Meeting House History

Early History

The original Meeting House was built on land where the Pennacook Native Americans once lived. An Algonquin-speaking tribe, they farmed maize, and squash along the riverbeds of the Merrimack and hunted the nearby forests. For a town to be incorporated in Colonial Massachusetts, there first had to be an established church and congregation in the community. In 1645 residents of Andover (then known as Cochichawicke) formally established The First Church of Christ at Cochichawicke.  The Cochichawicke congregation was the 37th church established by Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.   A second Meeting House was built on the site in what would become North Andover in 1669.  In 1708 a second parish, South Parish Church, was founded when the General Court divided the town now called Andover into two parishes.  A third Meeting House was built in 1710 and a fourth Meeting House in 1753. 

Succeeding generations have met weekly since then, but the theology of the ministers and members has continually opened up to new, expansive ideas. In 1834 part of the North Parish congregation seceded and formed the Evangelical Church of North Andover (now Trinitarian Congregationalist Church).  The remaining North Parish congregation became Unitarian Christian and made plans to build the current Meeting House.  At the time there was growing popularity for formal religious education of children, so the new church design included a basement structure (called the Parish Hall) to house Sunday religious education programs.  In 1855, the north and south parishes legally became separate towns, forming Andover and North Andover.

The 1836 Meeting House perches slightly above the rotary in North Andover's quaint Old Center. Its brilliant white Gothic facade is a striking sight and somewhat unusual for an older New England church building.   It is a cornerstone of the town common and serves as a welcoming beacon to those who travel through the common day and night.  It is included in the national Historic Register and the local Historic District Register.

Learn More: North Andover Historical Society

the 1836 meeting house

Boston architect Richard Bond designed the 1836 Meeting House in the Gothic style highlighted by large expanses of glass, clustered columns, and sharply pointed spires.  The structure is 70’ by 52’ which includes the large sanctuary and front entrance.  A balcony holds the organ and provides access to the steeple.  One floor above the balcony is the clock level, and on the floor above that resides the 1200-pound Revere bell and its support structure.  There are no internal support columns for the three story high ceiling in the sanctuary because the Bond design included robust wooden trusses located between the roof and ceiling. 

In 1834, the Meeting House construction budget included $6,000 for the church and $1,000 for the basement, money which was raised by the congregation.  When the structure was completed in 1836, the cost had risen to $11,400.  The 76 pews within the sanctuary were sold at auction to help pay for the increased cost, which raised an additional $5,000, fully paying for the new church.  The box pews that are still in place today were designed to keep in the heat on cold mornings, and some have family plaques in them.  It was fortunate that the Meeting House was built before the depression of 1837 hit, when there were bank failures and seven years of economic slump in the nation.

the sanctuary

The Sanctuary, the heart of the building, holds 76 box pews that are still in use today.  The enclosed seats were designed to keep in the heat on cold mornings, and some still have family plaques in them.  The balcony in the rear of the sanctuary holds the organ and provides access to the steeple, while the front of the balcony has a clock, which faces the pulpit and was was donated to the Meeting House by Mrs. Benjamin Lovejoy in 1852.  The clock is still in use today and keeps the Minister aware of the hour.  One floor above the balcony is the clock level, and a floor above that resides the 1200-pound Revere bell and its support structure.  There are no internal support columns for the three story high ceiling in the sanctuary because the architectural design included robust wooden trusses located between the roof and ceiling. 

The Paul Revere Bell

Paul Revere began his bell-making career quite by chance when he offered to repair the cracked bell from the Second Church in Boston in 1792. Prior to that his reputation was as a silversmith.  At age 57 he thus began "the first large scale bell-making establishment in America." The bells are approximately 3/4 copper and 1/4 tin. The Revere bells were variously marked REVERE, REVERE BOSTON, REVERE & SONS BOSTON, and REVERE & SON (as is the Meeting House bell). Paul Revere left the business in 1811.

On April 2, 1807, the “freeholders and other inhabitants of the North Parish voted to accept Colonel Paul Revere’s proposal for a new bell to their meeting house” because the old one was broken.  The new bell was listed as of “1200 weight” and was inscribed “Revere & Son- Boston, 1806” and cost 45 cents a pound ($540 total).  Paul Revere and his second son, Joseph, were the bellmakers. According to historical records, the Canton foundry of Paul Revere and Son produced over 950 bells. The Meeting House bell was the 19th cast by the Revere foundry and is one of 23 remaining Bells cast by Revere during his tenure with the Foundry.  It was hung in the Fourth Meeting House and then moved to the tower of the present Meeting House during its construction in 1836.   Except for a period of time when the bell was silenced because of worn rafters and rusted supports, it continues to peal every hour as well as on both joyous and solemn occasions.

Although Revere steeple bells were noted for their clear, mellow tones, many were lost due to cracking or melting in fire.  It is said that Revere felt that improper hanging and ringing were responsible for many of the cracked bells.  Each bell from his foundry carried this guarantee:

“This bell is warranted for twelve months accidents & improper usage excepted; and unless it shall be rung or struck before it is placed in the belfry,

or tolled by pulling or forcing the tongue against the bell, by a string or otherwise.”

 Like many church bells, this one has been modernized.  The bell remains stationary while it is struck by a hammer.   Former North Andover Fire Chief and longtime North Parish member Dana Fischer installed a mechanism that electronically controls the bell.  During Meeting House restoration work done in 2005-06, the bell’s cradle mechanism was re-greased, allowing the bell to once again be manually rung by the rope in the foyer.

The organ

The Meeting House has a Hook and Hastings organ (Opus 2559) with the keyboard in the sanctuary balcony and the pipes at the base of the steeple.  The Hook and Hastings organ company of Boston has a rich New England history.   The Hook brothers were sons of a cabinet maker in Salem, Massachusetts where they apprenticed with the organ builder William Goodrich. They moved to Boston in 1832 and began producing larger organs.  When the Hook brothers were getting ready to retire, in 1871, Frank Hastings joined the firm, at which point the name was changed to E. and G.G. Hook & Hastings. When the Hook brothers retired (in 1881), the name was shortened to Hook and Hastings. In its day, Hook was the premier organ building company in the United States.  This is the third pipe organ owned by the parish - the first two also being by the Hook firm in 1843 and again in 1858. The Hook firm took the keydesk, chassis, and pipes in trade from their 1858 organ, leaving the case with the three Romanesque arches to be incorporated into the new instrument — which cost $10,200.  The current Meeting House organ was donated by the Stevens and Osgood families in 1928 in memory of their parents Moses Tyler Stevens (1825-1907) and Charlotte Emeline Osgood Stevens (1831-1906). It was dedicated in worship on Christmas Sunday, December 22, 1928 by organist Moses Tyler Stevens - son of the man in whose memory the organ had been given.

The organ action is via Electro-pneumatic (EP) chests. The organ stoplist includes two manuals, 3 divisions, 24 stops, 17 registers,  19 ranks, and a total of 1250 pipes. The manual compass is 61 notes. The pedal compass is 32 notes.

the clock

One floor below the Revere Bell inside the steeple is the clock which faces the Common for all to see. The clock,originally from the Fourth Meeting House had been given by Benjamin Barker to the church in 1762.  This clock was preserved and placed in the steeple of the Fifth Meeting House in 1836.  At the time, Mr. Simon Willard, a Boston Clockmaker, performed repairs for the sum of $300.  The clockworks were updated around 1870 by the E. Howard Clock Company of Boston.  Other updates to the clock have been made since then which coordinate the clocks time with the ringing of the Revere bell.