From 1717 to Today
Our founding members attended First Church in Roxbury; a three mile walk each Sunday for these farmers to worship. To alleviate that walk and create both a town and church in their own community, they petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for approval. They wanted what was called Muddy River to be recognized as a township. After four petitions, on November 13, 1717 the request was approved.
The Original Stewards of our Land
Among the responsibilities of becoming a town were securing land to build a meeting house and hiring a minister. The first people indigenous to the land on which First Parish in Brookline now stands were the Massachusett who spoke a regional dialect of Algonquin. A well-traveled trail connecting tribal villages ran along what is now Walnut Street in front of the Sanctuary. Under the “Doctrine of Discovery”, King Charles I of England ignored indigenous peoples’ claim to the land, and in 1629 through a royal charter he granted the land to the English colonists that became the Massachusetts Bay Colony including the area between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers.
Building a Meeting House
The community was so poor that they continued to defer the charge to build a meeting house. In 1713 Caleb Gardner offered land on Walnut Street where our former parsonage still stands. This became the site of the first of our four meeting houses.
After several delays on November 10, 1714, Samuel Clark, a carpenter, and his friend Isaac Gardner, framed the meeting house. It took two additional years to complete the building. Our first minister, Rev. James Allen, served from 1717 to 1747. Learn more about our building history on our Building and Stained Glass page.
The Unitarian Controversy
Many churches in New England separated into Unitarian and Congregational churches during the “Unitarian Controversy” in the early 19th century. But First Parish retained both groups in the Unitarian vs. Trinitarian struggle and stood strong as a community church embracing both Christian traditions and the theology and liberal inclusiveness of the Unitarian faith. To this day it honors the history and the tradition but is firmly implanted in the Unitarian Universalist spirit of openness to all spiritual wisdom and practice.
Our Progressive Ministry
Several ministers served the congregation for a quarter century or more, but none longer than the Rev. John Pierce (1797-1849), who held First Parish together through regional theological upheaval that split many congregations. Pierce played key roles in the creation of Brookline’s first separatist (Baptist) congregation and what is now Andover Newton Theological School. He was the last minister to serve both town and church.
Less than a decade after Pierce’s death, the pulpit was filled by his son-in-law, the Rev. Frederic Henry Hedge, a scholar of German language and philosophy who with Emerson had launched the transcendentalist movement and provided its name. Early transcendentalist meetings were known as Hedge’s Club.
While at First Parish, Hedge was president of the American Unitarian Association, taught at Harvard Divinity School, and edited the Christian Examiner. Abolition, women’s suffrage, and theological unity were among his leading causes.
Unitarians and Universalists since the 1800s have ordained women, but not until the 21st century did First Parish choose women as its spiritual leaders. During her interim ministry, the Rev. Judith Downing, serving from 2003 to 2005, began the journey toward becoming a Welcoming Congregation, and in June 2004 officiated at the first same-sex marriage at First Parish.
Ministers in the twenty-first century have been the Rev. Joseph Cherry (interim 2023 – present), Rev. Lisa Perry Wood (2018-2023), Rev. Rebecca Bryan (interim 2015-2017), Rev. Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa (Assistant Minister, 2013-2016), co-ministers Rev. Martha Niebanck (2005-2012) now Minister Emeritus and Rev. Dr. Jim Sherblom (2005-2015), Rev. Judith Downing (interim 2003-2005) and Rev. David A. Johnson (1988-2003).
Challenging Truths
Recent research commissioned by the Parish Board has uncovered some challenging truths about our history: throughout the 1700’s, as Brookline grew to be the wealthiest town in Massachusetts, many leaders of the church profited directly or indirectly from the slave trade and several of them enslaved Africans and/or Indigenous peoples. These included the congregation’s first minister, James Allen, who enslaved three people, Dinah and her daughters Violet and Venus.
Challenged by discoveries such as these, the congregation covenanted to explore our history and its implications even more deeply: “to continue to learn about, acknowledge and work to repair the historic and ongoing moral and material harm to Black and Indigenous people and communities”. More information about our research into the congregation’s involvement in the dispossession of land and enslavement of African and Indigenous peoples and the work underway related to “reckoning and repair” can be found in the Justice in Action, Racial Justice Action Committee.
Today, First Parish is a congregation composed of people of deep conviction, strong faith, and devotion to community involvement. We have a rich and complex history. We are passionately dedicated to responding meaningfully to the world here and now and to spiritually nurturing ourselves and our children for the personal and collective challenges of the future.