First Baptist Church of Stonington Borough (1889)

The First Baptist Church in Stonington was organized in Stonington Borough in 1775. According to the History of the town of Stonington (1900), by Richard Anson Wheeler:

Its first meetinghouse was not built until the close of the Revolutionary war and was a substantial building, some forty feet square. […] The present house of worship was erected [in 1889] during the pastorate of the Rev. Albert G. Palmer, and is a magnificent building of modern architecture, and most admirably arranged. Owing to the want of a proper title to the site of its former meeting-house [built on Water Street in 1794 and replaced in 1835], and the questionable authority of using its funds in the purchase of the site of its present church [on Main Street], and in order to vest the property entirely in the church, independent of trustees or societies, the members of the church were in 1889 constituted and created by the Legislature of Connecticut a body politic and corporate by the name of the First Baptist Church of Stonington Borough, with full power to receive, hold and mortgage any and all, both real and personal, that may be given or descend to said church.

In 1950, the Baptist Church merged with the Second Congregational Church to form the United Church of Stonington. The old Baptist church was sold in 1957 to become a residence for architect Charles Fuller and wife Anne, who crated an art gallery in the building. The building has continued as a private residence.

Montville Center Congregational Church (1847)

In 1722, the North Parish of New London, later to become the Town of Montville, was established and a meeting house for the congregation was soon built near the center of the parish. In 1772, a new meeting house was constructed at a new location, at the corner of Raymond Hill Road and Meetinghouse Lane. As described in the History of Montville (1896), compiled by Henry A. Baker:

On the 25th day of May, 1823, while the congregation was engaged in worship on the Sabbath, the house was struck by lightning, the fluid entering by the spire on the north porch and following down the posts of the porch and running along the timbers of the house in all directions, shivering timbers and casements, scattering splinters and broken fragments of ceilings throughout the entire building. Two persons were instantly killed, Mrs. Betsey Bradford, wife of Perez Bradford, and a child of John R. Comstock. Many were shocked and a general consternation seized the awe-stricken assembly.

The building being very much damaged, it was soon after repaired, the upper portion of the north porch was taken off and was finished up at the same height with the south porch. This house stood until the year 1847, when it was taken down and the present house of worship erected on the site, at a cost of $2,000. Sherwood Raymond, Esq., gave $500 toward the building of the house, and the balance was made up by subscriptions varying from $200 to $25. Its size is fifty feet in length and thirty-five feet in width, with twenty-feet posts. In the year 1860 the bell was placed in the belfry, it being obtained through the efforts of Rev. Hiram C. Hayan, then acting pastor of the church.

By the 1990s, the congregation had moved to a new church building and sought to sell the old 1847 Montville Center Congregational Church, but it was found that the church‘s deed restricted its sale to a private property owner. The Town of Montville has now sought to purchase the church to turn it into a museum or community center.

First United Methodist Church, Meriden (1949)

Meriden’s first Methodist meetinghouse was built in 1830. This simple structure was later sold and moved to Curtis Street, where it became a carpenter’s shop and later burned down. The first regular Methodist Society was formed in 1844 and a wooden Church was built on Broad Street in 1847. Charles Parker, an industrialist and the first mayor of Meriden, gave a gift which allowed for the construction of a Gothic stone church in 1866. The church was renovated in 1940, but burned the following year. After World War II, money was raised to build the present First United Methodist Church in 1949. The church is at the same location as its predecessor, on East Main Street.

St. Francis of Assisi Church, Torrington (1887)

As the Irish population of Torrington grew in the mid-nineteenth century, a wood frame Catholic church was built on Main Street in 1859. St. Francis of Assisi mission became a parish in 1874 and on November 13, 1887, a new Gothic-style St. Francis of Assisi Church, replacing the earlier wooden one, was both dedicated and consecrated on the same day, allegedly the first instance of this dual ecclesiastical honor in the nation.

First Congregational Church of Granby (1834)

The origins of Granby’s First Congregational Church go back to 1736, when Granby was still a part of Simsbury. According to The Memorial History of Hartford County (1886), early meetings “were held for a time in the house of Daniel Hays, which was also used as a tavern.” The North West or Salmon Brook Ecclesiastical Society was established in 1739. According to Noah A. Phelps’s History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton (1845):

it appears, that their first meeting was held in May 1739. It was convened to adopt measures in reference to the construction of a meeting–house. But, as the meeting could not agree where to set the house, application was made to the General Assembly for a committee to settle the question. On report of the committee, the site established was on the hill north of Salmon brook village. The first meeting-house was erected at this place in 1740. It’s dimensions were, thirty by forty-five feet.

In the course of a few years, by the extension of population westwardly, the house was left so far from the centre of population as to cause complaint, and induce a majority of the society to adopt measures for its removal. Their efforts were successful. In 1775 the house was taken down and removed about two miles in a north-westvvardly direction, to a place designated by a committee appointed by the County Court, where it was re-built. In 1793 the house was enlarged and painted inside. This house was taken down, and a new one erected in 1834. The new house stands a few rods northerly from the site of the old one. It is a commodious building, sixty by forty feet, is painted and has a tower and bell.

First Church of Christ Congregational, Unionville (1886)

As described by David N. Camp in his History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut (1889):

The people from Unionville, or Union District, Farmington, as it was termed, were, for many years, accustomed to attend church services at Farmington, or at West Avon. After the canal was opened the trip to the mother church at Farmington, for a portion of the year, was made by boat. Religious meetings had been held in Unionville for some time, but the church was not organized until March 30,1841 […] The first house of worship was erected on the park, and in 1852 was removed and enlarged. But the congregation becoming too large for this building, a handsome stone edifice was erected, which, with the organ, cost $44,000, and was dedicated May 27, 1886.

In the 1950s, a modern addition was built onto the front of the First Church of Christ Congregational.