Our History

The Community Church of Pepperell is located at Three Townsend Street in the old center of Pepperell, Massachusetts.  The architectural plans or building drawings no longer exist and the architect(s) are unknown. 

Originally, the Congregationalists and the Unitarians in Pepperell worshiped together in a church located across the street from the current site.  In 1832, the Congregationalists split from the predominantly Unitarian church and built a church of their own on the site of our current church.  Twenty-seven years later, in 1859, the Congregational Church burned to the ground.  A new structure, the existing building, was completed in 1860 and dedicated in January of 1861. 

In 1917, the Unitarian Church burned and the Unitarians, with insufficient funds and some practical thinking, chose once again to join with the Congregational Church and agreed to be a Federated Church of Unitarians and Congregationalists.  On September 16, 1919, our church was incorporated as the nondenominational Community Church Society under the guidance of the Reverend Francis E. Webster, an Episcopalian minister from Christ Church in Waltham, Massachusetts.  The Community Church welcomes all denominations to worship and our motto, inscribed over the front portico, is “In Essentials, Unity; In Non-Essentials, Liberty; In all Things, Charity”. Just below the belfry, with a face on all four sides of the tower, there was a working tower clock, designed by George Stevens of Boston that was originally drum and cable driven, then electrified.  The clock was sold in 2020.  There is an iron bell hanging in the belfry.  The Hook and Hastings pipe organ, which was renovated to preserve its antiquity status in our community, rises majestically in the chancel with 629 pipes still in use today. 

The Hook and Hastings pipe organ, which was renovated to preserve its antiquity status in our community, rises majestically in the chancel with 629 pipes still in use today.

The Community Church of Pepperell commemorated 100 Years in 2019.