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Church History


Our church was born in 1730 as an assembly that convened weekly for the worship of God. The church leased a 220-acre tract in 1737, and built a meeting house in 1738. Itinerant preachers provided worship leadership until the church called its first resident pastor in 1761.

During the Revolutionary War, the church became an arsenal and barracks, and a meeting place for the patriots. British troops destroyed the parsonage and storehouse in early June 1779, and burned the church to the ground shortly after. There is a monument in front of the church, celebrating the all-black First Rhode Island Regiment, which figured prominently in the British raid on Yorktown in 1779.

After the war, the church constructed the second building on this site, in 1785.

Under the leadership of the second pastor, the church gradually took on the Congregational form of government.  This led to a division in the church in 1806,with one portion creating a Congregational Church on Granite Springs Road.  The two churches were reunited after 60 years, in 1865.  Our church still owns and maintains the East Yard Cemetery at the site of the Congregational Church.  Among the buried of the East Yard Cemetery are 30-40 black members of that church.  Both the East Yard Cemetery and the current church building are listed as sites on the Westchester African-American Heritage Trail.

The present building replaced the 1785 structure in January 1840. Worship and Sunday School services were held in this one building until 1930.  Since then, there have been numerous building additions.  In 1985, the church restored the 1840 Sanctuary to its original appearance. In 1998, the church expanded the Christian Education Building, and created a passageway between the CE Building and the original Sanctuary.

The History of our Congregation

These articles listed below were written by the church historian, Dick Hunter, for various issues of The Disciple.

  • February, 2012 - Highlights through the years...

    1947 - A new Hammond electric organ was purchased
    1951 - Gertrude Hyatt was ordained as the church’s first woman elder.
    1952 - The Session expanded to eight members from six
    1952 - Start of the Disciple
    1971 - a very important and well attended meeting for the youth was formed called Agape –youth very instrumental in the church
    1972 - On the 3rd Sunday, a special prayer and healing service was started. People came forward, the Elders helped by lying on of the hands and prayer
    1985 - Wine no longer used in celebrating the sacrament
    1982 - Charles Barton conducted his first worship service
    1985 - Midnight Run started
    1988 - Do you remember the big elm tree by the cemetery and the path to the church by the parking lot? It was removed.
    2004  - At the Annual Meeting on February 1, it was announced that our church faced a $37,000 deficit in our 2004 budget – this was after $30,000 had already been cut from the initial budget. Ninety-eight of our giving units increased or made their 2004 Stewardship Commitments amounting to $47,674. In light of that increased commitment and the final budget adopted by the Session, the deficit was reduced to a very manageable $2,200 – the lowest it had been in years.

    Dick Hunter, Church Historian

  • Articles about the Church's History