The original St. Colman’s Catholic Church in Middlefield stood at the corner of Main and Stow Streets. The cornerstone was laid in 1886 and the church opened its doors on August 7, 1887. Construction was completed in 1889 and fourteen stained glass windows were installed the following year. It was a mission church under St. John Parish in Middletown until 1903, when it became a mission of the newly formed St. Francis Parish in Middletown. The last service in the old church was held on September 16, 1962, the same day that the new Church of St. Colman, located at 170 Hubbard Street, was dedicated. The church was granted full parish status in 1964.
Christ Church, the Episcopal parish in the Tashua area of Trumbull, was organized about 1760, by which time the residents had built a small wooden church. The parish began as a mission of Christ Church in Statford, the oldest Episcopal parish in Connecticut. In 1788, the parish voted to build a new church by subscription. As described in Vol. 2 of Samuel Orcutt’s A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport (1886), the church was proportioned
not to exceed 50 feet in length, and 34 in breadth, and 24 in height. Also to be 24 windows in said church, of six-by-eight glass, thirty panes in each window, exclusive of the arch. This edifice was located, apparently, on the north side of the highway, where it remained until the present one was erected. The same year it was voted to call the parish Trinity Church, and by that name it was known in the records for many years. In June, 1790, the church was so far advanced that by vote of the parish the pew spots were sold at public veendue, the buyers being obligated to pay the prices bid and build the pews in one year from the time of purchase. The pews were to be in uniform style, as they were in the North Fairfield meeting house. The purchase money was applied towards the expense of building the church. The pew spots, except two, were sold for $310.66. The square pews were sixteen in number, being the wall pews round the building. The chancel was on the north side, and there was a door in the opposite side and one also at the east and west ends. In the body of church there were long, open seats free to all. A tower and spire were built at the west entrance in 1823.
Begun as a mission in 1859, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Mystic was organized as a parish in 1865. That same year, the parish acquired land at what is now 15 Pearl Street for a church. The cornerstone was laid in 1866 and the first service was held on Christmas Morning, 1867. Once the church was free from its large construction debt of $9,000, the building was dedicated on St. Mark’s Day, April 25, 1873. An education wing was erected in 1962.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Ivoryton in Essex developed as a factory village around Comstock, Cheney & Company, manufacturers of products made from ivory. The heirs of company founder Samuel Merritt Comstock, under the leadership of Harriet Comstick, erected the Comstock Memorial Chapel in 1887-1888. As a mission of the Centerbrook Congregational Church, the Chapel allowed church members in Ivoryton to attend services closer to their homes. In 1898 the building became the property of the new Ivoryton Congregational Church, which had become a separate church from the one in Centerbrook. The Ivoryton Church, located at 57 Main Street, was enlarged in 1906. In 2017, the congregation, which now has approximately 25 active members, decided to put the church building on the market. It was acquired by a developer who plans to convert the building into condominiums. The final service in the church was held on October 1, 2017. The congregation now holds services at the Essex Congregational Church.
The Fishtown Chapel at Mystic Seaport was originally erected by the community of Fishtown in Mystic to serve as a place for Sunday School and prayer meetings in 1889. It took only three weeks to build. For a time around 1900 the Chapel served as a schoolhouse for Groton’s Ninth School District. It then remained unused for many decades until it was moved to Mystic Seaport in 1949. Restored, it was rededicated as a chapel in 1950. As seen in old postcards of the Chapel, it once had a steeple which has since been removed. (more…)
On April 22, 1834, Methodists in Cheshire formed a building committee to undertake the construction of a meeting house. Called the Wesley Chapel, it is one of the last examples in the country of a chapel designed by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. As related in Joseph Perkins Beach’s History of Cheshire, Connecticut (1912):
A lot of land centrally located was purchased of Jairus Bunnell, on which was built a brick structure at a cost of $3,000. This was dedicated Nov. 22, 1834, by Rev. Schuyler Seager. During the working of the bartyes mines, the congregation greatly increased and the church and finances were in a flourishing condition; the decrease in numbers caused by the removal of so many families has made the work of the (comparatively) few left much harder; but no diminution of ardor or enthusiasm has ever been noted.
A wooden belfry was added to the building in 1870, but it blew down during a storm in 1897. Church membership began to increase with the growth of Cheshire’s population after World War II. In 1959, the church acquired land at 205 Academy Road for future expansion and eventually decided to erect a new building at that location. The new Cheshire United Methodist Church was completed by February, 1970. The church had already sold its 1834 building to Temple Beth David, the town’s first Jewish synagogue, in 1968. The two congregations shared the old building until the new church was ready. In 1984, Temple Beth David completed phase one of an expansion. The building has a Colonial Revival style front entrance vestibule that was expanded southward to link with the new addition.
In 1866, members of several Protestant denominations in the Yalesville section of Wallingford erected a small frame church known as the Union Church. Methodists and Baptists predominated in this mixed congregation. The following year the Methodists decided to become independent and purchased the Baptists’ share in the church for $3,428.61, with the aid of a donation from Charles Parker, a wealthy factory owner. A new First Methodist Church, now the Yalesville United Methodist Church, was erected at 8 New Place Street in 1899. A Church School addition was built in 1957.
