35 South Main Street
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:
Posted on May 24, 2007 2:04 PM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:
Posted on May 24, 2007 2:04 PM
Methodist Church - 1841
Address: Intersection of North Main Street, Jones Hollow Road and East Hampton Road / SR 66
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church, Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a postcard in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library. It shows the Methodist Church before the 1914 fire.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:08 PM
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church, Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a postcard in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library. It shows the Methodist Church before the 1914 fire.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:08 PM
Methodist Church - 1916
Address: Intersection of North Main Street, Jones Hollow Road and East Hampton Road / SR 66
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church, Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a postcard in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library. This image shows the newly rebuilt Methodist Church in 1916.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:14 PM
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church, Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a postcard in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library. This image shows the newly rebuilt Methodist Church in 1916.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:14 PM
Town Library - 1935
Address: Intersection of North Main Street, Jones Hollow Road and East Hampton Road / SR 66
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church , Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a photograph in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library, showing the 1935 addition to the front of the church, and the missing bell tower.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:19 PM
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church , Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a photograph in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library, showing the 1935 addition to the front of the church, and the missing bell tower.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:19 PM
Town Library/Town Hall - 1983
Address: Intersection of North Main Street, Jones Hollow Road and East Hampton Road / SR 66
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church , Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This c. 1983 image is from a photograph in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library, showing the 1935 addition to the front of the church, with the 1970s gabled roof. A few years after this photograph, the building would be abandoned.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:26 PM
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church , Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This c. 1983 image is from a photograph in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library, showing the 1935 addition to the front of the church, with the 1970s gabled roof. A few years after this photograph, the building would be abandoned.
Posted on May 31, 2007 2:26 PM
Original Marlborough Congregational Church
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Meeting House, Church
Architectural style: Colonial
Date constructed: 1750-1803
Description: The original meeting house sat close to the existing Congregational Church that it replaced. The original building’s frame was 48 feet by 36 feet, and was “covered” and had windows. However, these initial expenses were such that more improvements were not started until 1754 when a pulpit, seats and pews were installed, as well as to “seal” the building up to the windows, and to make two pairs of stairs. In 1755, it was voted by the committee to provide “joice and boards” for the gallery floor. In 1756, a lock and “suitable fastenings” for the meeting house were installed. By 1770, the work on the galleries was completed. Parishioners voted to erect pews for the “body part” of the meeting house, and in 1782 the voted to shingle the front side of the roof. In 1787, the voted to procure pine clapboards to cover the front and two ends of the meeting house, and the following year, the north side was covered with pine clapboards too. In 1789, the inside of the house and the outside doors were painted. In 1792, they plastered the interior walls, and later they painted the exterior and installed a new roof replacing the chestnut shingles with pine shingles, and painted the roof. In 1803, the house was finished, when the congregation voted to pay Eleazer Strong $30 to underpin and lay the steps.
Significance: After 54 years, and several ministers, the Meeting house was completed, just as the town of Marlborough was incorporated (1803). Fortunately, a vivid description was given of the meeting house and its construction that we can gather a description. In 1841 it was decided that a new church was needed, as the current house had become, “cold, uncomfortable and unpleasant as a place of worship.” The house was torn down, and the new church was built within a year, with the opening sermon in 1842. This new church remains standing, just slightly back from where the original house stood.
Sources: Ives, Rev. Joel. “Historical Sermon” in Hall, Mary. Report of the celebration of the Centennial of the incorporation of the Town of Marlborough: August 23rd and 25th, 1903. Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company. 1904.
Notes: This image is an artist’s concept of the first meeting house, based upon the description in the above history, and other historical documents. Today, a rock monument stands at the site of the original meeting house.
Posted on June 7, 2007 10:23 AM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Meeting House, Church
Architectural style: Colonial
Date constructed: 1750-1803
Description: The original meeting house sat close to the existing Congregational Church that it replaced. The original building’s frame was 48 feet by 36 feet, and was “covered” and had windows. However, these initial expenses were such that more improvements were not started until 1754 when a pulpit, seats and pews were installed, as well as to “seal” the building up to the windows, and to make two pairs of stairs. In 1755, it was voted by the committee to provide “joice and boards” for the gallery floor. In 1756, a lock and “suitable fastenings” for the meeting house were installed. By 1770, the work on the galleries was completed. Parishioners voted to erect pews for the “body part” of the meeting house, and in 1782 the voted to shingle the front side of the roof. In 1787, the voted to procure pine clapboards to cover the front and two ends of the meeting house, and the following year, the north side was covered with pine clapboards too. In 1789, the inside of the house and the outside doors were painted. In 1792, they plastered the interior walls, and later they painted the exterior and installed a new roof replacing the chestnut shingles with pine shingles, and painted the roof. In 1803, the house was finished, when the congregation voted to pay Eleazer Strong $30 to underpin and lay the steps.
Significance: After 54 years, and several ministers, the Meeting house was completed, just as the town of Marlborough was incorporated (1803). Fortunately, a vivid description was given of the meeting house and its construction that we can gather a description. In 1841 it was decided that a new church was needed, as the current house had become, “cold, uncomfortable and unpleasant as a place of worship.” The house was torn down, and the new church was built within a year, with the opening sermon in 1842. This new church remains standing, just slightly back from where the original house stood.
Sources: Ives, Rev. Joel. “Historical Sermon” in Hall, Mary. Report of the celebration of the Centennial of the incorporation of the Town of Marlborough: August 23rd and 25th, 1903. Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company. 1904.
Notes: This image is an artist’s concept of the first meeting house, based upon the description in the above history, and other historical documents. Today, a rock monument stands at the site of the original meeting house.
Posted on June 7, 2007 10:23 AM
35 South Main Street - 1903
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1903 at the Centennial Celebration of Marlborough.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:23 PM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1903 at the Centennial Celebration of Marlborough.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:23 PM
35 South Main Street - 1907
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1907.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:26 PM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1907.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:26 PM
35 South Main Street - 1938
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, shortly after a hurricane swept through the state. Notice the missing dome on the steeple, which was lost in the high winds.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:27 PM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, shortly after a hurricane swept through the state. Notice the missing dome on the steeple, which was lost in the high winds.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:27 PM
35 South Main Street - 1938 Rebuild
Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, after a hurricane had taken down the down on top of the steeple. Here, workers are rebuilding the steeple and dome.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:29 PM
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, after a hurricane had taken down the down on top of the steeple. Here, workers are rebuilding the steeple and dome.
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:29 PM
30 Jones Hollow Road
Address: 30 Jones Hollow Road
Contemporary Building Name: St. John Fisher Community Roman Catholic Church
Historic Building Name: St. John Fisher Community Roman Catholic Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Contemporary
Date constructed: 1975
Description: This is a contemporary structure with steeply pitched roofline, and elongated windows. The rear of the building has a shallower pitched gabled roof. The main entrance is to the right of the high pitched section of the building. There is no doubt that this is a church.
Significance: With the influx of people after World War II into Marlborough, many churches struggled with the increased visitation. In Marlborough, where there was not a Catholic Church, residents had to travel to neighboring towns for services, swelling those parishes. In 1972, the Archbishop of Hartford appointed Father Felix MacGuire as Marlborough’s first Catholic priest. Services were held in the American Legion Hall and the Grange Hall. The Congregational Church also offered their building for special celebrations, such as weddings, funerals, and Holy Days. In 1974, property was purchased on Jones Hollow Road, and they broke ground in 1975. The first mass was held in November 1975, and the official dedication was held in February 1976.
Sources: Historic files located in the Richmond Memorial Library.
Images and other information from Joe Giggey.
Notes:
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:55 PM
Contemporary Building Name: St. John Fisher Community Roman Catholic Church
Historic Building Name: St. John Fisher Community Roman Catholic Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Contemporary
Date constructed: 1975
Description: This is a contemporary structure with steeply pitched roofline, and elongated windows. The rear of the building has a shallower pitched gabled roof. The main entrance is to the right of the high pitched section of the building. There is no doubt that this is a church.
Significance: With the influx of people after World War II into Marlborough, many churches struggled with the increased visitation. In Marlborough, where there was not a Catholic Church, residents had to travel to neighboring towns for services, swelling those parishes. In 1972, the Archbishop of Hartford appointed Father Felix MacGuire as Marlborough’s first Catholic priest. Services were held in the American Legion Hall and the Grange Hall. The Congregational Church also offered their building for special celebrations, such as weddings, funerals, and Holy Days. In 1974, property was purchased on Jones Hollow Road, and they broke ground in 1975. The first mass was held in November 1975, and the official dedication was held in February 1976.
Sources: Historic files located in the Richmond Memorial Library.
Images and other information from Joe Giggey.
Notes:
Posted on June 7, 2007 12:55 PM
24 South Road
Address: 24 South Road
Contemporary Building Name: Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church
Historic Building Name: Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Grange Hall
Architectural style: modern
Date constructed: 1950
Description: This gabled roof building is constructed primarily of masonry/concrete. It has a shingled roof, and several windows around the building.
Significance: This church started as a bible study in 1980, and in 1984 was organized and established as a member of the Evangelical Free Church. In 1986, the group purchased 5 acres and the old grange hall to use for their hall.
Sources: Historic files located in the Richmond Memorial Library.
Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church website.
Notes:
Posted on June 7, 2007 1:32 PM
Contemporary Building Name: Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church
Historic Building Name: Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Grange Hall
Architectural style: modern
Date constructed: 1950
Description: This gabled roof building is constructed primarily of masonry/concrete. It has a shingled roof, and several windows around the building.
Significance: This church started as a bible study in 1980, and in 1984 was organized and established as a member of the Evangelical Free Church. In 1986, the group purchased 5 acres and the old grange hall to use for their hall.
Sources: Historic files located in the Richmond Memorial Library.
Fellowship Community Evangelical Free Church website.
Notes:
Posted on June 7, 2007 1:32 PM