Category Archives: Postmodern

The First Church of Danvers was established in 1672, when the area was still a part of Salem and was known as Salem Village. Instead of traveling every Sunday to Salem, the people of Salem Village wanted their own meeting house, which was built over several years at what is now the intersection of Forest and Hobart Streets. This building was the site of most of the examinations at the start of the 1692 Salem withcraft hysteria. The original meeting house was abandoned in 1701 and new one was built on the site of the current First Church of Danvers. This second meeting house stood until 1785, and a new and larger one was then built on the same spot the following year. This building lasted twenty years, until it burned down in 1805. Its replacement, built in 1806, was constructed of brick. Concerns about some cracking and settling of the brick walls led to its being replaced in 1839 by yet another new structure. Remodeled in 1869 and again in 1889, this fifth building burned to the ground in 1890. The next church building was dedicated in 1891 and the seventh and current building opened in 1980.