|
A Brief History of First Church
The following are excerpts from The Last Quarter Century: 1965-1990 written and illustrated by Helen Sickles Allen to commemorate the 325th anniversary of The First Congregational Church of Greenwich: The First Church of Greenwich was created by an act of the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut passed at the May 1665 session. This action of legislature authorized the establishment of “the First Church of Christ in Greenwich” or “First Society of Christ” or “The East Society”. The name “Congregational” was not applied generally in New England until after the Revolutionary War. The growth of Greenwich was so slow that it was not until about 1669 that the inhabitants numbered enough to support a minister of their own. The first recorded religious services in the town of Greenwich were held in 1656 in the houses of settlers. In 1667 a newly built schoolhouse became the place of worship as well as a central meeting place for the inhabitants. It is probable that the religious services were conducted by the clergy of the First Society of Stamford from 1645 on in “private houses or in the open air.”
During the years since then the Church has slowly grown, meeting all the community problems of war, poverty, sorrow, anxiety, peace and prosperity which have marked these three and a quarter centuries. In 1960 First Church became affiliated with the United Church of Christ and is now known as The First Congregational Church of Greenwich, Old Greenwich, Connecticut. The stone “Meetinghouse,” dedicated in 1895, was the fourth one built to house the congregation and was an adaptation of a Norman-Gothic structure built in England in 1100. The building was expanded in 1930 with the construction of the June Binney Memorial Parish House. The education wing was added later, and dedicated in 1952. The Meetinghouse itself was enlarged and partially reconstructed during the years 1960-1962.
|
