The congregation of Three Saints Russian Orthodox Church in Ansonia was officially formed in 1895. Their first church building was constructed at Howard Avenue and Crescent Street in 1899-1900. After the interior of the church was gutted by a fire in 1954, a new church was constructed on Howard Avenue. Completed in 1955, the church was dedicated in 1956. The bells from the earlier church, a gift from Tsar Nicholas II, were installed in the new church.
The Baptist Church in Essex was founded in 1811. The congregation’s first church was a brick building, built in 1817, which stood across Prospect Street from Hill’s Academy. In 1845, a new church was built, adjacent to the Academy on Baptist Hill. Constructed by master builder Jeremish Gladding, the Baptist Church was designed in the Egyptian Revival style, modeled on an 1844 Presbyterian church, the Old Whaler’s Church in Sag Harbor, Long Island, designed by Minard Lafever. Both of these buildings are interesting examples of a style not often used for churches in America. The church’s original steeple was destroyed after being struck by lightning in 1925. It was replaced by the current steeple, a Colonial Revival structure which features a gold dome and a variation on a ‘Widow’s Walk” below.
The first ecclesiastical society of Plainville began in 1840, when the congregation split off from the church in Farmington to become the Second Congregational Church of Farmington. Plainville was incorporated as a seperate town in 1869. The current Gothic Revival style Congregational Church of Plainville was built in 1850 and was designed by the New Haven architect Henry Austin.
St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church in Hartford was organized in 1958. It is a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), founded by Russian refugees as a response to the rule of the Bolsheviks. Another Orthodox church in Hartford, All Saints Orthodox Church, is a parish of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), which traces its origins to the church established in Alaska when it was still part of the Russian Empire. St. Panteleimon Church was built in 1972 and was designed by Dimitri Alexandrow with the architectural firm of Austin & Mead. Labor for the construction was provided by members of the congregation. Fr. Dimitri, who was the congregation’s priest and also a master icon painter, taught himself architecture in order to design the church, learning the type of masonry used in constructing Orthodox churches. He was later consecrated a monk, taking the monastic name of Daniel, and in 1988 was consecrated as Bishop at the Russian Orthodox Old Rite Church of the Nativity in Erie, PA. Bishop Daniel, who speaks a dozen languages, also wrote a book called, Selected Fables From the East, Translated by a Russian Priest. (more…)
The Congregaional Church in Storrs began as a the Second Ecclesiastical Society of Mansfield, separating from the First Congregational Church in Mansfield Center in 1737. The first meeting house was constructed in 1745-1746 at what is now the corner of North Eagleville Road and Route 195. A later church, built in the 1840s, replaced it and can be seen in many old photos of Storrs. The church was designed by builder-architect Edwin Fitch. It was here that the Second Commencement for the Storrs Agricultural School (which became the University of Connecticut) was held in 1883. That church was replaced by the current brick church, built in 1927. This church was built at the same location as its predecessors, in what was then the center of the campus. At the same time, UCONN purchased the Dunham Memorial Carillon and, not having a suitable tower to place it in, installed it in the church.
Since 1739, Baptists in Meriden had attended services in Wallingford. A seperate society in Meriden was founded in 1786 and in 1801 a dwelling house was purchased near the Meriden-Wallingford border to be used for worship by the societies of both towns. In 1815, the Meriden Baptists erected their own meeting house, near the later location of their parsonage, which was also open for the Methodists to use. This building was moved across the street and enlarged in 1831. By 1846, the Baptists required a new building but found the Congregationalists unwilling to sell the church they were planning to vacate on Broad Street (as it turned out, a group of Congregationalists continued to use the church, which is now called Center Congregational Church). Instead, the Baptists purchased the vacant lot adjoining the Congregational church and built the current First Baptist Church in 1847-1848.
In building their church next to the Congregational church, the Baptists encountered resistance from “Standing Order.” According to An Historic Record and Pictorial Description of the Town of Meriden (1907), “The work of building the new church met with a remonstrance from the neighboring church who caused an injunction to be placed on the progress of the work, the reason given for the same when the question was decided in court was as follows: “No objection to the Baptists as Christian people, as good neighbors and worthy citizens,” but Rev. Mr. Miller had a peculiarly sharp, ringing voice, that the Congregationalists claimed would disturb their society in worship. As may be readily supposed the injunction was removed and the present house of worship erected.”
The history of the Episcopal Church in Meriden goes back to 1775, when a group loyal to the Church of England met secretly to worship at the Moses Andrews Homestead on West Main Street. St Andrew’s Parish was officially established in 1789 and the first church building, made of wood, was constructed in 1810 at the location of the burying ground. The second church was built in 1848 on Broad Street and later became the first church building used by St. Rose of Lima Church. The cornerstone of the present St. Andrew’s Church, at the intersection of Catlin, Liberty and East Main Streets, was laid in 1866. The church, consecrated the following year, was constructed of Portland brownstone and was designed by Henry Dudley of New York, an English-born architect known for his Gothic Revival churches.
