Our Meeting House History

To begin our Meeting House history, we must tell how the church was first gathered.  Benjamin Wheeler is recorded as the first settler in New Marlborough in 1739. In 1744, a meeting house was built, and a church and ecclesial society (which held the property and transacted all business) was organized. Nearly 50 years later, the town, and thus the church, had grown so that it was desired that a new meeting house be built. Church folk in the southern reaches of the town expressed their wishes that the new meeting house be centrally located to relieve some of the burden they faced in traveling long distances to Sunday services. The folk in the north felt building the new meeting house further south too great a sacrifice for them, so it was voted to keep the meeting house where it still stands on the New Marlborough green. The south would not be deterred. They set out to build their own meeting house and establish their own church and ecclesial society. The north did not believe this would happen until they witnessed twenty ox teams led by a stalwart of strapping men headed up North Road to Dry Hill from which they quarried the stone for the foundation. In records of Rev. Lombard, pastor between 1849 and 1860, it is recorded that less than 24 hours after resolving to build, the men were in the woods to gather timber to build the church.

The ecclesial society was organized on April 28, 1794, and the warrant for the first parish meeting dated April 18, 1794.   Thus was born South Parish of New Marlborough. Until the church was finished, they met in someone’s home until the fall of 1794.

When the meeting house was first erected, it was a plain building with entrance doors that faced south, instead of west as they now do, and for over thirty years there was no chimney, no steeple, no bell or any adornments whatsoever. Cushions and carpets were unknown in country churches. All the material used for light and illuminating purposes was the tallow candle.

The year 1827 was a season of revival. The year was also marked by the erection of a chimney, for in October 1827, Daniel Shepard was allowed $11.25 for setting up the stone and making a chimney.

On March 13, 1829, it was voted “that there may be annexed a steeple and bell to the meeting house if done by subscription,” which came to pass the following year.

Between January, 1847 and June, 1849, the meeting house, recorded as being quite dilapidated, was thoroughly repaired; the high pulpit, the suspended sounding board and side galleries were removed, the ancient high-back pews were exchanged for slips and the antiquated box stove, which stood for 19 years on a couple of planks over one of the box pews, was thrown aside. In short, the interior of the church was rejuvenated, remodeled and repaired, and made to correspond with the times of the progressive age.

It was in 1850 that Henry Loring gave the name “Southfield” to the Post Office. After the Post Office was named Southfield, the church became known as the Southfield Church rather than “South Parish.”

In 1890, the church was redecorated again and a new walnut pulpit suite installed, and new outside chimney built. 

The church was incorporated in 1904 and the lease to the land, which had been held by the ecclesial society for more than a hundred years, was also transferred to the church.

In 1909, the auditorium of the church was entirely renovated, and pews and cushions bought from a Universalist church in Westfield. The seating arrangement was changed so as to have a center aisle, and doors were cut from the vestibule for a center entrance. Three years later, the basement was excavated and a wood-burning furnace for steam heat was installed.

During the years between 1924 and 1934, the Ladies Aid Society spent $1,500, raised by church suppers, for improvements to the church. The interior was redecorated yet again; a hardwood floor installed, new carpeting purchased, and repairs made to the steeple. For many years, the church had been lit by an oil lamp that was raised and lowered by ropes for lighting. In 1919, while preparations were underway for an evening service, the rope broke and the chandelier came crashing down that caused a fire that could easily have been catastrophic. A summer visitor and friend of the church, Harry S. Conklin, noticed the church’s need and gave electric lights.

By the end of the 20th Century, the church was badly in need of repair that was beyond the normal maintenance budget. In the year 1999, a fundraising effort led by Deacon Henry Eggenberger and Reverend Joseph Bishop was initiated, and with the generous support of members and friends of the church, nearly $100,000 was raised to start the restoration project. The east foundation wall was replaced, drainage was improved, clapboard siding repaired where needed, a new chimney installed and the exterior repainted. The following year, work on the bell tower and steeple was completed. The wooden ball that had adorned the steeple for one hundred and fifty years was replaced by a weathervane depicting a fish, which is also known as an ichthys, and is perhaps the second most important symbol within Christianity. The reconditioned spire was dedicated to the memory of Eva Klein, long time clerk and loyal secretary, who passed away on September 11, 2001, unrelated to the tragic events that befell this nation on that day.

There have been other improvements not yet recorded in published church histories, such as the creation of the choir loft in the southeast corner of the auditorium, the addition of the old Hammond organ, a restroom carved out of the space under the stairs to the old choir loft, which was walled up to create a small meeting room, and the latest addition being the extension of the stage to accommodate the baby grand piano gifted the church.

As anyone who owns an antique home knows, there will always be effort needed to maintain this important and cherished place of gathering, always with an eye toward preserving its treasured history. It is our intention to provide for its care and preservation so that the town folk from both the north and south will be able to always gather as community within.

Paraphrased and plagiarized from histories written for various milestone celebrations of the church, collected within “History of the Southfield Congregational Church.”