renovation and office reorganization in the Parish Hall, and a significant footprint expansion to provide much-needed community, classroom, and activity space.