The First Universalist Society of Salem is a historic Universalist former church building at 211 Bridge Street in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

History

The congregation was founded in 1805 after seven local people with an interest in

Universalism Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...

attended a lecture by Rev. John Murray, a founder of Universalism. The current church building was constructed in 1808 with Rev.

Hosea Ballou Hosea Ballou D.D. (April 30, 1771 – June 7, 1852) was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer. Originally a Baptist, he converted to Universalism in 1789. He preached in a number of towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, and ...

, a founder of the Universalist Church, laying the cornerstone of the

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

building.Lemuel Willis,
A semi-centennial address delivered in the Universalist Church, Salem, Mass., Thursday, August 4, 1859
' (Register Press, 1859) Inside the building, the Hutchings organ was constructed in 1888 with 1,200 pipes. The church was added to 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 ...

in 1983. The church closed in 2016, merging with First Parish, UU, in Beverly, MA.

References

External links

First Universalist Society of Salem website
*
A semi-centennial address delivered in the Universalist Church, Salem, Mass., Thursday, August 4, 1859
' by Lemuel Willis (Register Press, 1859)
The historical records
of the First Universalist Church in Salem are in the Andover-Harvard Theological Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Unitarian Universalist churches in Massachusetts Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Churches in Salem, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Salem, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Salem, Massachusetts Churches completed in 1808 Federal architecture in Massachusetts Religious organizations established in 1805 Religious organizations disestablished in 2016

History

See also

References

External links