History

In April 1916, a group of Christian Scientists met at a home in Bothell to read the Christian Science Bible Lesson Sermon together. Of the seventeen in the group, five were members of The Mother Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, MA. In June of that year, these members drew up bylaws in preparation to become a Christian Science society. The Mother Church officially recognized the society in December, and the next year they added Wednesday evening meetings and Christian Science lectures to their schedule.

The society purchased a residence across the street from our current church in 1919. They remodeled it to make it suitable for church services. Then, in 1924, the members voted to build a new edifice. They gave the existing building to a member, who had it moved to another location. Then they bulldozed the lot down to street level in preparation for building. The first unit was completed in 1926, and the entire building was completed in May 1941. That same year it was dedicated, debt free, by the Society

We officially became First Church of Christ, Scientist, Bothell in May 1944. An addition was constructed for the Sunday School between April and September 1963.

Meanwhile, the membership was acquiring the church parking lot. We acquired a lot on the corner of 102nd Avenue NE and NE 183rd in 1955. In 1975 we acquired the adjacent lot, shortly before making plans with the City of Bothell in 1976 to develop these properties for off-street parking.

In 1990, we purchased our current church property, directly across the street from our old church. The membership voted unanimously to build a new church in 1990.

We sold the old church in January 1991, and we held our last service in that building on January 30. The next week we moved to a temporary space just over a block away. We continued to hold services in that space for a year and a half while our church was under construction. The members did a lot of the work on our new building. Loans from members and friends, along with generous gifts from other churches, covered construction costs.

We held our first service in the new church on Sunday, July 26, 1992.

An open house for the community was held September 13, 1992. In August 1993, a new Rogers digital organ was purchased. At the November 1996 election meeting an announcement was made that the church (and organ) had been fully paid for at the end of October. A dedication service was held on January 5, 1997 at 5:00 p.m.