Very soon after the permanent settlement of the town, a committee was appointed to build a meeting-house at Dunbarton Center. It was finished previous to 1767, and stood in the middle of the common. Before that time it is related that "Mr. McGregor preached in the open air, on the spot now consecrated as the resting place of the dead." This first building was a low, frame structure, without pews, with seats of rough planks resting on chestnut logs, and a pulpit constructed of rough boards. It was replaced in about twenty years by the building now known as the Town House. This was used only for political purposes after the erection of the third church on the west side of the highway. About thirty years ago the interior of the old building was greatly changed, the upper part being made into a hall while the square pews were removed from the lower part, only the high pulpit remaining. A selectmen's room was finished in one corner, and in 1892, a room for the public library. The outside remains practically unchanged. The Rocky Hill Church at Amesbury, Mass., much like this at Dunbarton, is still used in summer only. There is no way of warming it, and people of the present day would not endure the hardships their ancestors bore without a murmur. The third church was built in 1836 on the site of a dwelling house owned by William Stark; in 1884 it was remodelled, the pews modernized and the ceiling frescoed. The vestry formerly stood on the opposite of the common and contained two rooms; prayer meetings were held in the lower room, while up stairs was the only hall in town. There were held the singing schools, and the lyceum of long ago; also several fall terms of high schools; among the teachers were Mark Bailey, William E. Bunten, and Henry M. Putney. More than twenty-five years ago the vestry was removed to its present location near the church and made more convenient and attractive. For about nineteen years the church had no settled pastor. In 1789 Walter Harris was called, and was ordained August 26. He preached more than forty years. Every man in town was required to contribute to his support for a time until some of the other religious societies rebelled. The "History of Dunbarton" says: "Dr. Harris appropriated the proprietors' grant for the first settled minister, and located himself on the ministerial lot. He also, by a vote of the town, obtained the use of the parsonage lot, with an addition of seventy pounds a year, one-half to be paid in cash, the other in corn and rye." His farm was in a beautiful location south of the center, and was afterwards owned for many years by the late Deacon John Paige; it is now the property of his son, Lewis Paige.