Browse the First Congregational Church records in Northbridge, Massachusetts

The town of Northbridge, Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1772 out of lands which had previously been a part of Mendon and then later Uxbridge. In 1773 the town voted to begin construction on a meeting house and in 1774 construction on the first meeting house was completed. Due, at least in part, to the American Revolutionary War, no Congregational church was formally gathered until 1782. The First Congregational Church in Northbridge was established on June 6, 1782 and John Crane was ordained as the first minister on June 25, 1783. Rev. Crane served as pastor of the church until 1832.

In 1833 the First Congregational Church established a Sunday school. In 1834 a significant portion of the congregation from the southern section of Northbridge, known as Whitinsville, withdrew to form the Congregational Church of Whitinsville (now the Village Congregational Church). In 1835 the first meeting house was demolished and construction on the second meeting house was completed the following year. In 1879 another contingent of the church's members withdrew to form the Rockdale Congregational Church. Both churches were served by the same pastor until 1897 and both churches remained closely united throughout their histories. In 1885 the Ladies Auxiliary group was founded; this organization was later renamed the Ladies Aid Society.

Around the turn of the century the name for the First Congregational Church in Northbridge was changed to Centre Congregational Church. In 1922 the church rejected a proposal, put forth by the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, for the Centre Congregational Church to merge with the Rockdale Congregational Church. The second meeting house was destroyed by a fire on February 12, 1932. After the fire, the Centre Congregational Church worked closely with the Rockdale Congregational Church and shared a pastor; this formal relationship lasted until 1952. Construction on the third, and final, meeting house was completed in 1836 and the building was dedicated on October 22, 1836. In 1940 the Church Society was officially dissolved and Centre Congregational Church was formally incorporated. In 1952 Rev. Clayton H. Witt resigned from Centre Congregational Church but not from the Rockdale Congregational Church; the formal relationship between the two churches was officially ended shortly after Rev. Witt's resignation.

The Centre Congregational Church joined the United Church of Christ in the early 1960s. In 2011 the Centre Congregational Church dissolved, following financial difficulties, and was absorbed by the Rockdale Congregational Church.