Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 2.

The Mystic Church, by vote, expressed its cordial welcome of the action of its sister church and chose its committee of five. The joint committee, after due consideration of the subject, with entire unanimity of judgment and feeling, reported a plan of union in seven articles, of which the two principal ones are the following: ‘That the Rev. Mr. McCollom, the beloved and respected pastor of the First Church, should be called to the pastorate of the united church,’ and ‘That the Mystic Church edifice should be at once enlarged and made commodious and suitable by improvements for the worship of the united congregations.’ With a unanimity hardly to have been anticipated, each church accepted the proposed plan, and the societies connected therewith engaged at once, by a committee, in the enlargement of the church edifice on Salem street. The private ownership of pews in that church had ceased either by gift or purchase, so that the building was entirely at the disposal of the new Society. It was enlarged at each end and on the east side and given, in its one hundred and sixty pews, a seating capacity of over seven hundred. The bell and clock taken from the house on High street were placed in its tower. The organ previously used in the Mystic Church was removed from the front gallery, enlarged, and located in in its present position, behind the pulpit, and the organ of the First Church was given in part payment of the sixteen hundred dollars which the enlargement cost. The entire expense of the improvements was over $20,000. A rededication took place Jan. 12, 1876, previous to which the church had worshipped in the edifice on High street. The formal union of the churches occurred Dec. 31, 1874, when one hundred and eighteen from the First, one hundred and ninety-two from the Mystic, and others, on confession or by letter, made a total membership of three hundred and eighteen. Several months earlier