3 ACADEMY ROAD
Oxford United Church of Christ Congregational
1798 (1976 #88, WPA #10)
For over 275 years the United Church of Christ Congregational has stood on Meeting House Acre—first as a modest two-story structure with no heat, and then
as the building on site today. The oldest church in Oxford, it
was established as the Ecclesiastical Society of Oxford
in
May 1741
by
the Connecticut General Assembly. In
October of that year, a site owned by Ephraim Washburn
was chosen for the first meetinghouse and construction began on the 38 x 32 x 19 foot building. Although the structure wasn’t completed for fourteen years
due to
lack of
funds, the first services were held there on June
21, 1743. A pulpit was installed in 1748.
Records are
unclear as to whether the original church burned or whether it became overcrowded. Some tim-
bers in the present church
do
exhibit charring. What is
known is that
in
1793 a vote was taken
to
build the present Meeting House,
including a tower steeple that
rose from the ground and was attached to the building. The new structure was planned to be 56 feet long, and
40 feet wide, and located “on the Meeting House acre”,
about 100 yards from the original building. Constructed by Timothy Candee for $3,300, it was completed in 1795 according to the date
cut
into one
of
the foundation stones. A bell was purchased in 1797, but it cracked in 1800 and was replaced. The tower steeple needed constant repairs, and it was torn down in 1836.
In 1830, the church
was used for meetings of the Se
lectmen of the town and for Electors’ meetings. These were permitted until 1839 when, after a thorough building repair, it was voted to close the
house against all
meetings for the transaction of public business.
In the 1830s, a major remodeling of the interior
of
the Meeting House saw the installation of a full partition to
separate the sanctuary of the house from the vestibule.
In
1832, the
box
pews in the
body
of
the church, installed in 1798,
were taken
up
and replaced with slips,
and changes were also made in the upper gallery where the choir sang. Additional early changes included a belfry on the roof and a melodeon which was added in 1860,
erasing a church
tradition
that frowned on any form
of organ.
The present church
at
3 Academy Road is greatly altered from the original Meeting House built in 1798. The front is in the Greek revival style, and the front and side
walls show clapboards that
are
not original. The old horse shed was removed, and
the Parish House was added in 1959. Aluminum siding now covers all exterior walls. The windows, however, are believed to be original. A new steeple was constructed in 1992, and its spotlight added in 1998.
The interior of the sanctuary
was
completely rebuilt and dedicated in May 2008.