CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Chelsea, as we know it today, was divided into two sections;
Prattville and the Ferry Village. Most of the population and all the
activity of the town, was located in the Center, what is now Revere.
This was where the church, meetinghouse, school, and cemetary were
located. By the 1830s change came fast. 1831 brought the steam ferry
which along with the toll bridge cut travel time. John Low built a
general store in the Village the following year. The first school was
built in 1833, on Washington Avenue. A fire station was built in
Chelsea Square in 1834 and a second school was constructed on Park
Street in 1837. The first church was built in 1836 on Broadway and
Third Street. In 1830 the Chelsea population was 770, inclusive of
Revere, Winthrop, and part of Saugus. In 1840 the population had
increased to 2182. The greatest portion of this population increase
was in the Village, which soon surpassed Prattville and Revere.
Old Central Congregational Church 1843
The Congregationalists grew so rapidly in numbers that a
second church was built in 1851, in Chelsea Square. Called the
Broadway Congregational Church, it was located at the former Elk’s
Building site.
In a short span of six years from 1836 to 1842, seven churches of
different denominations arose in the Village. One of these churches
was the Central Congregational Church. A group of Congregationalists
gathered in Slade’s Hall during the Winter of 1840 and 1841 and
formulated plans for the construction of a church. The church was
built and completed the following year under the name of the
Winnisimmet Congregational Church. The church was located on Chestnut
Street on the same site occupied by the St. Stanislaus Church today.
Broadway Congregational Church 1851
New Central Congregational Church 1870
The Winnisimmet Congregational Society, instrumental in the
forming of the church on Chestnut Street, in a friendly division,
withdrew to form a third church on the corner of Chestnut and Fifth
Street. The cornerstone of the new church was laid in 1870 and was
called the Central Congregational Church. The original church changed
its name from Winnisimmet to First Congregational Church, it existed
on Chestnut Street until purchased by the Polish citizens in 1905.
First Congregational Church on County Road
The Broadway and the First Congregational Church joined with the
Third Congregational Church which had formed on Reynolds Avenue in
1877, together they built the church that exists to this day on
County Road. The cornerstone of the County Road Church was laid in
1906. In 1907, the completed church was established and dedicated as
the First Congregational Church.
The Central Congregational Church, one of the largest church
structures in the city, was completely destroyed in the great fire of
1908. In a matter of minutes, flames had swept from the basement
through the auditorium and into the tower. The church was rebuilt and
in 1909, was rededicated on the same site. In 1946 the building was
purchased by the Salvation Army. All remaining church members joined
the First Congregational Church on County Road.
Salvation Army Citadel Chestnut and Fifth
Streets. Originally Central Congregational Church until 1946.
