Mr. Benjamin Shattuck, a graduate of Harvard College, was called to become the first minister. He was ordained on Christmas Day, 1717, and continued as the Town Minister until 1730. At this time there was some friction between the Town and Reverend Mr. Shattuck. He retired from the ministry, but continued to live in town until his death in 1763.
The second Town Minister was also a graduate d Harvard College. Reverend Daniel Rogers was ordained here in March, 1731/32. His years of service to Littleton included the time of the Revolutionary War. By then he was an old man; he had been the minister for many years and was well-loved and respected. However, he was a Tory, as were many others in town. A proclamation had been issued to be read in all the churches on Thanksgiving Day, 1775. When Reverend Mr. Rogers finished reading this, he supplemented "God save the people" with "God save the king" His parishioners rose in rebellion and asked for a retraction, but Mr. Rogers fled to his home. An armed group of men followed him there and demanded that he come out and state his position. When he hesitated, shots were fired into his house. The front doors, complete with bullet holes, are in the possession of the local historical society.
Edmund Foster, a graduate of Yale, assumed duties as a colleague of Reverend Mr. Rogers in October, 1780. He did this in spite of the fact that there was a minority report from forty-six parishioners opposing his hiring. In contrast to Mr. Rogers, Mr. Foster was a supporter of the Revolution. He had been at home on vacation from Yale in April, 1775, and had joined the minutemen in fighting against the British at Concord. He was ordained on January 17, 1781, and became the Town Minister in 1782 on the death Mr. Rogers.
Reverend Mr. Foster was married in October, 1783, and eventually had thirteen children. He could not support this growing family on his minister's salary, so he took on other jobs, working on a farm and teaching school. He represented Littleton in the state legislature for several years. This was at a time when each town sent a representative. Later he was a state senator for two or three years. In 1820 he was a member of the Convention for revising the State Constitution.
Reverend Mr. Foster's theological views were unitarian. One time a woman in the Church complained to Mr. Foster that she had not heard the Trinity mentioned alI year. Mr. Foster's reply was "And you won't." the later years of Mr. Foster's ministry saw the beginning of the break-up of the Town Church. He was understandably upset. The Church voted in 1822 that:
... the doings of the Baptist Council ... are wholly invalid; and mark the Baptist Church in the Town, in its present existing state, as irregular and disorderly.
Mr. Foster was the minisier of the Town, and he took vigorous measures to bring back those who left thf Town Church. He continued as minister until his death in 1826.
The fourth Town Minister was William Hunt White, who received the call from Littleton in October, 1827. He was ordained January 2, 1828. He was a graduate of Brown College and Harvard Divinity School. A year after his ordination he married Sarah Bass Foster, a daughter of his predecessor.
As in many New England communities the minister and other church officials had always been elected at town meeting, and all property owners were taxed for the support of the parish. This situation changed in 1829, when the Massachusetts legislature passed a law ending public taxation for the supyort of religious worship, and provided that all religious societies should be maintained by their own members. Several other bills followed, and in 1833 the Eleventh Amendlnent to the State Constitution prevented a Church from requiring support from anyone who did not wish to belong. Church and state were now separated, at least theoretically. Thus came to an end the official Town Church, whose existence had been mandated by the General Court act which had incorporated the Town. During that time Littleton had only four ministers.
There are streets in Littleton today named after each of these men. Houses occupied by each of them still stand.
Reverend Mr. White was much concerned with education. He started the first Sunday School in town. Religious education for the children in the Church has been provided ever since. Theodore Parker studied Greek with him. This meant that Mr. Parker had to walk from Bedford to get to his teacher's house. Mr. White is also remembered for founding the Littleton Lyceum, the oldest lyceum in the countly still in continuous existence. For more than twenty-five years he was chairman of the school committee. He served the Church and the Town well until his death, July 25, 1853
That the Hospitality Committee in conjunction with the Minister propose some means whereby the Church may cooperate in the work of relieving want and raising up the degraded classes in Boston.Missionary work was important. The American Unitarian Association was valued among other reasons for its missionary work.
In 1911 individual communion cups were obtained. This was in response to a new state law which prohibited common drinking cups in certain public buildings, although churches were not specifically mentioned.
In 1918 the first Wayside Pulpit was installed as a gift of Mr. Thomas H. Elliott in collaboration with the minister, Reverend Oliver Jay Fairfield. It was placed in a shady nook between the Catholic Church (now the Masonic Hall] and the Center Store, which formerly stood on King Street directly opposite the end of Rogers Street. Later, the state rebuilt King Street and the pulpit had to be moved. In 1923 it was placed on the church lawn. The pulpit has been replaced several times, most recently in 1987.
An interesiing note explains the absence of an annual meeting in 1918. All the churches were closed because of the Spanish influenza epidemic.
A major change in the By-Laws of the local church was voted on January 15, 1959. A six-member standing committee replaced the president and church committee. On May 6, 1959, the name of the Church was changed from First CongregationaI Unitarian Church in Littleton to First Church, Unitarian, Littleton. On May 9, 1963, a subsequent vote revised the name by removal of the first comma. The Commonwealth has duly recorded the present name, First Church Unitarian, Littleton, with the change being effective June 14, 1963.
Reverend Robert L. Hadley, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, came to the Church in 1956 and stayed thirty-one years. This is the longest pastorate the Church has had since the disestablishment of the Town Church. His interest in pastoral counseling led him to obtain a degree in this field. His skills were highly useful to the parish. He is remembered also for writing and directing instructive and entertaining sermon plays.
Reverend Mr. Hadley's leadership steered the Church into many social action programs. The Church worked for the civil rights movement in the 1960's, has been supportive of prisoners in the Massachusetts Correctional Institutions, and has provided regular programs for the local nursing home. The Church was a primary force in beginning two local programs, the HELP committee and the Nature Day Camp. The HELP committee provided emergency help - transportation, babysitting, meals - to people in the town. The Nature Day Camp brought together children from Littleton, mostly white and middle class, with children from Lowell, many of whom were poor and non-white.
On April 29, 1979, Libbie D. Stoddard was ordained here. It is believed that this was the first ordination here for anyone except an incoming minister of the Church. This also was the first time that a woman was ordained here.
Vatican II made possible a closer relation between the Catholic Church and other churches. In the late 1960's it was possible to begin having occasional joint services of the Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, and Unitarian Churches. For several years there was a service on Palm Sunday evening held in Saint Anne's church with music by the combined choirs of the four churches. In the first of these the choir director was Carey Prouty. Later Polly Oliver directed several times. These directors were both from the Unitarian Church. Combined services continue, but now are held on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and rotate among the four participating churches. Another way in which the spirit af ecumenicism has been growing is in cooperation in the performance of wedding ceremonies. Several times Reverend Mr. Hadley joined with Catholic priests and at other times with Jewish rabbis in performing interfaith marriages.
She was much concerned with opposing racism and with fostering diversity. One result has been the addition of several lesbian couples to the congregation. One innovation to the service was the addition of "Candles of Caring," giving everyone the opyortunity to light candles in recognition of personal joys, concerns, or sorrows.
A program inaugurated n the summer of 1991 by the Council of Churches was the Neighborhood Supper, a free meal once a week to anyone who needs it. Since the onset the Unitarian Church has accepted the responsibility for one meal a month. Shopping, preparation, set up, serving, and clean up are included.
Support is given to other ongoing programs for community help. These include Loaves and Fishes, an area food bank, and two programs sponsored by the Council of Churches,emergency aid and a Holiday outreach program supplying food and gifts to local families in need.
A more personal instance of support involved a member of the Church who in late December of 1996 decided on hospice care for the final period of her life. Since she had no family who could undertake her care, the Church supplied this need. For several weeks, many people volunteered their time so that by taking shifts, someone from the Church was there with her twenty four hours a day. This care was supplemented by professional care from visiting nurses and aides.
On a less serious note, the Firehouse Coffeehouse supplies a very popular program of professional folk musicians. The first program was held December 9, 1994. Five or more concerts are held each season, with attendance at capacity, and some people coming from as far away as New York and Rhode Island. This program has involved many members of the Church in various forms of support, from baking brownies to sell at intermission to supervising parking. Besides providing good entertainment for all, the Coffeehouse also makes an important contribution to the Church operating funds.
At the Annual Meeting in March, 1998, a motion was passed requiring a canvass of the congregation before another contract was signed with the minister. In the late spring, the minister resigned, before a survey of the congregation had been completed. The effective date was August 31, 1998.
The Reverend Alan Taylor was chosen by the Standing Committee to be the interim minister. Attendance at church services grew remarkably, and many old members were welcomed back to Sunday services.
In the spring of 1999 the Church voted to call Frederick Emerson Small as its next regular minister. He accepted and began service in September 1999. On November 7, 1999, Fred Small was ordained here and formally installed as minister of First Church Unitarian, Littleton.
A second building was completed in 1742. This one was located on what was then called Ridge Hill on the site of the present Unitarian Church. It was 40 feet by 50 feet and cost 900 pounds. Those who had private pews built them at their own expense, except that pews were provided for Reverend Mr. Rogers and for the former minister, Reverend Mr. Shattuck. This building differed from the former in that it had a gallery, but the arrangement of the pews seems to have been similar. In 1760 the Town voted to assign the rear seats to Negroes. In 1770 the parish bought a bell and hung it from its own framework erected near the church. This bell was rung early in the morning of the nineteenth of April in 1775 when a rider came to town warning of the British march on Concord. The next year saw soldiers quartered in the meeting house.
Two years of prosperity followed the end of the Revolutionary War, but then Massachusetts began to suffer severe financial problems. In addition to war debts, a two-year drought was one of the causes, and one which especially affected the farmers. Shays' Rebellion in the western part of the state was largely caused by these conditions. Littleton, principally a farming community at the time, suffered along with the rest of the region. There was no money available for needed repairs to the meeting house. Eventually it was in such poor condition that it had to be propped up.
Many votes were passed and then reconsidered on whether to repair the building or build a new one. It was finally decided to build a new one on the same site. It had porches on three sides and a steeple. The new building was completed in the summer of 1794. Inside there were square pews with seats that rose when the parishioners stood. A gallery covered three sides, and the main floor had three aisles leading to the pews. In 1808 a new bell was added to the church. This bore the inscription "G Holbrook 1808". For one hundred years there had been no heating system in the town meeting houses. Foot stoves were passed around in cold weather to keep toes from freezing. In 1818 the Town finally voted to buy two stoves to heat the meeting house. The first three meeting houses also served as town halls. A separate town hall was not built until the 1830's.
The third building had been in use less than fifty years when it too fell into disrepair. It had suffered from a lack of maintenance, especially during the period after disestablishment when the parish was again experiencing financial problems. It was torn down, and materials which could be salvaged were incorporated into the fourth and current building.
Greek Revival was the architectural style chosen for the new building. It was the most popular church style of the time, and today is the style associated with the typical New England church. This building was placed twelve feet nearer the road than the old one. The foundation was made of Westford granite. The cost of the building, induding fluted columns in the front, came to $3,217.90. The building was dedicated by a large gathering on September 8, 1841. The following day, according to the custom of ihe time, the pews were sold at auction. Five pews were reserved for the minister and the deacons, and the remaining forty-nine pews brought the sum of $3,225.75.
Between 1873 and 1874 major changes were made. The gallery at the rear of the church was removed, the organ lowered, and the floor at the pulpit end of the room raised to its present level. This was done to allow for a vestry to be built at a later date under the auditorium, as the main room was then called. Stained glass windows were installed. During these renovations, services were held in the Central Hall, a large room over the store which at that time stood on King Street opposite the end of Rogers Street.
In 1880 it was voted to add a two-story addition to the rear of the church. This would provide a vestry on the main floor and a kitchen and dining room on the lower level. The earlier plan to build additional space under the main part of the church was set aside. It would be another twenty years before this would be done.
The plan to provide more space by excavating under the church auditorium was finally carried out. In 1903 a new kitchen was installed there. These changes in some sense completed the plan begun thirty years earlier with the raising of the auditorium floor.
The year 1903 also saw major changes to the steeple. The church bell, which was cracked and had not rung for many years, was sent to Meneely and Company of West Troy, New York, to be recast and enlarged. The steeple was strengthened to support the larger bell. The bell was installed in time for a Sunday morning service June 21, which was described at the time as "in the nature of a dedication". That morning the bell was rung by the Sunday School children.
The bell has the inscription:
First bell 1770
Second bell
1808, recast and enlarged 1903
On earth peace, good will
toward men
The following month a clock, the gift of a Church group known as the Back Log Club, was added to the steeple. It began keeping time on the second of July. The clock is wound by having its weights pulled up. Originally this was done by hand, but now there is an electric motor to do the work. The clock is still weight driven, with the weights descending inside the columns in the front of the church. The numerals on the clock face are on separate blocks of wood and are finished in gold leaf.
In 1905 the church interior was almost entirely done over except for the pews and the choir loft. The plan was made and donated by Daniel H. Woodbury, a Boston architect living in Littleton. The beautiful woodwork in the front of the sanctuary, including the plaques, the decoration over the windows, and the moldings around the ceiling were new. More precisely the new work included architrave and pilasters, the panel and its pediment under the architrave and behind the pulpit, the tablets on the wall at each side of the pulpit and the doors into the vestry, the pediments over the windows, and Lhe cornice around the ceiling.
Many improvements were made during the next half-century. Electric lights were installed in 1912. In 1919 the choir loft was enlarged. In 1934 the horse sheds on the south side of the church were removed. The organ and the clock were electrified. The kitchen was extensively remodeled in 1953. New side lights and overhead lights were installed in 1955.
In the front vestibule is an Honor Role made by Mr. and Mrs. William Houde and presented to the Church through Reverend John Henry Wilson in 1944. Listed are men from the Church who served in World War II.
In 1962 major changes occurred. A new wing replaced the row of horse sheds on the north side of the building. A church office was created out of the former stage in the vestry. Sunday school rooms were provided both upstairs and down. The minister was given a private study, and a kitchenette was placed next to the vestry.
During 1993 - 1994 the building was made handicapped accessible. A ramp to the end door and an electric lift which operates between the entry level and the level of the sanctuary were installed. At the same time, the office floor was raised to the level of the sanctuary, thus elirninating a third level on what is essentially all one floor. One restroom on the main floor was made handicapped accessible. Part of the north lawn was paved to provide a reserved parking place near the entrance. In 1998, a second restroom, this one on the lower level, was modified to accommodate handicapped persons.
In the fall of 1995 several major changes were made. The unused chimney in the front of the building was removed. The retaining wall at the rear of the lawn to the left of the building was rebuilt. Problems with this wall had threatened one corner of the foundation of the building. And in the fall of 1995, the spire was removed and placed on the ground. Extensive repairs were made to both the spire and steeple, and then the spire was replaced in the late spring of 1997. An ongoing capital campaign has provided funds for repairs completed to date, and is moving forward toward having sufficient funds to pay for further repairs to the building. These repairs include some further structural work, exterior painting, and renovation of the sanctuary and of the downstairs kitchen.
The present pulpit was designed by Daniel Woodbury and constructed in 1952 to fit Reverend E. Palmer Clarke, who was six feet, five inches tall. Later ministers and speakers have regularly made use of a carpeted box to stand on.
The large grandfather clock in the Alliance Room originally belonged to Walter Titcomb, and came to the Church along with the parsonage. It bears the identification "Windmills and Wightman, London ". Two chairs formerly in the front vestibule of the church and now at the Littleton Historical Society were the property of Reverend Mr. Foster.
Antique communion silver pieces include two plates and two large flagons all inscribed:
Presented to the
First
Congl Church Littleton
by Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Hoar
January
1867
According to Church records the actual presentation was on February 13, 1867. Reuben H. Hoar and his (second) wife Henrietta gave the flagons, the plates, and a baptismal bowl. J. Reed Whitcomb and his wife Mary Ann gave two silver cups. The cups and the bowl along with two other cups were stolen in September, 1971, and have never been recovered. The remaining pieces are silver plate. It is not known whether the missing pieces were sterling or plate. Portraits of Reuben Hoar and his wife are property of the Church, but hang in the Littleton Historical Society.
A silk American flag with holder was given to the Church by Mrs. Francena Mehitable Fletcher, widow of Theodore Fletcher, in memory of her son Ora Stevens Titcomb. The presentation was made December 12, 1920, by another son, Walter H. Titcomb. A fifty-star flag was given to the Church by John and Marisha Rowse in memory of David G. Williams.
A state flag was given Easter Sunday, 1921, by a group of young people. The design of the state flag changed in 1971, and a new flag was presented to the Church in 1986 by the Honorable john McGovern, Representative to the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth.
The mahogany hymn board was given April I6, 1922, by Mrs. Fred C. Hartwell in loving memory of her husband. The mahogany baptismal font was given November 26, 1922, by relatives of the "four girls" (always present in Church and Church School) in loving memory of:
Ann M. Hendley, 1832-1919
Caroline A. Hosmer, 1835-1919
Janet S. Jacobs, 1835-1919
Mary J. Priest, 1834-1919
In 1984 Robert and Alice Walker of Wayland, relatives of Lucile Thomee', gave a Steinway grand piano to the Church. A concert, followed by a reception for Mr. and Mrs. Walker, was held on March 10, 1995.
The present parsonage, 27 Foster Street, was built in 1919 by Walter H. Titcomb. He lived in the house until his death in 1958. He left the house to the Church in memory of his daughter and only child, Ruth, who had died at the age of seven on August 13, 1916. The house was accompanied by a bequest of $5000 to establish the Ruth Titcomb Memorial Fund, the income of which is restricted to maintenance of the parsonage. The devise and bequest together with certain conditions stipulated by Mr. Titcomb were accepted by the Church on July 13, 1958. Major repairs were made in 1985 to the barn foundation, retaining wall, and tunnel connecting the barn and house.
The parsonage was rented from May 1996 to July 1999, after the minister elected to move to Carlisle. The current minister, Frederick Small is living in the parsonage.