Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia (1883)

Built in 1883, the church at 239 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel was St. Mary’s Catholic Church for 109 years. The following excerpts are taken from the History of the Diocese of Hartford (1900), by James H. O’Donnell,

The Rev. M. P. Lawlor was the celebrant of the first Mass said in Bethel. The historic event took place on January 8, 1882, in the Town Hall, in the presence of about 400 persons. In the spring of the same year the congregation secured Fisher’s Hall, in which Mass was said until the church was completed. Before this year the Catholics of Bethel attended Mass at St. Peter’s church, Danbury. [p. 264]

In 1881, it was determined to separate the Catholics of Bethel and Grassy Plain district from the mother church at Danbury. Accordingly, a building committee, comprising Thomas Doran, Michael Brauneis and Owen Murray, was appointed, and the work of securing funds for the erection of a new church was auspiciously and successfully carried on. Sufficient money having been collected to guarantee beginning the work, the construction of the church was entered upon with vigor and enthusiasm. The corner-stone was laid on Sunday, September 17, 1882, by Bishop McMahon. [p.265]

In April, 1883, Bethel was separated from the jurisdiction of Danbury and organized into a separate parish, with the Rev. M. Byrne as the first pastor. Father Byrne died after a successful, though brief, pastorate. The main altar of St. Mary’s church was donated by his mother as a memorial of her son. [p. 264]

The ceremony of dedication took place on Sunday, September 16, 1883, Father Byrne, being pastor. Bishop McMahon officiated. [. . .] The church is a brick edifice, Gothic in style with the tower on the side. It is 49 x 88 feet. The basement wall is granite, and the roof imitation clerestory. All the windows are of beautiful stained glass and bear the names of the donors. The distance from the ground to the top of the cross is 138 feet. The seating capacity of the church is 475. [p.265]

The Rev. Patrick O’Connell succeeded Father Byrne in November, 1883. His period of service was fifteen years. Evidences of his sacerdotal zeal are everywhere visible. The works that signalized his administration were the purchase of the rectory and lot on which it stands, and a cemetery on the line of the Danbury and Norwalk railroad. He furnished the church with a pipe organ and a bell for the tower; erected three sets of granite steps for the entrances of the church; built an expensive property line wall, laid the concrete walks, and graded and beautified the grounds—works which bear testimony to his activity and to the generosity of the parishioners. [p. 264]

In 1992, St. Mary’s moved to a new church on Dodgingtown Road and the building on Greenwood Avenue was sold to the Church of Bethel. It was sold again in 2011 to the Danbury Luso-Brasileira Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Westerly-Pawcatuck Seventh-Day Adventist Church (1927)

The house at 39 Lester Avenue in Pawcatuck, Stonington was originally a church. It was built by the Westerly-Pawcatuck Seventh-Day Adventists, a congregation founded in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1912. By 1927 they had acquired the 0.05 acre property on Lester Avenue and built a small church. In the 1960s the dwindling congregation joined a larger church in New London. The Pawcatuck church remained vacant until 1978, when Charles and Deborah Hayden moved in and converted it into a residence. The old rope-and-pulley windows were replaced by the next owner, Andrea Carey, who moved in in 1983.

Advent Chapel, Prospect (1886)

Adventists began meeting in the Town of Prospect about 1850 and in 1886 built a chapel on the Green. As described by J.L. Rockey in his History of New Haven County (1892):

The Adventist chapel, at the Center, which is a small but not unattractive frame building, affords a place of worship for members of that faith. It was built within the past six years. The meetings previous to that time were held in private houses, at “Rag Hollow” and other localities. Moses Chandler was one of the most active in the latter movement to give the denomination a permanent place in the town, and the meetings were for a time held at his house. Other members belong to the Tuttle, Tyler, Hotchkiss and Beecher families. In 1890 there were about a score of members, and Seth Woodruff was the minister.

About 1900 the Prospect congregation merged with an Adventist church in Waterbury. Their former chapel, located at 10 Center Street, became the Chapel school house and then the Prospect Senior Center.