Established in 1723

        Old South Union Church traces its' historic roots back to 1723, only 103 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. By 1720 there were approximately 100 families scattered i small neighborhoods in the south part of town. They found attending worship services in North Weymouth a difficult task. Although the actual distance was only five or six miles, the road, little better than an Indian trail, was hard to travel. Around 1721 a number of leading citizens agreed to secure a central location and erect a meetinghouse, most of them living in the vicinity of what is now the closed Naval Air Station.

        The first meetinghouse was built in 1720-1721 and was located approximately in the center of present day Columbian Street, midway between the Fogg Library and the Fogg Building. A stone marker on the small triangular strip of land that divides Columbian Street marks the site. The style of the first meetinghouse is unknown. However, studies of early New England meetinghouse architecture clearly indicate that the dominant form of that time was a four square building, approximately 50 feet on the side, plain and unpainted, with a hipped roof. Over the years changes and alterations were made; clapboards and shingles were added to the siding and a second floor was laid over the first. In 1785 the parish voted $70 to procure a bell. It was brought from London by Captain Reuben Loud of South Weymouth who is said to have had $100 worth of pure silver cast in it. The bell was in use until 1865 when it cracked after being tolled for the death of Abraham Lincoln.

        There was a remarkable low turnover rate of ministers in the early days of the church. The Reverend James Bayley, the first minister, served 43 years, and his successor, the Reverend Simeon Williams established the incredible record of 51 years of service. From 1723 to 1919 (196 years) eight ministers were installed; their combined ministries added up to 184 years with the remainder filled by interim ministers.

        It was from 1835 to 1847 that the church experienced the most trying period of its long history. The first trouble came with who should replace the Reverend Charles Warren who was dismissed in 1834. A parish committee, in February 1835, employed the Reverend Sylvanus Cobb, a Universalist minister, whereupon the whole membership withdrew from the meetinghouse and worshipped in Rogers Hall – a building later converted to a hardware store and located on the site of the present Chauncy Apartments. They adopted the name of the Edwards Society and obtained ministers independent of the parish. Efforts to heal the breach and combine the church and the parish continued for the next three years. The strong factions within the church could not reconcile and, as a result, a number left and formed the Union Church in 1842. Following the separation of the church in 1842, the newly formed Union Society erected its meetinghouse directly across the street from the old one. Numerous attempts were made toward reconciliation, but it was not until 1918 that negotiations between the two societies produced unification.

        Reverend Henry Clay Alvord was the prime mover in bringing the two churches together, but it wasn’t until an energy crisis (coal shortage) developed in the last years of the war that, by common consent to save fuel, both churches held a number of union services. These services and the renewed efforts of Alvord convinced both churches to become one. On November 30, 1918, both religious societies adopted the “Revised Plan of Merger” whereby the Union Congregational Society of Weymouth and the Old South Union Church of Weymouth were legally organized under the corporate name of the Union Congregational Society. When the two churches merged, the Union Society building was used as the Parish House. In 1963 the Parish House was razed and the space converted to a parking lot.

        The third meetinghouse, the one that was destroyed by fire on May 8, 1989, was built in 1853-1854 at a cost of $15,250. In 1873 a vestry was added to the rear of the meetinghouse. A large-scale building addition program was started in 1957. This project added a chapel, church offices, a memorial parlor, additional Sunday School rooms, and recreational, dining, and kitchen facilities. This complex was dedicated September 29, 1963. It was only slightly damaged by the fire that destroyed the adjoining meetinghouse.

        The current meetinghouse is an exact replica of its predecessor on the exterior. The vestry addition gives a slightly different roofline to the rear of the building. Changes in the sanctuary include a center aisle, increased balcony seating, and hardwood floor with carpeting only in the aisles and around the front and rear of the sanctuary. Even greater changes took place below the sanctuary. What was originally a dirt cellar has been transformed into additional classroom and meeting space, built on the same level as the 1957-’63 addition of Fellowship Hall. All floors are now handicap accessible thanks to the addition of an elevator. The first worship service in the new meetinghouse was held on March 3, 1991. The Dedication Service was held on May 5, 1991, just two years after the fire. The cost of the new meetinghouse was approximately $3.8 million dollars.

        Today’s young people are tomorrow’s leaders and, toward that goal, the church offers many activities starting with its Sunday School, first organized by the Reverend William Tyler in 1819 with Noah Torrey as its superintendent. At one time the Sunday School met at the Pond Plain Improvement Association with an extension at the Parish House (now a parking lot across from the church.)