Museum
 Christian Union Church upper level. Photo courtesy of Kurt Nelson. |
The Portsmouth Historical Society houses the majority of its collection in the former Portsmouth Christian Union Church. The church was founded in 1810 and became Portsmouth's third ecclesiastical society. Members met in private homes until a small meetinghouse was built in 1824 on the site of the present building. The present structure was built in 1865 at a cost of $7,000. The church was an active, thriving congregation for the half century between the Civil War and World War I. It then went through a decline from which it never recovered. The last church service was held in the summer of 1937. After being declared a defunct organization in 1940 by a decree of the Rhode Island Superior Court, the fourteen remaining members voted to give the property to the Portsmouth Historical Society.
The Christian Union Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.