other towns." Had this request been
granted a new meeting-house would have been built near Upton's tavern;
but it was promptly dismissed. Baffled, but not dismayed, the
petitioners came to the town meeting held in May, 1785, with a
proposition to annex to Fitchburg "about a mile or more in width of
land, with the inhabitants thereon, of the northerly part of the town of
Westminster," and these additional people were "to join the inhabitants
of said Fitchburg to build a meeting-house on Ezra Upton's land." This
scheme was very artful, but the wise men of the east saw that such a
move would throw the balance of power into the hands of the west, and
therefore voted it down.

These two defeats stirred up the people of the west, and they determined
to carry their point in some way. In March, 1786, they petitioned "that
Rev. Mr. Payson have liberty to preach some part of the time in the year
in the westerly part of the town." This was certainly a modest request,
but was denied, the people of the east evidently thinking that if they
yielded an inch they might, at no very distant date, have to travel two
or three miles.

All this, however, was but a skirmish. The date of the beginning of the
real contest was Sept. 12, 1786, when, it was voted "to build a new
meeting-house in the centre of the town, or in the nearest convenient
place to the centre." It was thus agreed that a new house was to be
built, but _where_ to build it was not easily determined. The maxim,
large bodies move slowly, was verified in this instance, for, although
there was much private sputtering in regard to the location, no further
public action was taken for two years. Meanwhile Jedediah Cooper and
Jacob Upton, the two tavern keepers in the westerly part of the town,
despairing of any redress, determined, together with some of their
neighbors, to have a meeting-house among themselves at any rate. They
accordingly erected in the course of time a shabby structure, just
within the limits of the town, which was used to some extent for
preaching; but the proprietors did not take much care of it, and its
dilapidated appearance earned for it the name of the "Lord's Barn." It
was sold and taken down about sixty years ago, and the proceeds of the
sale (about thirty-six dollars) were divided among the proprietors.

Sept. 9, 1788, the subject was again brought before the town by means of
an article in the warrant,--"To see if the town will erect a
meeting-house in