History

The Congregational Church in Waterford was founded by eighteen people under the ministerial leadership of the Reverend Lincoln Ripley on October 2, 1799. He was followed by the Reverend John A. Douglas, who served for 52 years, the church's longest pastorate.

A meeting house was built on the church building's present site, Plummer Hill, in 1802. It was torn down in 1843 and the lumber was used to build the Town Hall. A distinctive New England style church building, similar to the present one, replaced it in 1837. This structure was destroyed by fire in 1928. The plaque, pulpit, and distinguished fixtures were among the items rescued from the fire.

The church's historic Paul Revere Bell was shattered by the fire and the metal sent to Meneely and Company in New York to be recast. The Bell has a history of its own. Some four years before the fire it cracked and had been recast. Mabel Gage contributed the cost of the bell's renewal both times in memory of her father, Thomas Hovey Gage, M.D. A new building then replaced the old one, and on November 29, 1929, twenty-seven people stood on a hill across the lake and listened to the ringing of the bell in the new church building.

Organizationally, the First Congregational Church of Waterford (as the church is also known) federated with the South Waterford Methodist and Universalist Churches in the year 1906, one of the oldest federations in the country. In 1925 under the imaginative leadership of the Reverend Dr. Hilda Ives, the church became a partner in the Oxford County United Parish. The Reverend Dr. Wilbur Bull continued this inspired leadership for many more years. In 1964 the Waterford and and South Waterford churches separated from the United Parish, but kept their federation until 1983 when that relationship dissolved. Today the churches of the original United Parish enjoy frequent opportunities for shared worship and fellowship.

(Adapted from the revised by laws of 1989)