Sited directly across from the Portsmouth Athenæum, it features an Italianate edifice and a steeple visible from most of the city, the Piscataqua River, and communities on its western bank in Maine.

[5] Prominent members included William Whipple, John Langdon, and Daniel Webster.

[7][8] A majority of the black people in Portsmouth attended North Church, which appointed an overseer to ensure that they paid proper attention during the sermon.

[9][10] The church often paid indigent members of the community small sums of money to do menial tasks.

[15] The church was renovated in 1978, as part of efforts to enhance the beauty of Market Square.

The case remained unsolved for four years until blood used to write a message at the scene was matched to a man from Maine.

In the 1840s, the minister of North Church, Edwin Holt, began vocally espousing abolitionism.