BIDDEFORD — As the 18^th century began the Biddeford area was recovering from war. Fort Mary was built on Fort Hill at the end of Hills Beach in 1710.  Rev. Short, the chaplin at Fort Mary served as the Town Minister. It was not until 1713 when regular town meetings began again. Meetings were in homes and taverns until a new meeting house was completed in 1723 by Benjamin Haley and at 35 feet by 30 feet it was literally as small as a house.

The Rev. Samuel Willard organized the First Parish Church of Biddeford in 1726 the congregation served citizens from Biddeford to Dunstan Corner and soon filled the little meetinghouse.  That 1723 site is now the Medical Center at UNE.  The Town voted in 1752 to build a new building but it caused a rift in the town politics. That ended in the splitting of the Town into Biddeford and Pepperellborough in 1762.

The current Meetinghouse was constructed in 1759, it took years to break ground, as the problem was location. The Town voted to build a new Meetinghouse on the land of Mathew Patten. Citizens on the west side of Saco River thought it reasonable; those in the East did not, thinking of ice and ferry boats in winter.   Two new Meetinghouses were built, one on each side of the river. The Town Minister was shared between communities for a while.  A Committee comprised of  Rishworth Jordan, Joseph Tarbox, Joseph Dyer, Benjamin Hooper and Jeremiah Hill were chosen to oversee the construction on the west  side,  and a local builder Nathaniel Perkins was selected to raise it up.

What Nathaniel built was a perfect New England Meeting house with three galleries and a raised pulpit.  It was 44 feet by 55 feet and consisted of five bays of braced frame. The corner posts are 10 x 11.  One entrance was a vestibule on the long side with double doors, another at the end in a stair hall for gallery access.  The design also included an octagonal cupola with a spire and weathervane on top.  The inside of the Meetinghouse was plastered and the larger frame members were exposed, finished and painted with a green paint. The interior is open despite the 44-foot span of the roof.  One large truss similar to the side of a covered bridge runs down the center under the roof ridge, and ties to the truss bottom hold the thrust of the rafters.  The center bay had double rafters under the copula. The old meetinghouse was sold in 1760.

The Meetinghouse was remodeled into a Greek revival chapel in 1840, when it was eighty years old.  The Town gave up its ministerial properties in 1820.  The cost was defrayed by pledges from a rally of four-hundred Washingtonians, a temperance group.  They spent a day at the Meetinghouse, listening to temperance sermons and eating under the shade of a local oak grove.  Work done at the time included interior and exterior renovations:  removal or the stair hall, cupola and vestibule, the installation of six huge windows.  The height of the Meetinghouse was lowered as the bottom sills were replaced. The foundation stones reset, and the chimney repointed. The pews and pulpit were rearranged lengthwise like a church and tin numbers put on the pews.

The First Parish Meetinghouse was the religious and political center of Biddeford through the Revolution.  The citizens answered the call of the Committee of Correspondence there. John Sullivan, the Town’s first lawyer, argued strongly the cause of independence. They set up a Committee of Safety. They assembled and marched off to relieve the Port of Boston form the yard. They heard July 12, 1776 the Declaration of Independence and put it in the Town book Citizens agreed to raise tons of beef for the Continental Army.

The Revolution brought changes in religion and a shift in population to the falls of the river.  The Second Religious society of Biddeford was organized in 1797.  Veterans favored Universalism across New England. The congregation began to draw down, only half the Town meetings were held there then none as large school buildings provided convenient meeting places.

In 1893, an attempt was made to revive services and do more remodeling, but in the 20th century meetings were down to once a year.

This beautiful historic building is still a vibrant part of our community in 2019.  The Biddeford Historical Society hosts Fireside Chats, Christmas concerts and other events at the Meetinghouse.

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