Front:
OLD FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BENNINGTON, VT.
14B
6 A-H2511
Back:
c. W. HUGHES & CO., INC., MECHANICVILLE, N. Y.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
BENNINGTON
The first Protestant Church within the limits
of the present State of Vermont, organized
December 3, 1762. The first settlers arrived
here June 18, 1761. The first meeting house
was built 1764-65, fifty feet by forty, of un-
ż painted wood. The first minister was Jedidiah
Dewey. In that simple building worshipped
the patriot settlers who participated in the
Capture of Ticonderoga, the Battle of Benning-
ton and the Surrender of Burgoyne at Sara-
toga. In the meeting house were confined
for a while many of the 700 prisoners taken
3 at the Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777.
In the original meeting house also, met the
convention, consisting of one delegate from
each town, which on January 10, 1791, rati-
fied the Constitution of the United States, thus
opening the way for Vermont to be admitted
to the Union as the fourteenth state. The
site of the original meeting house is marked
by an attractive
memorial.
The present
I church was built in 1806.
