During the half century that followed were also organized (and in the order named) the Second Congregational (later called First Trinitarian Congregational), Universalist, Baptist, Mystic (Congregational), Grace (Protestant Episcopal) and St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Churches.
A new element and order had obtained; the old conformity was gone. Each had rights the others must respect, and the better service each rendered to the common weal, the more secure its position.
Because the historian of the First Methodist Episcopal Church did not allude to its honorable lineage, the present writer has felt moved thus to do.
Just here, before beginning the more local part of his work, it may be well to consider the geographical and other conditions.
From a population of one thousand five hundred in 1822, in the half century Medford had grown to about four times that number. Instead of the one meetinghouse, seven denominations were represented by eight substantial houses of worship, five located eastward from Medford square.
The western village had then (1872) about six hundred inhabitants, and was in prospect of immediate increase. Wellington, Glenwood, South Medford, the Dudley street section and Hillside were thinly settled portions. No public conveyance existed between them. The Unitarian and Protestant Episcopal Churches were the nearest to the western section, the two Congregational were considering union of forces under one roof, and the Methodist and Baptist were to build new churches still farther removed.
