First Parish Church, built in 1825, is the oldest church in Portland and a significant historical landmark. Its roots stretch back to 1674, when the area was still known as Falmouth. The congregation’s first meeting house, constructed in 1718 with logs and later replaced by a framed structure in 1740, was the site of a convention that drafted Maine’s first constitution, a key moment in the state’s separation from Massachusetts.
The current church was built on the grounds of the earlier “Old Jerusalem” church, which had been erected in 1740. Many features from the original church were incorporated into the new building, including the clock tower, bell, and weathervane, all of which survived the Great Fire of Portland in 1866. Inside the church, a chandelier contains a 12-pound cannonball, a reminder of the British attack on Portland in 1775, when the church was struck during the conflict.
