Image: No. 5005 Postcard. Central Congregational Church, circa 1920.
The Central Congregational Church was organized August 8, 1888.
From the Dorchester Beacon in 1898 at the time of sale of its first building:
“… Central church is one of the younger religious societies of Dorchester. It began at a prayer meeting held at the house of Mrs. C. King on Adams street, near Field’s Corner, April 16, 1885. In October of the same year services were first held at Dorchester hall, Field’s Corner. In 1886 the society ‘decided to cooperate with the Massachusetts Missionary society in establishing a regular pastorate.” Rev. R. J. Valentine was in charge of the work. In 1887 the Rev. Charles C. Kellogg assumed charge of the pastorate. The Rev. Perley B. Davis is now minister.
In 1885 the church received the name of Bethany Congregational church, and was received into the suffolk South conference of Congregational churches. Later the present name was adoped. The present church edifice was erected in 1892. …”
This first building of the society was on Adams Street in Field’s Corner where the parking lot is now at 191 Adams Street. In 1898 the society agreed to sell the property to the Immanuel Baptist Church for $16,500.
Picture of Central Congregation Church building on Adams Street
Central Congregational Church moved to a new home not far from Fields Corner located at the corner of Waldeck and Tonawanda Streets, which was designed by Albert West, a Dorchester resident in a local Gothic style derivative of All Saints’. In 1930 the Pastor was Norman King. In March, 2003, the sign on the church was New Testament Pentecostal Church of God in Christ.
For more information, consult:
Dorchester Old and New, 1630-1930. (Dorchester: Chapple Publishing Company for the Dorchester, Massachusetts, Tercentenary Committee, 1930)
Shand Tucci, Douglass. The Gothic Churches of Dorchester. (Issued by the Dorchester Savings Bank. Boston: Tribune Publishing Company, 1972)