Churches

Enfield Congregational Church, Enfield, Connecticut

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The Enfield Congregational Church on Route 5 in Enfield, around 1911. Image from Some Old Time Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley (1911).

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The church in 2015:

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In terms of churches, Enfield is probably best known as the place where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”  The actual church that he preached in no longer exists, but it stood about a third of a mile south of here along present-day Route 5.  In 1775, a new church was built on this spot, and it was later moved across the street, where it still stands today as the Enfield Historical Society.  The current church, seen here, was built in 1849, in the Greek Revival style that was popular in the first half of the 19th century.  Its design was outdated almost as soon as it was finished, though. Not long after its completion, Greek Revival architecture went out of style, and most new church buildings in the second half of the century were either Gothic Revival or Romanesque.  However, over the years it has been the wood, white-steepled churches of the early 19th century that have become a symbol of small-town New England, and Enfield’s example survives today, essentially unchanged on the exterior from the photo over a century earlier.

First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut

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The First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, photographed on July 29, 1940. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey Collection.

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The church in 2024:

The First Church of Christ in Wethersfield is one of the oldest existing church buildings in the Connecticut River Valley.  Along with Hartford and Windsor, Wethersfield was one of the original three towns in the colony of Connecticut, and today its Old Wethersfield Historic District includes around 100 colonial-era buildings.  The church was built in 1761, and like many New England churches of the era the main entrance is on the side of the building, with the pews facing the left-hand side of the building instead of the back.  Its steeple also reflects mid-18th century tastes, and it is nearly identical to the one on Old North Church in Boston.

Wethersfield is located along two of the three main routes of the old Boston Post Road, which connected New York and Boston, so over the years this church has had several notable visitors, including future presidents George Washington, who attended a service here on May 20, 1781, and John Adams, who climbed the steeple in 1774 while on his way to the First Continental Congress.  Washington’s visit was part of a five day stay in Wethersfield, when he met with French General Rochambeau at the nearby Joseph Webb House to plan the Siege of Yorktown.

At first glance, the church doesn’t appear to have changed much in the past 75 years, but there are a few differences.  In the 1880s, the church was renovated to bring it more in line with Victorian-era styles, which included long stained glass windows that extended almost from the ground to the roofline.  The building is partially hidden by trees in both photos, but some of the windows are visible in the 1940 photo.  In the early 1970s, the tall Victorian windows were removed as part of an extensive restoration that returned the building to its original 1761 appearance, so today the historic church doesn’t look much different from when John Adams stopped by on his way to Philadelphia, or when George Washington planned the final battle of the American Revolution across the street.

Main Street, Southington, Connecticut (2)

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The view looking north on Main Street in Southington, from just south of Columbus Avenue, around 1885-1891. Image courtesy of the New York Public Library.

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Main Street in 2015:

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This view is very similar to the photos in this post, which were taken just a little further up the street beyond the intersection.  Unlike the other Southington photos that I have featured here, this one was not taken by the Office of War Information during World War II; instead, this image was from a 19th century stereocard.  In this scene, the Soldiers’ Monument on the green had just recently been dedicated, and most of the town’s Civil War veterans would have still been alive.  World War I was still a generation away at this point, and it would be more than 50 years before the OWI would capture photos of the town in the early years of World War II.

The only building from the first photo that is still standing today is the First Congregational Church. It is essentially unchanged from its appearance when it was built in 1830, and it is one of several nearly identical church buildings of the era that can still be seen in small towns throughout Connecticut.  Across Main Street is the town green, where the Soldiers’ Monument still stands today, although it is now accompanied by monuments to the veterans of the wars of the 20th century. The dirt roads around the town green in the first photo have several horse-drawn carriages, but within a decade or so automobiles would begin to appear, eventually leading to the paved roads and traffic lights of the present-day scene.

Town Hall, Southington, Connecticut

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Southington’s Town Hall, seen facing north toward the First Congregational Church in May 1942. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, FSA-OWI Collection.

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The Town Hall in 2015:

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Of all the photos taken by the Office of War Information in Southington during World War II, this scene is one of the few that shows almost no change over the past 73 years.  The church, which has stood there since 1830, is still there, although it is now partially hidden by the large oak tree in front of it.  This tree is the only prominent difference between the two photos; it appears in the 1942 scene as a small sapling, barely visible in the shadows to the left of the church.  It had been planted in 1935 by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1935 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of Connecticut.

The Town Hall is the newest thing in the scene; it was dedicated on December 13, 1941, less than a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II.  Less than six months later, it was included in the OWI photo series with the caption, “Town hall, in which all of the people meet to make their own laws.”  Since this was intended for a pro-American propaganda pamphlet in Europe, the wording of the caption expresses both the democratic nature of the town meetings, as well as the egalitarian aspect of it, with the word all implying that every citizen has an equal voice in town government.  Today, the building is still used as the Town Hall, but Southington has since adopted a council-manager form of local government, meaning the citizens no longer “meet to make their own laws” here in an open town meeting.

First Congregational Church, Southington, Connecticut (2)

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The First Congregational Church of Southington, seen from the town green in May 1942. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, FSA-OWI Collection.

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The church in 2015:

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As mentioned in this post, the First Congregational Church in Southington is one of several nearly identical church buildings in Connecticut that were built between 1817 and 1830.  This particular angle gives a good view of the Greek Revival style portico, which is supported by four tall columns.  This is a common feature on many early 19th century New England churches, from traditional wood-frame ones such as Old First Church in Springfield, to brick churches like the First Church of Christ in Hartford, and even some stone ones, as seen in Quincy Massachusetts and Portsmouth New Hampshire.  The style represents somewhat of a transition from the relatively plain, simple Puritan-influenced meeting houses of the 18th century, such as the one still standing in Rockingham Vermont, to the more elaborate Gothic Revival and Romanesque churches that would come later in the 19th century, such as the Central Congregational Church in Boston.

Today, the six nearly identical Connecticut churches are still standing, except for the oldest of the group, Old Lyme Congregational Church.  It burned in 1907 and was rebuilt as close to the original as possible.  Aside from that, the others have been well-preserved, including this one in Southington, for which the caption of the first photo reads: “Southington, Connecticut. The First Congregational church, oldest of the town’s eleven churches looks substantially the same as when it was erected in 1830.”  It was likely included in the Office of War Information photo series to illustrate the town’s long history of religious activity, with the reference to “eleven churches” probably a subtle hint about the religious freedom and diversity that Americans enjoy.

Main Street, Southington, Connecticut (1)

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Looking north on Main Street in Southington from along the town green, in May 1942. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, FSA-OWI Collection.

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The scene in 2015

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These two photos were taken less than 75 years apart, but over that time most of the east side of Main Street has changed.  The First Congregational Church on the far right is still there, but all of the buildings beyond it are gone.  To the left, the Soliders’ Monument is still visible in both photos,