With this month marking the 375th anniversary of the First Church in Charlestown, United Church of Christ, its minister Rev. Christine Jaronski hopes that newcomers will visit the Green Street site to worship and learn about its storied past.
“We’re very proud of our history, and we want to celebrate that as part of our festivities,” Rev. Jaronski said.

A brief history of First Church
First Church’s origins date back to 1629, when a group of Puritans from Salem settled in Charlestown and, under the leadership of Rev. Francis Bright, began holding religious services under the Great Oak near Town Hill. In the face of illness, many of these settlers relocated to Boston because they believed that fresh water would promote good health. In 1630, the First Church in Boston, now located on Marlborough Street, was established under the leadership of Rev. John Wilson and subsequently brought together the Charlestown and Boston congregations.
By 1632, the Charlestown congregation was sizable enough that it separated from the Boston church, and under the leadership of Rev. Thomas James, a church was established in City Square at the former home of Gov. John Winthrop. Five years later, John Harvard and his wife, Ann, joined First Church in Charlestown, and he soon served alongside Rev. Zachariah Symmes as minister of the church. When Harvard died the following year in 1638, he left half his estate and his entire library to the new college in Cambridge that subsequently took his name.
During the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, retreating British soldiers burned the entire town, including the church, to the ground. The congregation spent the remainder of the Revolutionary War living in exile outside of Charlestown. On Nov. 8, 1778, religious services once again took place at First Church.
Despite the return to Charlestown, the congregation still hadn’t recovered from the war, which claimed the lives of many male members of the congregation. By the time Rev. Jedidiah Morse assumed leadership of First Church in 1789, the congregation had 135 members — 92 were women, 40 of whom were widows.
Due in large part to Rev. Morse’s staunch opposition to the Unitarian movement, some First Church parishioners broke away to form the Second Church in Charlestown in 1817 and then the Winthrop Church in 1833. (Rev. Morse is also noteworthy as the father of Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph). By 1911, the First Church and Winthrop Church had merged and the Second Church ceased to exist.
In 1948, members of the First Church congregation voted in favor of a merger of the Congregationalists and the Evangelical and the Reformed, which became the United Church of Christ nine years later.

A continuing commitment to the community
“Looking back, the church has always had a big role in the community,” Rev. Jaronski said, citing that a former Winthrop Street Church minister was among the founders of the Charlestown Boys Club in the late 19th century and First Church’s Rev. William Burnett helped establish the John F, Kennedy Family Service Center in 1964.
Today, this tradition of service to the community continues through its partnerships with Boston Urban Outreach, an organization that raises social awareness in youth through inner-city social awareness projects, and Charlestown MissionSAFE, a locally based program for at-risk youth. First Church serves as a host church for Boston Urban Outreach and allows Charlestown MissionSAFE use of its kitchen for cooking classes.
The church also partners with the Charlestown Boys & Girls on a clothing program for children and supports Harvest on Vine, a food pantry based out of St. Catherine’s Church.
In addition, on the third Saturday of each month, First Church sponsors Second Chance Clothes, which offers a selection of low-priced, gently-used garments for men, women and children. “We hope that Second Chance Clothes will be a place where people in need can find affordable clothing,” Rev. Jaronski said.
Beginning this year, First Church also enlisted the help of an intern from the Harvard Divinity School to create new programming for young adults and families with small children. Among the new offerings is a brief service for families with small children that takes place at First Church’s small chapel at 10 a.m. once a month.

Marking a milestone
In anticipation of the anniversary, First Church recently undertook a major renovation project, including brick-re-pointing and restoration of stonework. “We wanted to present the church in the best possible light,” Rev. Jaronski said.
And the work isn’t done yet: Rev. Jaronski said First church now hopes to raise money for roof repairs, as well as for the rehabilitation of the church’s sanctuary, chapel, kitchen and restrooms.
Rev. Jaronski is quick to point out , however, out that her main goal now is to welcome more people to discover First Church.
“We believe that through the grace of God, a church can be a place where lives are transformed, families strengthened and where we can make connections with other seekers and believers that enrich our lives and lift our spirits,” Rev. Jaronski said. “The best anniversary present would be for people to visit us, worship with us and join us.’
First Church in Charlestown, 10 Green St., celebrates its 375th anniversary on Sunday, Nov. 4, with a 3 p.m. celebration of thanksgiving and praise, followed by a reception in the parish hall.

CAPTION: Charlestown Lacrosse’s cooking program participants Brittany McLaughlin and Meaghan Doherty.

At a time when childhood obesity has reached an all-time high, Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center is doing its part to reverse this trend by offering cooking and nutrition classes that teach kids how to prepare quick and healthy meals.
The new program highlights Charlestown Lacrosse’s newly renovated kitchen and offers five classes for local youth ages 8 to 15. While the kitchen was completed thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Smart Choices program and a donation from Green Street-based veterans organization Memorial Hall, the Charlestown Mothers Association has donated food, silverware and kitchen appliances for the program’s first semester.
Among the easy-to-prepare and nutritional dishes that the kids have made so far are stuffed shells, tuna melts and chicken quesadillas. To prepare the menu, Charlestown Lacrosse Executive Director Bob Cutler enlisted the help of Robyn Kievit, a nurse practitioner and registered dietician at Emerson College in Boston.
“Bob and I think the program coincides with Charlestown Lacrosse’s athletic and academic [components] because it promotes good performance in school and on the field,” Kievit said.
Meanwhile, Cutler hopes that participants will use their newfound culinary knowledge at home.
“I think it’s a great program because everything we make is easy and the kids can prepare it at home on a budget and in a short amount of time,” Cutler said.
For more information regarding Charlestown Lacrosse’s cooking classes, call Bob Cutler at 617-242-1813.

Dr. Domenic Amara was awarded the Henry L. Shattuck Public Service Award at a ceremony earlier this month in recognition of his long-standing and accomplished tenure as principal of the Warren-Prescott School.
Dr. Amara was one of two Boston Public School Principals recognized by the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a private watchdog group that monitors city government. Now in its 22nd year, the Shattuck Awards are given annually to “unsung heroes” who are city employees and whose many years of public service have benefited Boston.
Since he came on board as principal of the Warren-Prescott School in 1980, Dr. Amara has welcomed input from teachers, parents and the community. This eventually led to the formation of the School Side Council, a group of staff and parents that assists Dr. Amara in making decisions for the school. He has also helped the school grow from a kindergarten through eighth-grade curriculum to include grades six through eight in recent years.
In 2004, Dr. Amara helped establish the Warren Prescott Foundation, a legally recognized non-profit organization that raises money to provide funding for activities and programming that the school couldn’t provide for otherwise.
Other new initiatives that Dr. Amara has spearheaded are a partnership with the National Park Service that raises students’ awareness of the Bunker Hill Monument, as well as the Kindergarten Enrichment Program that helped bring two paraprofessionals to the school to support teachers.
While Dr. Amara said he is honored and “energized” by this recent recognition, he is quick to point out that he alone doesn’t deserve credit for the school’s success.
“Many people in the city are willing to do their part for people in the public sector,” he said.

On Sunday, a pumpkin carving contest took place at Zume’s Coffee House on Main Street.

CAPTION 1: Allen Reitz helps his son Charlie design a pumpkin to be carved.

CAPTION 2: Pumpkin-carving contest judge Doug MacDonald in his costume.

CAPTION 3: Liam Bullard and Anneli Merivaara with their pumpkin.

Following a rocky start mired by sluggish sales of residential units and a lawsuit that alleged the developer had defaulted on payments to a construction company for work rendered, the troubled HarborView development in the Navy Yard is scheduled to go up for public auction next week.
On Thursday, Nov. 8, at 11 a.m., Holbrook Mass.-based Paul E. Saperstein Co. Auctioneers and Appraisers will begin taking bids on-site for the entire 325,000 square-foot, 224-unit development at 250 First St.
According to an official document obtained by the Patriot-Bridge, the sale comes after the mortgagor, Navy Yard Four Associates LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, allegedly breached its agreement with the mortgagee, Eurohypo AG, an international bank that specializes in real estate and public finance.
While the auctioneer doesn’t specify an estimated value for the development that came at a cost of $100 million, its terms of sale state: “A deposit of [$1 million] by certified or bank cashier’s check only will be required at the time and place of sale, which deposit shall be increased to an amount equal to 10 percent of the bid price within 10 days of the sale date and balance due within 30 days of sale date.”
The auction announcement comes three months after Turner Construction Company filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against Trammel Crowe Company alleging that the Dallas developer misled the construction company into finishing the complex, even though it lacked sufficient funding to finish the project. The lawsuit claims that Trammell Crowe defaulted on loan payments to Eurohypo AG and Prudential Insurance Company of America.
Also in August, Trammel Crowe announced that HarborView, which was originally developed as a condominium complex, would be “repositioned for sale as an upscale, mixed-use rental community,” partly in response to slow unit sales.
Trammell Crowe spokesman Jim Broghesani said the company still hadn’t abandoned this plan and hoped to sell the development for this purpose prior to the public auction date.

If the recently-released preliminary MCAS scores are any indication, the Clarence R. Edwards is on its way to becoming one of the most competitive middle schools in Boston.
“Overall, the test scores have risen sharply, and we’re now in the upper echelon of all the city’s middle school, whereas four or five years ago, we were at the back of the pack,” said Edwards School Principal Jeff Riley. ”The faculty has done a really good job at raising standards for kids and delivering excellent instruction.”
Among the most noticeable improvements, the sixth-grade math scores have jumped to the 68 percentile this year from last year’s score of 48 percent; the seventh-grade math scores rose to 67 percent this year, compared with 46 percent last year; and the eighth grade math scores are 53 percent, as opposed to 45 percent last year.
Riley attributes the strides that Edwards students have made in mathematics to the school’s Extended Learning Time program. Since the beginning of last school year, students’ schedules have been expanded by 10 hours of extracurricular and academic programming each week, which includes a stronger emphasis on math.
In fact, Riley said the faculty ”now plans to replicate the success across the board with all subjects.”
And parents are taking notice of the Edwards School’s recent success as well.
“The word is starting to get out about the good things happening here,” Riley said. “Parents are taking their kids out of parochial schools and enrolling them in the building. They are seeing us as a small school with a strong academic focus that has a variety of extracurricular activities for them to get involved in as well.”