Browse the Congregational Church records in Sturbridge, Massachusetts

The land that is modern Sturbridge, Massachusetts, was first visited by English Puritans in 1644, but had been inhabited by the Nipmuc people and the area of Sturbridge was called Tantisques Spurred by reports of lead and iron deposits, John Winthrop II visited Tantisques in 1644. There, he negotiated for the purchase of land from Tantasqua, sachem of the area, to set up a mine, though minerals were not mined from this land until 1658. The mine stayed in the Winthrop family until 1738 and remained operational until 1910. Sturbridge wasn’t settled by English colonists until 1729 when residents of Medfield acquired a land grant from the General Court of Massachusetts. Before the town was formally incorporated as Sturbridge in 1738, the land was initially known as the Plantation of New Medfield.

Construction of the first meeting house was begun in 1733 and was completed the following year. In 1736 the proprietors of the town called Caleb Rice to become the first minister in the town. The Congregational Church in Sturbridge was established on September 29, 1736. On May 10, 1747, 15 members of the church removed themselves from the church to form a new Separatist Congregational Church. In 1748 these “separatists” ordained their first minister and in 1749 the separatists established themselves as Baptists and formed the Baptist Church in Sturbridge, and later Fiskdale. This separation initially caused something of a crisis in the town, especially as the separatists refused to pay taxes to support the established Congregational Church. During much of Rice’s ministry, the town struggled to pay his ministerial salary.

Plans for the construction of a second meeting house were first approved in 1773. However, those plans were revoked shortly thereafter and would not be revisited again until 1783 largely due to the American Revolution. Construction on the second meeting house was begun in 1784 and the new building was dedicated in December 1787. A steeple was added to the building in 1794 and the building underwent multiple renovations during the 19th century.

A second split in the congregation occurred in 1864, in part due to “turbulence” caused by the ministry of Marshall B. Angier. On June 3, 1864, the First Unitarian Church of Sturbridge was founded with many of its first members coming from the Congregational Church. The first Unitarian Church building was dedicated on December 11, 1872.

On August 5, 1908, the second meeting house was struck by lightning and subsequently burned to the ground. Following the destruction of the second meeting house the Congregationalists met at the Unitarian Church until a new church edifice was completed in 1910. In 1922, in large part due to the declining population of Sturbridge, the Congregational Church, Baptist Church, and Unitarian Church merged to form the Federated Church of Sturbridge and Fiskdale with each congregation remaining a separate society within the Federated Church. The 1910 Congregational Church building became the central building for the Federated Church. The Federated Church of Sturbridge and Fiskdale remains active today.