Farmington Congregational Church

Located on 75 Main Street in Farmington, CT, this white Greek Revival church is one of the town’s most historical buildings. The First Church of Christ was founded in 1652 by Roger Newton, the pastor. He happens to be the son- in- law of one of Hartford’s founders, Thomas Hooker. Services used to be held in townspeople’s homes until the church’s construction was complete.[1] In 1666, the Congregational Church was built as a meetinghouse, and was said to be the “center of community life”.[2] The meetinghouse was used for town and school meetings, events, and other programs.

The building that is present now, the third built and known as a church, opened in 1771. Judah Woodruff designed the church in a Greek Revival style. Measuring fifty by seventy- five feet, this church was constructed with the finest materials. Two feet under the church is the brown stone ashlar foundation. The oak framing on the church, came from Maine and was shipped via boat to Boston and then “pulled on carts to Farmington”.[3] The walls are made up of “local white pine… which are one inch thick” and constructed together with “mortise and tenon joints” all held together by one inch oak pegs.[4] Nails that were used for the interior of the church are made of iron, that were “hand- wrought by prisoners at Newgate Prison in Granby”.[5] Originally, the roof was covered in “white cedar shingles, dipped in linseed oil, which lasted 129 years until 1901 when they were replaced with slate”.[6]

Masking its beautiful presence over the town of Farmington, this grand white church has stood tall through all these years collecting more and more history as the days go on. Services are still held at this church and it is a place for the people of Farmington to congregate.