Unitarian-Universalist Church

From WakWiki

The Unitarian-Universalist Church in Wakefield is located at 326 Main Street. It was founded in 1813 as the Universal Society, and later called the First Universalist Society, but meetings were held in the schoolhouse or Town Hall until 1839, when a Greek Revival building was constructed on the present location. The original church had four large pillars in front, and no steeple. In 1859 the church was moved back fifty feet from the street, the pillars were removed, and a new steeple and facade were added in the Italianate style. In 1879 the entire building was raised to make room for a kitchen and vestry downstairs. The structure is wood, but like many other Italianate buildings, it is designed to imitate stone construction.

The building has a large linden tree, more than a century old, in the middle of the front walk. It is for this tree that the Linden Tree Coffee House is named. The coffee house was started in 1985 to bring folk musicians to Wakefield approximately once a month.

References

• Wakefield : 350 years by the lake : an anniversary history / compiled by the Wakefield 350 Writing Committee ; edited by Nancy Bertrand, 1994, p338.
• History of Wakefield (Middlesex county) Massachusetts, compiled by William E. Eaton, 1944, p124-125.
• Official web site