The First Congregational Church is a historic church located at 110 S. Main Street in

Vermontville, Michigan Vermontville is a village in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 759 at the 2010 census. It is located within Vermontville Township. Vermontville is home to the original maple syrup festival in Michigan, held the last ...

. It was built in 1862 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1971, and is part of the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

History

Vermontville was settled in the 1830s by a group from

East Poultney, Vermont East Poultney is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Poultney, Rutland County, Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered b ...

who were followers of the Congregational minister Sylvester Cochrane. Cochrane established the First Congregational Church of Vermontville in 1837, and served as its first pastor for five years. At first, the congregation held services in private homes, and then moved to a new log schoolhouse. In 1844 they built the two-story Vermontville Chapel and Academy to serve as both a church and an academy. In 1861, Rev. Orange H. Spoor came to the pastorate, and the congregation quickly grew. In 1862, the congregation began work on this building, for use by the church and society. Due to a dispute over wages, the church was not completed until 1864.

Description

The First Congregational Church is a white rectangular, one-story building with a gable roof, corner buttresses, and a central square entrance tower topped with a belfry and an octagonal spire that reaches approximately 110 feet. It has a gable roof and sits on a rubble foundation. The church measures sixty feet six inches by forty feet. There is a double paneled entry door in the base of the tower. Two semi-circular arched windows in square heads are in the front of the church, and four windows are along each side of the building. On the interior, the church has an entry vestibule leading to a rectangular auditorium with a gallery above. The pulpit is on a raised platform. Ten pews, likely original, line each side of the center aisle. The wood trim is painted light yellow, and the walls a light green; the same color predominates in the stained-glass windows. Ornamental sheet metal ceiling pieces were added in the late 19th century.

References

External links

First Congregational Church of Vermontville (NACCC)
{{National Register of Historic Places United Church of Christ churches in Michigan Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Churches completed in 1864 Buildings and structures in Eaton County, Michigan 1862 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Eaton County, Michigan Wooden churches in Michigan