HISTORY

In 1755 the Baptist Church of Newton, NH was the first church of this denomination north of Boston to prosper. Up until this time the Congregational Church was the accepted faith, and any other sect was looked upon with disapproval. In 1765 a Baptist Church was organized in Haverhill, MA and the seed was sown in Salisbury MA as well as in Brentwood, Stratham, Deerfield, Nottingham, South Hampton in New Hampshire.

In 1780 a branch of The Brentwood Church was organized to be known as the South Hampton Church, later as The Salisbury and South Hampton Church and still later as The Salisbury Church. This was the church that became the Salisbury and Amesbury Church.

 

Meetings were first held in private homes and Dr. Shephard served as their part-time pastor. Moses Chase, a member of the church, was chosen to preach and received a license. He was ordained on December 2, 1789.

 

Later, a meeting house was rented in the area of Congress and Green Streets, known as the Shoe-String Meeting House because the door latch was a strip of soft leather. The first Baptist Society of Salisbury was incorporated here in 1811. The organization of the Church came later.
 

In 1821 land was bought and a meeting house was erected on Elm Street near R Street called the Long House because of its size (50 ft x 42 ft). By 1832 the building was too small for 170 members. A vestry building was completed in May of 1833 on Market Street and enlarged in 1849. By 1872 construction on a new bigger building began on the same site.

In 1889 the name was changed to Market Street Baptist Church because now Market Street was part of the town Amesbury (no longer the town Salisbury).

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Information taken from: History of Market Street Baptist Church, Amesbury, MA, 1780-1980