1	FRS History By Junior Youth Group
2	1758 In 1758, Timothy Wilkins donated 1.5 Acres to build a church. This was important because the place that is now Carlisle had no church. The deed quotes “Know ye that I Timothy Wilkins of Concord…assigns forever for the covenancy of building a Meeting House for the Public worship of God, and other public uses.” Also “for the love I have ….for the good of my neighbours and fellow cretures.” The deed also states where the church should be located.
3	Paul Litchfield Rev. Paul Litchfield was the first settled minister He began preaching for this church in 1781 Before that time the church had a series of guest ministers Rev. Litchfield remained minister until his death in 1827.
4	The Fire of 1810 By early 1810 they had fixed up the meetinghouse by putting up clapboards and painting the exterior and replacing all doors and windows. May 26, 1810: The Church was struck by lightning and burned to the ground 9 days after fire they decided to rebuild On June 25 the town voted to raise the sum of $2,000 (by taxation) to build a new meeting house and sell pews by public auction. The outside of the building was painted a light straw color and the roof a chocolate color. The doors were mahogany. Before the church was rebuilt religious services were held in private homes. On December 2, 1811, the meeting house was dedicated to Almighty God The first town meeting was held in March of 1812.
5	Meetinghouse Bell In 1812 the church voted to purchase a bell for the steeple Sum of $350 to the committee for purchase Paul Revere and Sons Co. made the bell Half the year, rung at noon daily, half the year rung at nine o’clock at night Bell was rung to honor the memory of someone deceased sometimes once for every year of life The bell in the FRS steeple still remains the property of the Town of Carlisle
6	Church Splits In 1781, a group was organized as “The Church of Christ in Carlisle” within the church, but were not a fully independent group. When the Carlisle Church had a disagreement in 1828 over the choice of a new minister, half of the Church of Christ members left, but half stayed with the First Religious Society. The group that left attended the Trinitarian Church in Concord, but didn’t formally join intending to return to Carlisle when opportunity allowed.
7	Church Splits (continued) FRS has some of the old records, but only until 1782. When the church split in 1828, those who left took the records. When they were returned, many pages had been torn out. In 1832 the new church was built across the street. Back then, the FRS was called simply the “meeting house” or “Congregation.” Both groups continued to share many activities together.
8	Clock The clock on the steeple was installed in 1895 Mrs. Joanna Gleason gave a gift of $1,000 to buy a town clock. The left over money was to be used to take care of the clock. The clock was 600 dollars and the income used for the care of the clock was also $600. The old clock faces were put on auction and 30 people came. The old clock face is in the fire station.
9	Wildflower Quilt The Wildflower Quilt was designed by Charann Brown and friends in 1973 Each square is of a native wildflower Women of FRS embroidered each square The Wildflower Quilt won an award in 1975
10	Building Addition The idea to build an addition mainly for handicap access was promoted by a Sunday School class taught by Holly Powers in the late 1980s It was many years before FRS could afford to build the addition The addition has an elevator and is entirely accessible The addition provided a new kitchen, new basement for heating system and office,meeting and classroom spaces
11	New Front Steps New front steps were designed by FRS member Karla Johnson They replace the original uneven steps which were felt to be unsafe They were built by Bob Wallhagen and dedicated in 2001
12	Some aspects of life 250 years ago
13	Weathervanes The JYG studied weathervanes Weathervanes helped farmers predict the weather The rooster was a common weathervane and was seen on churches and barns Our class designed our own weathervanes
14	FRS Weathervane The FRS weathervane was taken down to be re-gilded during steeple repairs Note the bullet hole on the ball We do not know when the hole was made
15	FRS weathervane A view of the FRS weathervane on the steeple
16	Sundials Sundials were commonly used to tell time Bob Zielinski showed us how sundials work These are ones we made with him Two styles each show the time as 9:30 a.m.