First Congregational Church of Litchfield
- Address: East St
- Vicinity: Torrington Rd
Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
1761/00/00 | Established in 1721, when the town was first settled, the original wooden meetinghouse was completed in 1723 and replaced on the same site in 1761. | |||||
1787/00/00 | First Congregational Church of Litchfield parsonage is built. | |||||
1810/00/00 | Lyman Beecher | Vocation | Rev Lyman Beecher becomes pastor of the First Congregational Church. | |||
1814/00/00 | Lyman Beecher | Vocation | Rev Lyman Beecher's fame as a preacher attracts people to the church. Six sermons on intemperance that he delivers in the church in 1814 are widely republished and are considered to have been influential in advancing the cause of temperance. | |||
1826/00/00 | Lyman Beecher | Vocation | While in Litchfield Beecher gains widespread attention for his preaching against Unitarianism, which he regarded as heresy. Beecher's eloquence in his opposition to Unitarianism led to his being invited in 1826 to serve a church in Boston. | |||
1829/00/00 | The third meetinghouse is built for the First Congregational Church of Litchfield in the Greek Revival style. | |||||
1873/00/00 | The 1829 meetinghouse is moved down the road, without its steeple, to make way for a new church building. The fourth meetinghouse, which was completed in 1873, was a wooden structure in a Victorian Gothic style, with stained-glass windows. | |||||
1929/00/00 | The Victorian Gothic fourth meetinghouse is razed. | |||||
1930/00/00 | The Greek Revival third meetinghouse, which had been in use at various times as a dance hall, armory, cinema, gymnasium, and roller skating rink, is reconstructed on its original site and rededicated for the town's use in public worship. |
Particulars for First Congregational Church of Litchfield: | |
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Area of Significance | Architecture |
Architectural Style | Greek Revival |
Criteria | Historic Event |
Level of Significance | National |
Owner | Private |
Area of Significance | Religion |
Historic Use | Religious Property |
Social Movement | Temperance |
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