The Old Town Hall is a historic public building on Chester Green in
Chester, Connecticut
Chester is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,749 at the 2020 census. The town center is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP). The name is a transfer from Chester, in Engl ...
. Built in 1793 and subsequently altered and enlarged, it has been a significant civic meeting point for the community since its construction, hosting religious services, town meetings, and theatrical productions. It 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 ...
in 1972.
Description and history
Chester's Old Town Hall is located at the town's traditional center, north of the modern main village. It is set at the north end of the Chester Green, between Liberty Street and Goose Hill Road. It is a 2-1/2 story timber-frame structure, with a clapboarded exterior and steeply pitched gable roof supported by trusses shaped out of heavy wooden timbers. The gabled ends of the building have formal entrances at their centers, which have Federal style surrounds, and are no longer used. There are single-story extensions projecting from both the north and south sides, one providing an enlarged entrance vestibule, and the other a stage area.
The structure was built in 1793 as a
meeting house, principally to serve the local Congregational parish, which was then still part of
Old Saybrook
Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,481 at the 2020 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybroo ...
. It served as the meetinghouse for the Congregational Church until 1845 when a new Congregational Church was constructed on West Main Street. It was sold to the town of Chester (incorporated in 1836) in 1847 for $300, and used as the town hall to hold town meetings. In 1876, the building was substantially remodeled as a theater. Aside from its use for local theatrical events and high school graduations, the building continued to be used as the site for town meetings until 1960.
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See also
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References
External links
Chester Meeting House -- Town of Chester
{{National Register of Historic Places
Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Connecticut
Churches completed in 1793
Chester, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut
18th-century churches in the United States
1793 establishments in Connecticut