File photo Nashua's First Church as it appears today, some 124 years after it was dedicated and 333 years since the first congregation gathered at a small cabin in what was then Old Dunstable.

NASHUA – The roots of Nashua’s First Church go so far back in history that it may seem as though the much-celebrated construction and dedication of its current home atop Library Hill wasn’t all that long ago.

In reality, the majestic, granite-appointed Romanesque edifice – officially named The First Church Nashua, Congregational, United Church of Christ, has graced the corner of Concord and Lowell streets for some 124 years, a timeline that began with its grandiose dedication services and celebration on May 17, 1894.

While prospering for nearly a century and a quarter is nothing to take for granted, the accomplishment in longevity almost pales in comparison to the centuries that have passed since Nov. 16, 1685, when local worshippers initially gathered under the denomination that became the First Church community.

On Friday, members of today’s First Church community may be envisioning their founding ancestors in faith when they gather to celebrate the church’s 333rd anniversary, complete with a list of special guests topped by two recently-retired longtime pastors with nearly 70 years of combined service.

The Rev. James Chaloner, who grew up in the church and was a minister for 36 years, and associate pastor Jeff Evans, with 33 years of service, will be named pastors emeriti, according to current pastor, the Rev. Andrew Armstrong.

“Those are very unusual lengths of service,” Armstrong said, referring to Chaloner and Evans.

Another highlight, Armstrong said, will be the unveiling of a portrait of the Rev. Cyrus Richardson, the first minister to preside at the new church.

Nashua was still 150 years away from its incorporation as a city when the earliest worshipers of the future First Church community gathered around the Rev. Thomas Weld, a newly ordained minister who settled in what was then Dunstable, a large territory that encompassed land on both sides of today’s New Hampshire-Massachusetts border.

During the ensuing years, the growing church would relocate numerous times. The ninth location, which it built in 1835 on the east side of Main Street between Temple Street and the Nashua River, was one of a dozen buildings destroyed in a disastrous fire in April 1870.

The church hierarchy pondered whether to rebuild or relocate, according to a Nashua Telegraph story. “There are many members of the (church) who favor rebuilding elsewhere,” the story reads, even naming possible locations such as the Greedily lot on Railroad Square (where the Hunt Building is today) and the corner of East Pearl and Main streets.

Building a new church somewhere in Railroad Square “would, we believe, effect a revolution in the character of Railroad Square that would … make it a credit and ornament to the city,” the reporter opined.

The story told of a family “prepared to attend service” as usual that arrived to find the church in ashes.

At the time, the present site of the church was occupied by the Indian Head Coffee House, at one time a popular stagecoach stop with a tavern and guest rooms.

That it was falling into disrepair about the same time First Church leaders were mulling whether to rebuild may have helped steer them toward the new site, The Telegraph stories speculated.

Church leaders, evidently enamored by the possibilities, acquired the site, and the aging coffee house was razed to make way for what The Telegraph would later call “a new edifice, (situated) on a commanding site … dedicated to the worship of God” with “fitting, solemn and impressive ceremonies.”

The ceremonies featured “an overflowing audience” that heard “grand music, tender and impressive prayers, a stirring and eloquent sermon … and a solemn church covenant.”

It was fitting, The Telegraph reported, that the First Church society, “one of the oldest and honored of the churches in New Hampshire,” had built and was dedicating “the handsomest, most modern and costly house of worship … in the state.

“The society, with over two centuries of constantly advancing effectiveness and strength, has proven itself worthy of its new home,” The Telegraph wrote.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-1256, or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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