Enosburg Congregational Memorial Church

Statement of Significance

The wood frame Congregational Memorial Church, originally built in 1821 and rebuilt in 1870, is significant under criteria C for its architectural merit. The church structure represents the Italianate style of the 1870ís when it was rebuilt to the present form, as well as retaining traces of the original 1821 building. The design is a well preserved example of this style and also represents the prosperity of the nearby mills of Enosburg Falls. The value of the church is enhanced by its relatively undisturbed condition after the remodeling of 1870. The materials and construction retain their integrity. Though the massing of the building and the front facades pediment are of the Greek Revival style, the most striking detail is the Italianate bell tower at the front of the building. The paired doors with bracket shelf lintel rise to a multi-tiered crowning. Significant details include the blind oculi decorations with hooded lintels, the wooden quoins at the corners, and the tall, octagonal spire. The construction of this tower, along with the rest of the building, is timber framing structure with lighter, dimensioned lumber providing the nailing surface for clapboards.

The bracketed shelf lintels are repeated over the side windows that illuminate the sanctuary, and the rear facade is also decorated with Italianate style brackets. The cornice and pediment of the rear facade again show the influence of the Greek Revival, and this building represents the evolution of one style into the other.

The interior of the building, the design dating from the reconstruction of 1870, is significant due to original nature of much of the materials. The narthex leads to two sets of stairs, the central stair leads to the large downstairs meeting place, and the two side stairs lead up to the sanctuary, an important symbol of the combined use of the building. This vestibule is not only a distinguished design feature, but also retains the ornamentation of a cast iron rail on the descending stairs, as well as ornate, turned balusters and railings on the ascending stairs.

The lower room reflects the meeting house nature of the structure, with large tables and benches with Windsor elements of fine curved backs with turned legs. Dominating the room are two large furnaces that heat the above sanctuary, displaying the heating technology in place when the church was rebuilt in 1870. The three back rooms are representative of the communal nature of the church, with the kitchen and food preparation facilities. An interesting peculiarity is the narrow, twisting stairs that rise to the back of the choir above from the kitchen below, allowing the choir members to file into the sanctuary without passing through the room itself and Santa Claus to appear magically at Christmas.

The town of Enosburg was established with a grant issued by Governor Thomas Chittenden in 1780. Five neighboring towns - Berkshire, Richford, Montgomery, Wyllis(Jay), and Westfield - were also created at this time in an effort to raise money for the state and solidify the northern defenses against the Indians and the Canadians. In 1795 the first town meeting was held, and Stephan House was given 40 acres to build a saw-mill and a grist-mill. Both the Missisquoi River and Tylerís Branch served as sources for water power.

Enosburg Center is one of the oldest sections of the town, and was also one of the most important trading centers in the earlier years before the stage coach was replaced, especially by the railroad in nearby Enosburg Falls. The old Boston Post Road is the main street through the town. The early town of Enosburg Center had a pot and pearlash works, a comb factory, a harness shop, a blacksmith shop, a tailor shop, and the two town stores.

The Enosburg Congregational Church was organized in a town meeting in a log structure nearby known as the Town House on Friday, October 11, 1811, but the first meeting house was not constructed until 1821. The names of ten men and women are recorded, as well as the two ministers in attendance, Rev. James Parker and Rev. John Frances. Rev. James Parker served as the first pastor of the Church, and oversaw the construction of the first meeting house.

ì...to have and to hold the said premises for the purpose of erection and supporting thereon a house for the public worship of God - suitable sheds for the accommodation of the proprietors of said house so long as the said First Congregational Society shall improve and occupy the said premises for the purposes above mentioned and no longer.î Town Record, Book 7, page 223

The original structure is retained in the original foundation, the sill along the foundation, and the downstairs meeting room floor joists. Four members of the community were able to contribute enough funds for the construction of the meeting house. The church membership had swelled from the original ten founders in 1811 and to over two hundred forty in 1821. In about 1821, the congregation split between the Congregationalist and the Episcopalians, who shared the meeting house. The Episcopal Christ Church in West Enosburg was not built until 1839-40, but it was so insufficiently built that the Episcopal Church sold the structure and returned the church seat to Enosburg Center, where another structure was built in 1860. The Enosburg Congregational Memorial Church served as a home for the Womanís Missionary Society of 1825 and the Menís Missionary Society of 1826. Rev. Phinias Bailey served as the pastor during this time until 1828. He had replaced Rev. John Scott, who was paid no more than $75.00, or was paid in grain stored on the farm owned by Deacon Ephraim Adams.

Returning to the Congregational Church, the building was substantially repaired in 1849-50, but this was still not sufficient for the growing congregation. The pastor was Rev. Moses Robinson, who also served as the preceptor of the local Academy where English, Latin, and Greek were taught. He also brought a large number of young people into the church. This expansion happened at the same time as a revival movement in the larger Congregational Church. At some point during this time, the foot stoves of hot coals were replaced by two furnaces, bought with a gift of $100 from Mr. Charles Buckley of Montpelier.

The height of the church history came under the pastorship of Rev. Alfred Swift, who led from the pulpit from 1861 until his death in 1884. During this time the greatest development of the church took place in 1870, when the church assumed the combination timber and frame building seen today. From this construction phase dates an extension of the original tower to include the current belfry and spire. The entry porch on the west entrance dates from this rebuilding, as well as the organ niche and stairwell on the extension to the east facade. The ceiling of the 1821 church was of a cove design similar to the present one, but the framing was somewhat different. The seating capacity of this church was 250, and it cost about $10,000 to construct. The current bell was donated in 1884, In memory of Deacon George Adams and his wife, Elmira Stevens Adams, by Mr. Cyrus White of Rockville, Conn. Ring out the call to the service of prayer. This was accompanied with a request that the bell be rung at sunrise New Yearís Day and the Fourth of July. The church has declined steadily since these days, to a present organization of some twenty-five members. Activities are presently held only once a year.

The Enosburg Congregational Memorial Church is significant due to its Italianate architecture that has been preserved in much of its original design and materials. The combination timber and light frame, clapboarded structure is representative of the evolution from Greek Revival to the later Italianate, that is a hallmark of the post-Civil War affluence in industrial Vermont mill towns of the Victorian Era.

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