Our History

The First Baptist Church of Sharon, located at 2 South Main Street in Sharon, Massachusetts, traces its origins to 1813, only thirty‑eight years after the American Revolution, when the United States consisted of just twenty states and fewer than eight million people. Formed by twenty‑six members—ten men and sixteen women—the Baptist Society emerged in response to the Standing Order, the only church then supported by compulsory taxation regardless of individual belief. Early leaders included Joshua Whittemore, Levitt Hewins, Jeremiah Richards, Ezekial Capen, and Benjamin Gannett, husband of Revolutionary War heroine Deborah Sampson Gannett. Whittemore and Hewins, the first Sharon Baptists, were baptized in Billings Pond in 1812.

In its early years, the Society relied on visiting pastors until calling its first minister, Rev. Harry Kendall, in 1814. The congregation quickly became a center of community religious life: the Female Charitable Society formed in 1816 to support gospel preaching, and the Sunday School began in 1818. Between 1824 and 1831, the church purchased a parsonage on South Main Street and held services in its second story. With membership growing, the congregation constructed its first dedicated sanctuary in the center of Sharon, dedicated on July 4, 1833, the same year the Massachusetts Bill of Rights was amended to guarantee full religious freedom.

The church building has undergone significant architectural evolution since its 1833 construction. In 1852, the sanctuary was lengthened by thirteen and one‑half feet and pew doors were removed. A pipe organ was installed in 1854 through funds raised by the Ladies’ Society and contributions from Samuel D. and Mrs. Hitchcock. The steeple was added in 1873, and the present stained‑glass windows were installed in 1897. The church was formally incorporated in 1902.

A major turning point came in 1903, when a fire caused by a falling oil lamp chandelier required extensive reconstruction. That same year, trustees George O. Nason and Winfred C. Holbrook deeded the land to the newly incorporated First Baptist Church of Sharon, clearing the title. During reconstruction, the building was rotated to face South Main Street, and a vestry was added to the south side. In 1914, a choir loft was built and a new organ—funded by Andrew Carnegie and E.S. Stockwell—was installed, along with a baptistry behind the pulpit. Organ repairs in 1957 relocated the console from the choir loft to the sanctuary floor. The organ is exceptionally rare, belonging to a small group of 19^th- and early 20^th century Massachusetts church organs that have never been relocated.  

As the congregation expanded, so did the building. In 1950, the basement beneath the sanctuary was excavated to create additional Sunday School space. In 1957, the church purchased the Griffin property at 27 South Main Street for further educational use. A major addition in 1967 expanded the vestry and created Hunnewell Hall, the Friendship Room, the secretary’s office, kitchen, and lavatories; the former kitchen was converted into a pastor’s study. The Griffin house was demolished to provide parking.

The First Baptist Church of Sharon is significant for its continuous role in the religious and social history of the town, its association with early 19th‑century dissenting religious movements in Massachusetts, and its architectural evolution over nearly two centuries. As one of Sharon’s earliest organized religious communities outside the Standing Order, and as a structure reflecting layers of 19th‑ and 20th‑century ecclesiastical design, it remains a vital landmark embodying the community’s spiritual, cultural, and architectural heritage.