Congregation

First Congregational Church of Chicopee // 1825

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The First Congregational Church Society of Chicopee was organized as the Second Church of Springfield in 1751, when residents of land today known as Chicopee and Holyoke (then a part of Springfield) sought a parish church closer to their homes. Before Chicopee officially split from Springfield in 1844, the Second Church of Springfield built this Federal-Greek Revival style church building in 1825. Shepherd and Whitmarsh, prominent builders of Springfield were hired to erect the church. Both were trained under architect, Isaac Damon, thus the close resemblance to his designs for this church in Chicopee. The clapboard structure is simply designed but holds strong proportions and symmetry. The church has a four-columned portico with Ionic columns and a two-story square tower containing the belfry, blind octagonal stage with molded trim above, all capped by a dome surmounted by a weathervane. While the church now has replacement windows and plastic, ill-fitting shutters, the building is in great shape and tells the story of the early days of the development of Chicopee from sleepy parish town to industrial city.

North Cornwall Congregational Church // 1826

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During the nineteenth century several small rural settlements dotted the landscape in Cornwall, Connecticut. In 1782, a group of “strict Congregationalists” seceded from the established Congregational church in town and constructed a “second” church in Cornwall Center. Following this, the town was divided into north and south parishes, with First Church built on the town center and the Second Church, this building, constructed in North Cornwall village in 1826. The North Congregational church is among the town’s finest Federal style buildings in the region and features three entrances with fanlight transoms and the bays of the facade are broken up by two-story fluted pilasters.

First Congregational Church of Georgetown // 1874

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The First Congregational Church of Georgetown, Massachusetts, is significant both architecturally as a Victorian Gothic/Stick style church designed by a prominent architectural firm, and historically as an important gathering place for the town’s members for 150 years. The congregation however is much older than 1874, as when Georgetown was then a part of Rowley, Massachusetts, members here in 1731 petitioned to create their own parish in Rowley to travel a shorter distance to services. The church, then known as the Second Church of Christ in Rowley, was organized in 1732 with services held in a rustic Meeting House. A second meetinghouse was built in 1769, which was both outgrown and in much need of repairs by the time the congregation decided to build a new building on a new site in the new commercial center of town. The congregation hired the esteemed firm of Peabody & Stearns to design the church which today, is the most high-style and architecturally grand building in the suburban town.

New Ipswich Congregational Church // 1903

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The New Ipswich Congregational Church was built in 1903, replacing the former 1813 Meeting House on the site, the fourth in the town, which stood here until a fire caused by lightning destroyed it in 1902. Interestingly, the design is more Victorian than Colonial Revival, which makes this church stand out amongst the village dominated by Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival style residences. The present building blends the Shingle style with Gothic elements with the tracery at the belfry and lancet windows. The architects were Gay & Proctor of Massachusetts who created a statement building with iconic tower that has been well-preserved by the congregation ever since.

Mansfield Orthodox Congregational Church // 1839

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Welcome to Mansfield, Massachusetts! Located in the southeastern part of the state, this very suburban town is often overlooked in terms of architecture, but there are definitely some great buildings to discover. This is the Orthodox Congregational Church of Mansfield, an 1839 edifice at the town’s South Common. The congregation was established in the 1730s and followed strict Congregationalist beliefs, which were at odds with the growing tide of Unitarianism which was becoming a dominant belief in the Commonwealth by the early 1800s. The differences came to a head when the Anti-Slavery Riot of 1836 occured. Factions of local pro- and anti-slavery residents fought when Charles C. Burleigh, Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was invited, with the consent of the parish committee, to lecture in the meeting-house. This difference of theological taste as well as a difference of opinion on the idea of slavery led, in 1838, to the forming of a new society, the Orthodox Congregational Society, who built this church soon-after. While the split-off congregationalists were “behind the times”, among the separatists were Hermon Hall and Deacon Otis Allen, secretary and president of the Mansfield Anti-Slavery Society. This church was completed in 1839, and was altered and enlarged in the 1850s and 1870s.

Jackson Congregational Church // c.1812

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Image courtesy of Amy Higgins.

In the year 1812, Jackson, Maine, was organized as a plantation, and the Congregational Church of Jackson was organized the same year with Rev. Silas Warren, as its Pastor. Mr. Warren was born in Weston, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard University in 1795. He was ordained as Pastor of the Jackson and Brooks Church in 1812 when it opened. The town of Jackson has not grown much since then (610 according to 2020 census) and has maintained its very rural character. The Congregational Church here was likely more vernacular when built and given the belfry after the Civil War. Gotta love these old churches on back roads!

South Britain Congregational Church // 1825

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The South Britain Congregational Church in Southbury, Connecticut was built in 1825 and was originally known as the Meeting House of the South Britain Ecclesiastical Society. The congregation dates back to 1766 and its first pastor, Jehu Minor, a Yale educated minister from Woodbury, was chosen in 1768. Members met at the Moses Downs House before its first meetinghouse was built in 1770. When the pre-Revolution church building was deemed inadequate, funds were raised to erect a new house of worship. In 1825, boards and other usable parts from the old building were used to construct the present Federal style church that stands in the middle of the village today. History states that pulleys were attached to an ox cart to hoist the bell up the steeple which is by far the tallest structure in the neighborhood. It is an exceptional example of the Federal style, with beautifully balanced proportions, a front pavilion, fine detailing and an elegant three-story steeple. The church made more history when in on September 25, 1937, 178 acres of land in Southbury, Connecticut was purchased for the German-American Bund, intent on building a Nazi camp. Similar camps were popping up around the nation, in an effort to promote an anti-semitic and pro-Nazi agenda. Led by Reverend Lindsay, the pastor of the church, the townspeople quickly established a zoning commission whose first ordinance forbade land usage in the town for “military training or drilling with or without arms except by the legally constituted armed forces of the United States of America.” Stunting the proliferation of nazism in Connecticut before WWII. This is why Southbury is sometimes known as “The town that said no to the Nazis”.

Middlebury Congregational Church // 1935

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Located next door to the Middlebury Town Hall, the Middlebury Congregational Church has a very similar history to its Classically inspired counterpart. The congregational church here was established in 1791, less than a year after a separate Middlebury ecclesiastical society was granted and the first church here was erected in 1794. Decades later, a more traditional and larger church was desired by the congregation, so they had a Greek Revival style church built in 1839. Nearly 100 years later, the church (and adjacent original town hall building) burned in a large fire in April 1935. Undeterred, the congregation hired architect Elbert G. Richmond, AIA (1886-1965), who as a young man worked in the New Haven office of J. Frederick Kelly, Connecticut’s first and most famous restoration architect. The present building is a near-replica of the mid-19th century church building, and even has a bell that was recast from pieces of the old bell that crashed through the building during the earlier fire. Talk about rebirth!

Greenfield Hill Congregational Church // 1855

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Local residents of northern Fairfield successfully petitioned the General Assembly to establish a Congregational church in 1725 as a new Northwest Parish, a distinct group from the Fairfield Congregational Church. Their first meeting house was erected just years later in 1727. A larger, more substantial meetinghouse was built in 1760. The area of Greenfield Hill has always been remote and more suburban, but became important in the late 18th century when Timothy Dwight became minister of the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in 1783. Dwight would go on to become the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817). With increased funds and affluent members, another church was built in 1850 from plans by esteemed architect Richard Upjohn, in the Gothic style. Sadly, just years after it was completed, a fire from a furnace inside destroyed the church. So again, they rebuilt in 1855 with the building we see today, sort of. Architect Alfred Nash furnished plans for the building which was more Italianate in design. The church would be modernized in the 1940s in the Colonial Revival style, from plans by local architect Cameron Clark, likely inspired by the collection of Colonial-era homes nearby, including his own home in Greenfield Hill. The church remains a visual anchor for the affluent neighborhood.

First Congregational Church of Rockport // 1805

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Fondly referred to as the “Old Sloop” in town (a name conferred by local fishermen in the 1800s), the First Congregational Church of Rockport stands as one of the most prominent landmarks in the old village. The village of Sandy Bay (now downtown Rockport) had a growing population since the 1700s. Prior to 1755, churchgoers from Sandy Bay made the journey every Sunday by horse or foot in good weather to the parish in Annisquam or the First Parish in Gloucester, and in poor weather, met in a small log schoolhouse on this site. Eventually, a church building was erected in town, which was used until after the Revolutionary War. In 1805, a new meetinghouse was built where it stands today. In 1814, the British invaded Sandy Bay colony and residents rang the Old Sloop’s bell to sound the alarm. British forces fired a cannon at the bell to silence it, but hit the steeple instead. A replica cannonball can be seen to this day in the steeple as a nod to that historic event. In 1840, the people of Sandy Bay voted to establish the Town of Rockport. At that time, the meetinghouse was completely redecorated and the steeple enlarged. After the Civil War, the church was outgrown, and in 1872, the Old Sloop building was cut in half and separated by about twenty feet with an addition built in the middle. At that time the steeple was enlarged and strengthened to accommodate a new and heavier bell and the Town Clock. In 2015, the church began a campaign to replace the deteriorated steeple, which was rebuilt, faux cannonball and all!