The original First Church in Chestnut Hill opened its doors on October 2, 1861 as the Chestnut Hill Chapel. At that time, the area along nearby Hammond Street was mostly farms, fields and orchards.
The new church provided a place of worship for families who had moved west from Boston to Brookline, Newton, and Chestnut Hill. They brought with them the prayerbook from King’s Chapel, which still provides the framework for our services to this day.
Nearly four decades later, the congregation determined it was time to build a new church across Hammond Street from the original church and the cornerstone of the current building on Suffolk Road was laid in 1910. (The original church building is still standing, now serving as the library of the Chestnut Hill School,)
The new First Church in Chestnut Hill was dedicated the following year as a “free church to which all are welcome.”
Our congregation has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association since it was founded in 1961, and was a charter member of the Council of Christian Churches in the Unitarian Universalist Association since its founding in 1984.
To dig deeper into key events from our long history, look here.
