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The First Congregational Church Of Kent

97 North Main Street
860-927-3335

This is the church building as it appeared in 1898.
The platform at the front left was used for mounting and dismounting of horses. The tree nearest this platform was removed in 1999 after succumbing to disease. 
The trunk was 5 feet in diameter.

In January of 1740, eleven men gathered together to sign a covenant joining them to each other and binding them to the will of God. This was the inception of the First Congregational Church of Kent, which was formally organized on April 29,1741.

The first Meeting House as built in 1742, and at a town meeting on April 19, 1742, it was voted to buy six gallons of rum to raise it. It was replaced less than thirty years later, during the ministry of Joel Boardwell. The second building was more elaborate and all the townspeople were taxed "4 pennies on a pound on the list of 1771." The tax could be paid in wheat, rye, Indian corn, bar iron or cash. The building of the church was also financed by the selling of pews, which were assigned according to social position. Both these churches were in what is now the Flanders Historic District.


Photos