Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

The church was organized Jan. 1, 1836. Its Stewards or Deacons have been:—

first Methodist Episcopal.—‘From the first settling of Lechmere Point (or East Cambridge) the few inhabitants were obliged to attend church in Boston or Charlestown until the autumn of 1818, when the Methodist Society was formed by the following named persons, all of whom had been members of the church previous to their coming to the Point; namely, William Granville,¹ Elizabeth Granville, Eliza Sargent, Lucinda Sargent, William Swindel, and Charles Elliot.’² For a time they met in private houses; and the first sermon to them was delivered by the Reverend Enoch Mudge in the house of Mr. William Granville. ‘Public worship was first regularly established in a schoolhouse on North Third Street, where the Society worshipped until 1823, when Mr. Granville erected a small, convenient chapel on Gore Street, now occupied as a dwelling-house.’³ By an Act of the General Court, June 14, 1823, Amos Binney and others were incorporated as ‘Trustees of the Methodist Religious Society in Cambridge.’ ‘About this time a lot of land was donated to the society, on which a substantial brick church was erected, and dedicated in the autumn of 1825.’ 2 That house, on the southwesterly corner of Cambridge and Third streets, stood about forty-five years, when it was demolished, and a much larger brick edifice was erected on the same spot, at a cost of $45,000, which was dedicated December 12, 1872.