The first meeting house on this site, built in 1809, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1864. Construction of this church, designed by notable Maine Architect Francis H. Fassett, was commenced shortly after.
Graced with twelve stained glass windows down the sides of the sanctuary, the church also has a large rose window at the rear. In the balcony is a large pipe organ, beautifully decorated, which was installed when the church was built. It was made by the firm of E. & G.G. Hook in Boston.
All the windows, including the large rose window shown below, have been dedicated to past parishioners. This, one of the tall windows down the sides of the nave, has been dedicated to Lot Myrick Morrill (May 3, 1813 – January 10, 1883), the 28th Governor of Maine.
Born on May 3, 1813 in Belgrade, Maine to Peaslee and Nancy (Macomber) Morrill, Lot passed the bar in 1839, and built a successful law practice. Morrill moved to Augusta in 1841, starting a law practice with partners James W. Bradbury and Richard D. Rice. As a Democrat, Morrill was elected to Maine's House of Representatives in 1854. Disagreeing with the Democratic Party's platform, particularly with regard to the North, Morrill severed ties with the Democratic Party and became a Republican in 1856. Morrill was elected a Maine state senator in 1856 and was elected Governor of Maine in 1858. He then served as governor until January of 1861, at which time he was elected to the U.S. Senate to replace Hannibal Hamlin, who had left his seat to become Abraham Lincoln's running mate. With one brief hiatus, Morrill served in the Senate until he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1876 by President Ulysses S. Grant. He remained Secretary of the Treasury until 1877, at which time he returned to Maine and became Collector of Customs for the Port of Portland, Maine.
Morrill died January 10, 1883 in Augusta, Maine and is interred in Augusta's Forest Grove Cemetery.
A biography of Lot Myrick Morrill can be read
HERE.
The inscription at the bottom of the window is below.
IN MEMORIAM
LOT MYRICK MORRILL