First Congregational Church of Bethel (1866)

The First Congregational Church of Bethel was first organized in 1759. Captain Ebenezer Hickok gave the land for the first meeting house (built in 1760) and burial ground. The original building, located at the intersection of Main, Maple, and Chestnut Streets, burned down in 1842, and a new building (the Second Meeting House) was constructed. In 1865, during a severe thunderstorm and gale force wind, the steeple fell and broke through the building’s roof. The church chose to sell the building (it’s now the home of the Bethel Historical Society) to the town and erect a new meeting house, which still stands today, on the site of the original meeting house, at 46 Main Street.