The High Victorian Gothic style Trinity Episcopal Church is constructed of brownstone. It has a set of steps leading up to a projecting Gothic style entrance on the southwest side. The entrance has a polychrome gable roof as does the main block of the church. The gable end facing the street has three Gothic windows with the taller of the three in the center. Above is a bell tower with a Gothic arch opening and a steep gable roof topped with a cross.
Along the south side of the church are two Gothic windows. At the rear of the church a transept projects from the sides of the building. The gable end of the transept has single Gothic window. An extension is built along the entire north side of the building. A hallway that projects to the north has an auxiliary entrance.
A sign in front of the church give a detailed history of Trinity parish. It is inscribed in part:
TRINITY PARISH
Building With Faith in the Future
In October 1869 a small group of Wethersfield residents met to incorporate an Episcopal church in Wethersfield, to be known as the Episcopal Society of Trinity Church. Five years later this lovely brownstone church was consecrated as Trinity's home. Known now as Trinity Parish, also called Trinity Episcopal Church, Wethersfield, the parish celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 2019. As it moves towards its bicentennial, Trinity remains committed to spreading God's word, being together in fellow- ship, and sustaining others in need.
Establishment
Trinity started as a mission of Hartford's Church of the Good Shepherd. The first service was held in January 1868 at Academy Hall (now headquarters of Wethersfield Historical Society). In June 1870, Trinity was formally received into the Diocese of Connecticut. Services continued at Academy Hall until this building was completed in 1874.
Edward Tuckerman Potter, Trinity's architect, was acclaimed locally for Hartford's Church of the Good Shepherd (now part of Coltsville National Historic Park) and the Mark Twain House. Many stained glass windows, donated as memorials, grace the building. Trinity is built in High Victorian Gothic style, has a multi-colored slate roof and is constructed of Connecticut brownstone brought by river and oxcart from the Portland Quarries to the Wethersfield Dock.
The 1818 Constitutional Convention and Episcopal Church Growth Episcopal churches grew slowly in Connecticut.
The Congregational Church was the established church of the State. When Connecticut's 1818 Constitutional Convention declared all churches equal under the law, and as animosity toward the Anglican church abated after the Revolutionary War, many new parishes were organized. Such growth was led by the Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Similar to the English Society that once fostered expansion of the Anglican Church in the colonies, this local Society, chartered in 1818, supported missionaries and new parishes in Connecticut. Between 1841-1910 nine parishes and missions sprang up in Hartford, including Trinity.
Parish Growth
Trinity's first parish house was a joint gift of two parishioners in 1883. This clapboard building was used for church school and parish and community meetings.
With increasing membership and overcrowding in the church school, more space was needed in both the parish house and the church. In 1954, the old parish house was demolished and a cornerstone laid for the current one. Made of brownstone to conform with the church, it was dedicated on Easter Day 1955. In 1963, expansion of the church itself was undertaken. Ground was broken in April to extend the sanctuary and add room for offices and more classrooms. Completed that November, the original 1874 capacity of the church, 156 persons, nearly doubled.
In 1959, the parish acquired adjacent property to the south, including the 1767 home of The Rev. James Lockwood. It was restored and served as Trinity's rectory until 2013. Today the Lockwood Home is privately owned.