FIRST - Unitarian Church in Connecticut - Brooklyn, CT - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

This Connecticut historical marker stands on the Brooklyn Town Green and relates the following:

STATE OF CONNECTICUT

BROOKLYN

Formerly Mortlake, first settled in 1703, made,
a town on the 2nd Thursday of may 1786.
Home of General Israel Putnam prior to
and after the Revolution.
Town landmarks include:
Meeting House on the Green, built 1771 by
First Ecclesiastical Society of Brooklyn
became Connecticut's first Unitarian Church
1816, with Samuel J. May as minister;
Old Trinity Church (Episcopal) on Church
Street, erected by Godfrey Malbone 1771;
former Windham County Courthouse,
built 1820, afterwards Town Hall, site in 1833
of trial of Prudence Crandall of Canterbury
for defying law restricting Negro education.
Brooklyn Fair is the nation's oldest
continuous agricultural fair, held annually
since 1852.

Erected by the
Brooklyn Historical Society, Inc.
and the
Connecticut Historical Commission.
1971

"This 1771 church built by Daniel Tyler was home to the first Unitarian congregation in the state. After a denominational split, Reverend Samuel May (1798-1875) became the church’s first Unitarian pastor in 1822. Reverend May was a reformer, organizing a temperance society, the Windham County Peace Society and speaking out against slavery. He supported Prudence Crandall and spoke for her at a Canterbury town meeting since at that time it was not considered appropriate for women to do so. The property is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is included in the Brooklyn Green National Register Historic District." SOURCE

"The present Meeting House was built in 1771, replacing an older structure located just to the northwest, across Hartford Road. Under the close church-state relationship that formed colonial New England, it was the responsibility of Brooklyn's taxpayers to erect a meeting house where the parish could gather on Sunday. Accordingly, spaces for the 44 box pews planned for the ground floor were awarded to the 43 persons highest on the tax lists; one pew continued as a ministerial pew, as it was in the smaller meeting house that preceded the new one. People owned the pews if they also paid for their construction.

By December 30, 1771, planning had advanced to the point that pews were arranged for in the balcony as well, and the 14 people who were next on the grand list were entitled to build pews there. But by April 24, 1772, pressure had mounted to allow three additional pews at the balcony level. So it was that a new plan was arranged for a total of 17 box pews in the galleries. The remainder of the balcony was given over to seating for the public at large.

The ecclesiastical society, or parish, of which the present Society is a descendant, was established in 1731 from parts of Pomfret, Canterbury, and an independent tract called Mortlake. The first minister was called in 1734. This religious body was what now is called Congregational, as were all the other non-dissenting parishes in Connecticut (church and state not being distinct until 1818). In 1752 the area became known as Brooklyn, and the town was incorporated in 1786.

In 1816 the church membership was sundered by a doctrinal controversy between those holding to the established Trinitarian views and those espousing the newer "Unitarian" beliefs. In 1819 a formal separation occurred, with the majority Unitarians retaining the Meeting House and property. (Such controversies were frequent in Massachusetts, but this was the only congregation in Connecticut where Unitarians predominated.) The Trinitarians, or Congregationalists, soon built their own church just to the south.

The Society experienced its golden hour in the 1830s, under the leadership of the Reverend Samuel J. May (uncle of Louisa May Alcott). Northeastern Connecticut was at the time a seat of abolitionist activities, and the Society participated, espousing, for instance, the cause of Prudence Crandall and her school for "young ladies of color."

Brooklyn Meetinghouse The first woman to ever serve as a Unitarian minister, Celia Burleigh, was ordained in Brooklyn in 1871. Her successor, the Rev. Caroline James, established a prison ministry in the Brooklyn Jail after 1878.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a floor was added at the balcony level, and the upstairs used as a sanctuary. The pews and pulpit were removed from the lower level, and it was used as a public hall (among other things, serving the town of Brooklyn until the courthouse across the street became the present Town Hall).

The hurricane of 1938 badly damaged the building, toppling the steeple and causing substantial water damage. Contemplating the extensive repairs that would be needed, some historically-minded individuals in the Brooklyn area suggested that it be returned to its 18th century appearance, much as it was known to its first sexton, Col. Israel Putnam. A committee soon formed to raise funds to this end. World War II intervened, but restoration of the building became a focus of attention again in the 1960s, with the replacement of the high pulpit and many of the box pews. In the 1970s and 80s work proceeded more slowly, as the cost of materials and labor rose, but the Society's Restoration Committee continues to solicit funds to be used for the continuation of the project." SOURCE

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