Our History

Our church was gathered in 1771, by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, who had founded Dartmouth College less than two years before. In the tradition of many churches in Colonial America, Wheelock was simultaneously president of Dartmouth College and pastor of the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College The first members of our church were students and faculty from the college. In Wheelock's words, the founding of the church "was kept as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, on which I gathered a church in this college, and school, which consisted of twenty-seven members."

We were at that time a Congregational church. Shortly thereafter, we became a Presbyterian church for a period of approximately 30 years. We became a Congregational church again until 1957, when a unanimous vote of the membership declared us to be a member congregation of the newly formed United Church of Christ.

Today our members come from a rich variety of denominational backgrounds and thus enhance the diversity we share in our unity in the body of Jesus Christ.

We share in the United Church of Christ's work through our local Grafton-Orange Association, our New Hampshire state conference, and the national General Synod. Ecumenically, we are members of the local clergy association, the New Hampshire Council of Churches, and the National and World Councils of Churches.