St. Paul’s Universalist Church (1893)

A Universalist Society in Meriden was formed in 1854 and was formally organized in 1863. The Society’s first church building was constructed in 1860. This wooden structure fronted Norwood Street, but was moved to the northeast corner of Norwood and Liberty Streets when construction of a new church was begun in 1891. Completed in 1893 as St. Paul’s Universalist Church, it later became the Unitarian Universalist Church of Meriden. In 2002, with a dwindling membership and the prohibitive costs of maintaining the Richardsonian Romanesque church, the congregation sold the building to two partners who wanted to transform it into a rock and comedy club. When that project fell through, the church was put on the market again and one of its stained-glass windows, made by Louis Comfort Tiffany, was put on auction. In 2007, the church was sold to a Pentecostal congregation, the Holy Word Foundation Ministries. In 2005, alterations were completed on the Unitarian Universalist Church of Meriden‘s new home in a former house at 328 Paddock Avenue.

Augusta Curtis Cultural Center (1903)

As described in A Century of Meriden (1906), in the nineteenth century there had been “various spasmodic attempts to raise sufficient money to start a free public library” in Meriden, a goal finally achieved with the opening of a library in 1899, located in two rented rooms in a house on East Main Street. Funding for the library came from “the ladies of the Thursday Morning Club,” whose winter lecture series of 1897-1898 had “proved so successful that at the close of the season the treasury of the club was found to have quite a sum of money on hand.” The library quickly outgrew its small rooms and

On December 7, 1900, Mrs. George R. Curtis announced that she would contribute sufficient money to buy a site, erect a suitable building for a library and thoroughly equip it, providing the town would vote to annually appropriate $3,000 for running expenses. At a special town meeting held on the evening of March 12, 1901, it was unanimously voted to accept the offer made by Mrs. Curtis. Plans presented by W. H. Allen, of New Haven, were accepted, but as Mr. Allen at this time removed to California, Richard Williams, his successor, and who had drawn the plans, became the supervising architect. The Lawrence property on the east corner of East Main and Pleasant streets was bought and work on the site was soon begun.

The cornerstone of the Curtis Memorial Library was laid on September 28, 1901. The completed building, constructed of Vermont White marble by the H. Wales Lines Company, Meriden’s premier construction firm, was formally opened on April 20, 1903. The building served as the library for seventy years, until a new building was erected on Miller Street. Today, the former library is home to the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center, a non-profit organization founded in 2000, which hosts lectures, exhibits and interactive programs focused on the arts and sciences.

The Isaac C. Lewis House (1868)

The Meriden Britannia Company was established in 1852. It produced the durable Britannia ware, which by the 1850s had replaced pewter in most American homes. Isaac C. Lewis was president of the company for fourteen years and served as mayor of Meriden from 1870 to 1872. Lewis built a mansion at 189 East Main Street in 1868. In 1950, the house was purchased by the Polish League of American Veterans and was used as a funeral home from 1998 to 2006. The house has since been vacant.

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.

Solomon Goffe House (1711)

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The oldest house in Meriden is the Solomon Goffe House on North Colony Street. As explained in A Century of Meriden (1906):

We know nothing about Mr. Goffe except that he lived here ten years, married a Wallingford girl. Mary Doolitlle, and the birth of one child is recorded. In 1721 he sold the place to Thomas Andrews, of Wallingford, who, apparently, lived there until 1729, when he sold it to Jonathan Collins, of Middletown. The old house was enlarged, perhaps soon after Mr. Collins bought it, for the addition looks as old as the rest, but that there has been an addition is plain to be seen. The dormer windows in the old gambrel roof are probably a later addition, and there have been apparently some changes in the interior. That the house is the one built by Solomon Goffe will be apparent to any one who will examine the old rafters and the huge floor beams. The chimneys in the cellar are enormous and the stones were cemented with clay mixed with straw as were the foundation walls, a sure sign of an early house; another indication of age is the split laths, used in very early houses. The Collins family continued to own the house until 1796 when a son, Jonathan, Jr., sold it to Samuel Taylor of Chatham. Mr. Taylor doubtless lived in it until 1806 when he sold it to his son-in-law, Partrick Clark.

Now owned by the City of Meriden, the house is a museum, open by appointment.

First Baptist Church, Meriden (1847)

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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.”