The Congregational Church of Goffstown (or Goffstown Congregational Church) is a historic
Congregational church
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
building in the center of
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 18,577 at the 2020 census. The compact center of town, where 3,366 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffst ...
, United States. It is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC).
The congregation was established in 1768, and now meets in its fourth meetinghouse. This wood-frame building, whose oldest portions probably date to 1845, was extensively restyled as a Queen Anne Victorian around 1890 to a design by
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
architect
William M. Butterfield
William M. Butterfield (1860–1932) was an American architect from New Hampshire.Shettleworth, Earle G., Jr. "Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Maine: Chesmon Butterfield, 1835-1881". ''http://www.state.me.us/mhpc/architects_bio.html'' ...
.
The building was listed on 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 v ...
in 1996.
Architecture and building history
The Goffstown Congregational Church is located in the village center of Goffstown, at the southwest corner of Main and Church Streets. The church is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and an exterior finished in wooden clapboards and decorative wooden shingles. It presents a gabled facade to Main Street, with a tower on the left side, rising two stories to a gabled roof with dormers and a steeple. Entrances are found in the base of the tower, and at the right side of the main block, sheltered by hoods with Stick style woodwork. A third entrance is set in the parish hall, which extends to the left at the back of the main sanctuary.
[
The congregation was founded in 1768, and first met in a ]meeting house
A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.
Terminology
Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a
* church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...
in the village of Grasmere. Its second meeting house was built in 1816, and was located on South Mast Street. The present building's construction history begins in 1845, when a Greek Revival structure was built. It was enlarged in 1869, and in 1882 the gallery was removed and new windows installed. In 1890, the congregation retained Manchester architect William M. Butterfield to significantly redesign the building, resulting in its present appearance. The contractor was William U. Carlton. Few traces remain of its previous Greek Revival appearance, and only minor changes have been made since then to its exterior.[
]
See also
*
References
External links
Congregational Church of Goffstown website
{{Authority control
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire
Queen Anne architecture in New Hampshire
Churches completed in 1840
19th-century churches in the United States
Churches in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Historic district contributing properties in New Hampshire
National Register of Historic Places in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Congregational churches in New Hampshire