Browse the First Congregational Church records in Providence, Rhode Island

The First Congregational Church in Providence, Rhode Island was founded in 1720 with support from Old South Church in Boston. Before the 1720s, itinerant Congregational ministers preached in Providence. The first Congregational meeting house was constructed in 1723, and the first settled minister in 1728 was Josiah Cotton. Cotton graduated from Harvard in 1722. During the Great Awakening, several New Light members of the congregation left to form their own church, and Cotton resigned in 1747. From 1752 until 1758, John Bass of Braintree, Massachusetts served as the minister. After several more years without a settled minister, David S. Rowland was ordained in 1762. Rowland graduated from Yale in 1743 and had previously served for nearly twenty years as the minister in Plainfield, Connecticut. He served at First Congregational Church until he was dismissed in 1774, and then returned to Connecticut.

In 1770, the congregation established the Benevolent Congregational Society to raise funds for the church and administer subscriptions and pew rentals. Enos Hitchcock was installed as the minister at the First Congregational Church in 1783 and served until his death in 1803. The church’s second meeting house was constructed during his ministry in the 1790s. Hitchcock was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1767. He had previously served as the minister at the Second Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, where he was ordained in 1771. Hitchcock was also a chaplain during the Revolutionary War, and some of his letters and sermons from this period are included in this collection.

Henry Edes served as the fifth minister from 1805 until he resigned in 1832. Edes became a Unitarian during his ministry. In 1815, the second meeting house was destroyed by fire and the third meeting house was constructed. This is a Federal-style building designed by the architect John Holden Greene, and it is still in use today. Edward Brooks Hall, a Harvard graduate and Unitarian, became the minister in 1832 and continued until 1866. He was an advocate for the abolition of slavery. The First Congregational Church of Providence officially changed its name to the First Unitarian Church of Providence in 1953 and is active today.

Materials in this collection have been digitized in partnership with the Rhode Island Historical Society and have been made available through our New England's Hidden Histories project.