The first St. Mary’s Church in Manchester was organized in 1844, but the parish encountered financial difficulties and was dissolved in 1847. The members reestablished their church as an Episcopal parish in 1851, but the church again closed in 1869. Regular services were eventually reestablished in 1874 and on June 26, 1882, the cornerstone was laid for a new church on Church Street on land donated by the Cheney Brothers of the famous South Manchester silk mills. The church was consecrated on June 7, 1884. A new and larger church was planned in the 1920s, but the Great Depression slowed financing of the project. In 1953, ground was eventually broken for a new church, which was dedicated on September 5, 1956. The church faces Park Street and is connected to the old 1884 church, now called Resurrection Chapel, which was renovated in 2009 and has five Tiffany stained glass windows.
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