The First Church & The Birthplace of Crystal Catherine Eastman

The First Church and The Birthplace of Crystal Catherine Eastman. Marlborough, Massachusetts. , The First Church , From its very beginning, Marlborough's First Church played a critical role in the history of the town. The town's first Meeting House was constructed in 1663 on the Old Common on upper Main Street. That building was burned by Indians in 1676 and rebuilt the following year. , Its first two pastors, Reverend William Brimsmead and Reverend Robert Breck, were both installed as young men and served until death. Brimsmead assembled a divided town to prepare for Indian attacks. Breck encouraged area pastors to join the Marlborough Association for mutual discussion and benefit, an association that continued for over 100 years. Both men were chosen to give the prestigious “Election Day Sermon” for the Commonwealth. , In 1805, the town voted to construct a replacement Meeting House in the East Village, on this current site, where it would be called First Parish. At that time, inhabitants of the westerly part of town agitated to build their own Meeting House on Pleasant Street, eventually named Second Parish. , This new, easterly Meeting House opened in 1806. It housed the first casting of a Paul Revere bell inscribed with the words, “I remind all of worship, liberty, burials and immortality”. That building was eventually replaced, but the newer building itself was destroyed by fire in 1852. , A larger church was built the following year with a recast bell. The current name, “First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)” was adopted in 1913. , The Birthplace of Crystal Catherine Eastman , Crystal Catherine Eastman, co-author with Alice Paul of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1920 and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Bureau, forerunner of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1917, was born on June 25, 1881 in the old First Church Parsonage at the corner of Bolton and Washington Streets. , Her father, Reverend Samuel Elijah Eastman, was the First Church minister at the time. The family later moved to Canandaigua, New York, where Crystal's mother became one of the first women in America to be ordained a Protestant minister. Her parents both served as Congregational pastors near Elmira, N.Y. , Crystal graduated from Vassar College in 1903 and received an M.A. in Sociology from Columbia University in 1904. Through the years she became a lawyer, a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, a noted anti-militarist and co-founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1917, in response to numerous arrests of anti-war figures, she began the American Civil Liberties Bureau with Roger Nash Baldwin in an attempt to preserve free speech and conscientious objection. , Following ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment that granted women the right to vote, Crystal wrote, “Now We Can Begin”, one of the most prominent speeches ever delivered in the Women's Rights Movement. In 2000, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y. , [Captions] , . Top: Sunday school class on the steps of First Church around 1910. The sign indicates that the Rev. Albert H. Wheelock was the minister at the time, having served the church from 1906 to 1916. , . Middle: 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. , . Bottom (from left): Women's suffrage rally flyer held at Vassar College. . Crystal Eastman-Benedict