† The Federated Church Of Willington

Home Page

Announcements

Directions

Worship

Church History

Meeting Minutes

Prayer Request

Ministries

Christian Education

Our Pastoral & Lay Staff

Encouraging Words

Flea Market

Vacation Bible School

VBS 2008

VBS 2007

Hill 'n' Dale Online

2009 Archive

2008 Archive

Contact Us

 
History of the Federated Church Willington
Town Hall building that used to be the Congregational church.
The Congregational, or Town Church, has existed from 1727 to 1728, or soon after the incorporation of the town.  There were but three pastors during the first seventy-five years of its’ history.  The Rev. Daniel Fuller,  was the first settled pastor, being ordained September 11, 1728.  He served the church over thirty years.  Under his leadership the first meeting house was begun in 1733, which took nearly 20 years to complete.  The Rev. Fuller died of small pox, and his tombstone still stands in the old Willington cemetery.

The Rev. Gideon Noble, the second pastor, also ministered to the church thirty years.  The Rev. Abishai Alden, the third pastor, remained eleven years.  The Rev. Hubbel Loomis was settled as the fourth pastor August 29, 1804.  He labored twenty-four years being dismissed in 1828.  He left a beautiful memorial in Willington consisting of a long row of maples which he planted along the highway leading to East Willington.  His son, Elias Loomis, won unusual distinction as a professor at Yale University and writer in the field of mathematics.

 The first deacon this church was John Merrick. The Sabbath School of this church was organized June 9, 1815, it being the first one that was established in Tolland County.  The Willington Baptist Church was organized on December 18,1828, and came into being as a result of loyalty to conviction.  The Rev. Hubbel Loomis, the fourth pastor of the Congregational Church, was a man of profound scholarship and sturdy principles.  He was prominent both as a minister and an educator, and later in life was the founder of Shurtleff College of Illinois.  During his pastorate in Willington, Mr. Loomis had strong tendencies toward Baptist sentiments.  The result was that he with several of his members came out from the Congregational Church and formed the nucleus of a Baptist Church in Willington.  The Willington Baptist Society proceeded at once to create facilities for public worship and a new meeting house was erected in 1828 which is now known as the Hill Church at the Town Green on Willington Hill.

The Congregational Church, greatly weakened in number but not in spirit, continued its independent existence across the common, while the Baptist Church grew and flourished until approximately 1873 when South Willington began showing prospects of becoming the industrial center of the town.  A thread mill had been established by Gardiner Hall which attracted a number of new families to this section of Willington.  Baptist services were held on the second floor of the general store in South Willington as well as the Hill Church from 1876 until the completion of the Clara Memorial Church in 1911, built as a memorial to Clara Hall Elliott, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner Hall, Jr., replacing the place of worship over the store.

The two churches continued their separate existence of usefulness until 1911.  At that time, The Rev. Earl Darrow was pastor of the Baptist Church. There was no pastor at the Congregational Church.  It was thought advisable to unite the two churches.  A committee was appointed from each church to meet together, and after much careful and prayerful though, Articles of Federation were drawn up and presented to the Churches.  These articles which united the two churches in worship and service, but allowed each to retain its own separate organization, were accepted by the two churches on June 12, 1911, the first such union in the History of Connecticut.  They are now known as “The Federated Church of Willington”.

   “In essentials Unity,
In non-essentials Liberty,
In all things Charity.”

    This church has had a noble record in the work of missions, especially in her giving to the cause where the Vintons labored and lay down their lives in the rich fields of Burma.  It was voted by this church in 1920 that its offerings to the New World Movement should be used to erect a building at the Judson College in Rangoon, Burma, to be called “Willington Hall.” in loving memory of missionaries from Willington: Justus Hatch Vinton, his wife, Carlista Holman Vinton and their family, and to the Rev. Truman Johnson, M.D., and his wife, Jennie Bixby Johnson.  (Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of the Rev. Moses Bixby, and was born in Burma when her father was on the mission field  there.)

    In 1924, the Old Congregational meeting house which had been erected in 1876, was sold for $1 to the Town of Willington with certain restrictions, the most important of which was that if it should cease to be used for public meetings under the control of the selectmen, possession would revert to the Willington Congregational Ecclesiastical Society.

 “The virtues, struggles and success of the founders of our Christian churches and our predecessors in the ministry, should be brought to the knowledge of the present generation, with a view to our future welfare.”
(A quote from the History of the Congregational Church by George Southwick)
  

Resources:

Hand Book of The Federated Church of Willington, Willington, CT. 1951
 Deemers, Ronald F. A History of Willington, Connecticut.  Massachusetts.  The Studley Press, Inc.  1983
 
   On June 5th, 1910, ground was broken in South Willington for the building of a new church.  A large gathering  assembled for this memorial occasion.  Then on October 15th, 1910, the corner stone was laid under auspicious circumstances.

Gradually the new edifice rose until it was completed and dedicated October 22nd, 1911.  All Willington rejoiced and the people were proud and happy, for at last, a long felt need had been met.


The new house of worship was a memorial to Clara Hall Elliot, the beloved daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner Hall, Jr. whose untimely death prompted the giving by the family of this beautiful and permanent memorial.  Much of the inspiration to the erection of the Clara Hall Elliot Memorial Church came through the person of Miss Rosa O. Hall, whose unfailing devotion to the Willington Church was largely instrumental in seeing the project carried out.  The Church is, therefore, also a lovely and lasting symbol of her Christian spirit.


Mailing and Office Address:
132 River Road
Willington, Connecticut 06279
(860) 429-9911

"United in Christ, growing in grace, reaching out in love."