The First Church of Woburn, formerly the First Congregational Church in Woburn, is a historic

nondenominational Christian Nondenominational Christianity (or non-denominational Christianity) consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian d ...

church at 322 Main Street in

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of governme ...

. The congregation, established in 1642, is one of the oldest in the United States, and its church building (the sixth for the congregation) is a local landmark. The Italianate-style church was built in 1860, and its steeple is believed to be the tallest wooden steeple in North America. The church is home to a historic E&GG Hook pipe organ, dating to the time of the church's construction. The church building has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since 1992. The congregation was originally

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

, as were all acknowledged churches in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

at the time, and was later affiliated with the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

in the early 20th century until resigning the denomination in the late 1980s. It is now declared nondenominational in the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

tradition but did not drop the Congregational designation from its name until 2018.

References

External links

Official web site
United Church of Christ churches in Massachusetts Churches completed in 1860 19th-century United Church of Christ church buildings Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Churches in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Woburn, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-church-stub

See also

References

External links