It’s no coincidence that both the City of Saco and the First Parish Congregational Church are celebrating 250th birthdays this year, as the city and the church have a linked history.

Prior to June 8, 1762, when the area east of the Saco River became its own village, Saco was part of Biddeford.

At the time, there was no separation of church and state, said Camille Smalley, education and program manager with the Saco Museum, and the meetinghouse where both church services and town meetings were held was on the western side of the river. No bridge had been constructed across the river, and going to church was at times difficult, said Johanna Hoffman, president of local economic development group Saco Spirit.

“It gives you a different sense of reality,” said Hoffman. “It was really tough to get to church.”

In 1752, Sir William Pepperrell, a Kittery merchant and English baronet, donated four acres of land near the falls to the new settlement on the eastern side, for construction of a new meetinghouse and space for a village common and a cemetery, according to articles on the city’s website written by Thomas Hardiman, former curator of the Saco Museum.

According to Mary Johnson, a parishioner at First Parish Congregational Church, the meetinghouse on the east side of the river was built in 1757, and The Rev. Moses Morrill served the needs of churches on both sides of the river through 1761. Rev. John Fairfield began serving the Saco church in 1761, and on Oct. 13, 1762, a church covenant was written and signed, according to Johnson.

This separation led to the division of municipal government and when this area east of the Saco River officially separated from Biddeford in 1762, it was named Pepperrellborough, after its main benefactor.

The original First Parish Congregational Church was built on School Street to house church services and town meetings.

“When our church began, in those days city and church were one organization,” said Lu Downey, First Parish parishioner. “We really grew together in those first few years, as one organization.”

Around 1800, a bigger church with heat was built on the corner of Main and Beach streets, where the present church stands today. That church burned in 1860, and parishioners met at city hall for three years until a new church was built. When the church building burned again in 2000, parishioners met at Thornton Academy for five years until the present church was completed.

First Parish Rev. Douglas Nielsen said in the early days, people attended church on Sundays with women and men on separate sides of the church, for three hours in the morning, two in the afternoon, and then an evening service ”“ a stark contrast to the single hour-plus service today.

The struggles were different back in the city’s early days, said Nielsen, as relations with American Indians were at times hostile and living conditions were generally more difficult than they are today.

The falls at the Saco River was visited for centuries in the summers by American Indians for fishing and hunting, according to Hardiman. Permanent European settlers arrived in 1631, and the area was sparsely settled because of the devastation of frequent wars with American Indians and the French, according to Hardiman.

Pepperrell’s involvement in the area began long before its separation from Biddeford. In 1716, he purchased 5,000 acres and timber rights to an additional 4,500 acres on the east side of the Saco River. To help move his lumber operation forward, Pepperrell sold off parts of his holdings to millwright Nathaniel Weare and mariner Humphrey Scamman, according to Hardiman.

In 1718, the settlement’s main roads, Main Street and the Portland, Buxton and Ferry roads, were laid out, according to Hardiman. The new village grew rapidly as the industries of farming, lumbering and shipbuilding prospered.

In 1805, Pepperrellborough’s name was changed to the easier-to-spell “Saco,” the name of the abutting river, and the name once given to Biddeford when it encompassed both sides of the river, according to Hardiman. Saco comes from the Indian word “Shawakotoc,” according to Smalley.

In 1811, a nail factory became the town’s first corporation, and 1825 brought the first of many cotton milling factories. As the 1800s went on, the city also had dozens of industries including iron foundries and cigar factories, according to Hardiman. As the city grew and the demand for services increased, Saco incorporated as a city in 1867.

When the city was founded in the 1700s, the population was 540, said Smalley. According to the 2011 U.S. Census, the population last year was 18,482.

A committee has been working since last year on a celebration, and five weekends of events with activities for all ages will begin June 9.

Saco Mayor Mark Johnston has proclaimed that Saco be known as Pepperrellborough from June 9 though July 8.

Former mayor Bill Johnson, husband of Mary Johnson and an organizer of the 250th birthday celebration and member of the First Parish Church, said Saco is a community with a strong heritage. He said it’s a great place to live, and there’s been a lot of support in the community for the 250th celebration.

“It’s not every day I go to a 250th birthday party,” said Johnson.

Events kick off with a parade through Main Street at 10 a.m. June 9, and Smalley said more than 80 groups are expected to participate. Smalley said officials are suggesting people walk, bike or car pool to the parade, and park at Saco Valley Shopping Center or the Saco Train Station. That afternoon, at 2 p.m., will be the Proclamation of Incorporation at the meetinghouse in Biddeford. Elected officials from both Saco and Biddeford will be dressed in period garb, and the original proclamation from 1762, which incorporated Pepperrellborough as its own district, will be read.

The First Parish Church will hold a citywide ecumenical service at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. There will also be a tea at the Saco Museum with local historians and historical walking tours. People are encouraged to attend events in period clothing.

A full listing of events can be found online at www.facebook.com/Saco.250th.Anniversary.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.