The Third Precinct of Stoughton was formed after permission was granted by the Royal Governor and General Court in 1743 to build a new church. On December 25th, the precinct voted to build a meeting house on the site, forty five feet in length and 35 feet wide. The first services were held in the building in 1745. The Rev. Jedediah Adams began his ministry that year and served for fifty-three years. A panoramic view taken on July 1, 1908, at the dedication of a stone marking the site of the first meetinghouse on the centennial of the building of the second meetinghouse shows the Atherton building across Pleasant Street to the left and the newly built Stoughton Public Library to the right. The site of the stone was later moved. The second meetinghouse was built in 1808 and is shown in an 1839 engraving along with the Methodist Church, built in 1834, farther down Pleasant Street, and the Capen Tavern, built in 1799, at the lower right.