[Illustration:  NORTHERN RAILROAD STATION.]

The First Congregational Church was organized June 6, 1826.  The church edifice was built, in 1827, on land given by the Locks and Canals Company.  The Reverend George C. Beckwith, the first pastor, was ordained July 18, 1827, and dismissed March 18, 1829.  The Reverend Amos Blanchard, D.D., was ordained December 5, 1829, and dismissed May 21, 1845, when he became pastor of the Kirk-street Church.  The Reverend Willard Child was installed pastor, October 1, 1845, and dismissed January 31, 1855.  The Reverend J.L.  Jenkins was ordained October, 17, 1855, and dismissed in April, 1862.  The Reverend George N. Webber was installed in October, 1862, and dismissed April 1, 1867.  The Reverend Horace James was installed October 31, 1867, and dismissed December 13, 1870.  The Reverend Smith Baker was installed September 13, 1871.

[Illustration:  BLOCK AT CORNER OF CENTRAL AND MIDDLE STREETS, 1848.]

The Hurd-street Methodist Episcopal Church dates from 1826; the church edifice was built in 1839.  The Reverend Benjamin Griffin was pastor in 1826; the Reverend A.D.  Merrill, in 1827; the Reverend B.F.  Limbert, in 1828; the Reverend A.D.  Sargent, in 1829; the Reverend E.K.  Avery, in 1830 and 1831; the Reverend George Pickering, in 1832; the Rev. A.D.  Merrill, in 1833 and 1834; the Reverend Ira M. Bidwell, in 1835; the Reverend Orange Scott, in 1836; the Reverend E.M.  Stickney, in 1837 and 1838; the Reverend Orange Scott, in 1839 and 1840; the Reverend Schuyler Hoes, in 1841 and 1842; the Reverend W.H.  Hatch, in 1843 and 1844; the Reverend Abel Stevens, in 1845; the Reverend C.K.  True, in 1846 and 1847; the Reverend A.A.  Willets, in 1848; the Reverend John H. Twombly, in 1849 and 1850; the Reverend G.F.  Cox, in 1851 and 1852; the Reverend L.D.  Barrows, in 1853 and 1854; the Reverend D.E.  Chapin, in 1855; the Reverend George M. Steele, in 1856 and 1857; the Reverend H.M.  Loud, in 1858 and 1859; the Reverend William R. Clark, in 1860 and 1861; the Reverend Daniel Dorchester, in 1862 and 1863; the Reverend Samuel F. Upham, in 1864, 1865, and 1866 (during the year 1865 he was chaplain of the Massachusetts House of Representatives); the Reverend S.F.  Jones, in 1867.  The church is known as St. Paul’s, and the Reverend Hiram D. Weston is the present pastor.

[Illustration:  COUNTY COURT HOUSE, GORHAM STREET, 1860.]

[Illustration:  LOWELL SKATING RINK, GORHAM STREET.]

The First Universalist Church was organized in July, 1827.  The following year they built their church on Chapel Street, but removed it in 1837 to Central Street.  The Reverend Eliphalet Case was pastor from 1828 to 1830; the Reverend Calvin Gardner, from 1830 to 1833; the Reverend Thomas B. Thayer, from 1833 to 1845; the Reverend E.G.  Brooks, in 1845; the Reverend Uriah Clark, from 1846 to 1850; the Reverend Thomas B. Thayer, from 1851 to October, 1857; the Reverend J.J.  Twiss, from 1859 to January 1, 1872; the Reverend G.T.  Flanders was settled in 1872; the Reverend George W. Bicknell was settled December 21, 1880.