Natick’s Eighteenth-Century Church: The “Meeting House Wars,” 1743-1798

The map, dating from 1976, depicts how Natick looked back in 1776. Needham Leg labeled “Needham,” is the greyed-out square over much of what is now northeast Natick and Natick Center. (NHS Collections)

The church, and Natick as a whole, began changing rapidly during the 1740s. As English settlers increased in number, it became harder and harder for Indigenous people to maintain land ownership in the community. The church was at the center of these changes.

With the annexation of the Needham Leg (a stretch of land in northeast Natick, including portions of Bacon Street and Oak Street) in 1743, the population center of the community shifted to what is now Natick Center. Many Natick residents found it inconvenient to continue attending church in South Natick. A dispute broke out between the “Needham Leggers” and parishioners in South Natick about the best location for Natick’s meeting house. Debates intensified after the Massachusetts General Court legally declared Natick a “parish” due to its new English settler majority in 1745. As a result, Indigenous Natick residents lost their rights to participate in town government. The General Court did allow Indigenous proprietors to retain ownership of the South Natick meeting house property. The church at the South Natick continued to serve as the town’s meeting house.

After the minister of the church in South Natick, Oliver Peabody, died in 1752, the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel appointed Stephen Badger as his successor. Some Natick residents, particularly those originally from the Needham Leg, opposed Badger’s appointment due to his beliefs. Badger was a Unitarian who “did not argue theology”(Morley, 59). In protest of Badger’s appointment, “Needham Leggers” annexed Needham Leg back to Needham in 1762.

In South Natick, parishioners appeared unbothered by Badger’s ministry. Indigenous proprietors petitioned the General Court in 1753 to allow the heirs of Samuel Abraham, a deceased Indigenous man, to grant fourteen acres of land to Badger. Deacon Joseph Ephraim sold two acres of land to Badger the same year.

Shortly before the American Revolution, parishioners erected a new meeting house, the fourth building constructed on the South Natick site. Natick’s changing demography and power balances would have been apparent to anyone who entered the meeting house. Wealthy white parishioners sat in customized pews. Poorer white and Indigenous families sat together in a common area. Black families sat in the side galleries.

Meanwhile, many Natick residents still wanted to move the meeting house to Natick Center. By the 1770s, those in support of moving the meeting house became the majority on the Parish Committee and refused to pay Rev. Stephen Badger’s salary. Badger eventually petitioned the Natick Board of Selectmen requesting ten years of retroactive pay (see images below).

In 1781, Natick officially became a town. All funds from the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel stopped, and Natick was no longer designated a mission community. Natick residents built a church in Natick Center in 1798. Although “Needham Leggers” had technically won, they were nonetheless legally obligated to pay Rev. Badger. In South Natick, the congregation continued to decline and the loss of funds from the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel made it difficult for the remaining members to maintain the meeting house. As a result, the South Natick meeting house remained closed from 1799 until 1828.

by Gail Coughlin

*The first page of Stephen Badger’s petition to Natick’s Board of Selectman requesting 10 years of retroactive pay.* (NHS Collections)

***The second page of Stephen Badger’s petition to Natick’s Board of Selectman requesting 10 years of retroactive pay.*** **(NHS Collections)**

Read More About Natick’s Eighteenth-Century Church

Natick's Eighteenth-Century Church: A New Church and Covenant, 1701-1729

Natick residents founded a new church in 1729.

Natick's Eighteenth-Century Church: A Place of Spiritual and Political Agency, 1729-1745

Indigenous congregants used the church to protect their political, social, and spiritual interests during the eighteenth century.

Selected sources and additional reading:

Natick Historical Society collections.

Morley, James W. From Many Backgrounds: The Heritage of the Eliot Church of South Natick. South Natick, MA: The Natick Historical Society, 2007.

The Eliot Church of Natick. “Our History-From 1651 to the Present.” https://theeliotchurch.org/our-history/

18th-Century Natick

In the 18th-century, English people colonized Natick and the town was swept up by the American Revolution. Learn about the people, places, and events that shaped this era in Natick’s past.

(click on the map segment above)