Congregational - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Mystic Congregational Church (1860)

Richard A. Wheeler writes, in the History of the Town of Stonington (1900), that the Mystic Congregational Church

was organized by thirty-seven seceding members from the First Congregational Church of Stonington, with five persons from other churches, on the 30th day of January, 1852, under the approval of a committee of the Consociation of Congregational Ministers and Churches of New London County[…..] The cornerstone of their present church edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies Nov. 24th, 1859, and went on to completion and dedication. It was enlarged in 1869 by the addition of fourteen feet to its length.

First Congregational Church, Andover (1833)

The Andover Ecclesiastical Society was officially formed in 1748, when it also settled its first pastor, Rev. Samuel Lockwood, who served until his death in 1791. Once the Society was established, construction began on a meeting house on what is now Hebron Road, which took twenty years to complete (although it began to be in use before it was finished). A new church was built in 1832-1833, which was later renovated in 1869. The First Congregational Church was much expanded with a new addition in 1958.

Second Congregational Church of Winsted (1899)

The Church of Christ is a Baptist and Congregational church in West Winsted, Winchester. An Ecclesiastical Society in Winsted was first formed in 1778, half way between the societies of Winchester and Barkhamsted. In 1853, as related by John Boyd in Annals and Family Records of Winchester (1873), a committee was appointed to consider “the organization of a second Congregational church and society to be located in the West Village.” The committee reported “that the large increase of population, and the prospect of a more rapid accession in the future, rendered an increase of religious privileges and accommodations indispensable to the well-being of the community; and recommended an early organization of an Ecclesiastical society, and the location and building of a house of worship.” The new congregation constructed a church in 1857, later replacing it with the current church, dedicated in 1899. With the erection of a new church, the old building, together with an adjoining chapel built in 1860, were purchased and remodeled for business purposes. The dedication of the new church was described in the Hartford Weekly Times of September 7, 1899. The reporter explained that the church was built “of Torrington granite, trimmed with Long Meadow sand stone and is of French Gothic style.” The first and second churches of Winsted, faced with expensive repairs after the Flood of 1955, merged together with the First Baptist Church in 1957. The new federation was called the Church of Christ (Baptist and Congregational). 119 members of the old First Congregational Church, fearing that the use of their church building would be discontinued in favor of using just the Second Congregational Church for worship, left the federation. Their church is now known as the First Church of Winsted (also Baptist and Congregational), while the Second Church building continues under the name of the Church of Christ.

Edit: As noted in the comment below, the church has changed its name to the Second Congregational Church of Winsted.

Marlborough Congregational Church (1842)

Beginning in 1736, residents of what would become Marlborough made repeated petitions to the Connecticut General Assembly to form their own Congregational Society, which was eventually incorporated in 1747. According to Miss Mary Hall, in the Memorial History of Hartford County (1886), “The society without doubt took its name from Marlborough, Mass.; the largest tax-payer in the society being David Bigelow, a representative of a family conspicuous in the history of the old town of Marlborough, Mass. Ezra Carter, another influential member of the new society, came from the same town.” A meeting house was begun in 1748 and, again quoting from Hall, “The work of framing, raising, and covering the house was now begun, the expense being defrayed by levying a tax of four shillings on the pound. A little later in the same year the windows were glazed. This seems to have exhausted their resources, and nothing more was done until April, 1754,” when a pulpit, seats and pews were installed. Work continued over the years, until the “painting and underpinning of the meetinig-house and the laying of its steps made this remarkable structure complete in 1803. It had been fifty-four years in building, and was finished by laying the corner-stone last.” The church was completed the same year Marlborough was incorporated as a town. By 1841, a new church was needed. The original was torn down and the current Marlborough Congregational Church building was constructed in 1842, just back from the site of its predecessor above South Main Street. The original steeple was toppled in the Hurricane of 1938 and and was rebuilt.

Seymour Congregational Church (1847)

The first Ecclesiastical Society in what is now Seymour was formed in 1789, when the area was still a part of Derby and known as Chusetown (and later as Humphreysville). The first meeting house was built in 1791 on on Pearl Street, where there is now a Methodist Church. The second meeting house was completed in 1825 where the Old Congregational Cemetery is today. It was known as the Village Church and then the Humphreysville Church. The third and current church was built in 1846-1847 and enlarged, with an addition on the south end, in 1890, when the church was also incorporated as the Seymour Congregational Church. The Albert Swan Memorial parish house was built adjacent to the church in 1907. The church buildings had to be extensively restored after the Flood of 1955.

First Congregational Church in Canterbury (1964)

Four successive Congregational church buildings have stood on the same spot on Canterbury Green for three hundred years. The church in Canterbury was established in 1711 and work then began on the first meeting house at the Green‘s highest point. The second meeting house was built in 1735 and the third in 1805. When it was destroyed by fire in 1963, the current church was constructed the following year.

Colchester Federated Church (1842)

Colchester’s First Ecclesiastical Society was formed in 1706 and a meeting house built on Old Hebron Road. The second meeting house was built in 1714 and the third in 1771. Needing repairs, the third meeting house was pulled down and replaced with the current Congregational church, built in 1841-1842. The church was renovated with a Victorian interior and stained glass windows in 1885, but was remodeled to its current appearance in 1929. The church’s steeple, like a number of others in Connecticut, had to be replaced after the 1938 hurricane. A Baptist church was built on South Main Street in Colchester in 1835-1836. In 1949, the Colchester Federated Church was established, combining the First Congregational and Baptist Churches. The Congregational church was now the united place of worship and the old Baptist church building was sold.