Built in 1825 for a congregation established in 1674, it is the oldest church building in the city, and one of its finest examples of Federal period architecture.

[2] The church congregation was founded in 1674, when Portland was known as Falmouth, then in the Province of Maine, and its early history was interrupted by Native American attacks.

Its period of continuous history begins in 1718, when it began meeting in a log church, which was replaced in 1721 and again in 1740 by frame structures.

The building, which reused the tower clock, bell (replaced in 1862) and weathervane from the previous incarnation,[3] was the only one in the surrounding area to survive Portland's great fire of 1866.

[2] A chandelier in the church's interior includes a 12 pounds (5.4 kg) cannonball fired at the building during the British attack on Portland in 1775.