Overview of Norwich's Historic Methodist Churches
1790-1990 ~ 200 Years of Methodism ~ Norwich, Connecticut
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The images shown above provide an overview of the names, dates, and locations of the various Methodist churches that have served the citizens of Norwich for more than 200 years.
Norwich resident Thankful Pierce, known as the “Mother of the Methodists,” arranged for the first Methodist sermon to be preached in Norwich. While visiting some relations in Tolland in the year 1790, she met with Reverend Jesse Lee, a noted preacher in the Wesleyan connection, and became deeply interested in his preaching. Shortly thereafter, on his way to Boston, Mr. Lee stopped at Norwich and preached the first Methodist sermon at her house on June 25, 1790. The ground was well-prepared, advocates and well-wishers of the new doctrine having been for several years looking forward to this result. Reverend Jesse Lee was the founder of Methodism in New England and the namesake of Lee Memorial Methodist Church on Washington Street.
A grave stone in the Norwich City burial ground records the death of Captain Moses Pierce, who drowned May 4, 1781, aged 61; and of Mrs. Thankful Pierce, his relict, who died February 3, 1821, aged 92. The gravestone reads: “She was a mother in Israel, and the first member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this town, who, like Lydia, first heard the preachers, and then received them into her house.”
Many Norwich-based Methodist churches were designated as “Episcopal.” An Episcopal church is one that is governed by bishop
“The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich, Conn.,” (1867), p 9, by Reverend Edgar F. Clark
“Records of Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Norwich, Connecticut,” In a collection at Boston University School of Theology Archives & Special Collections
“1790-1990: 200 Years of Methodism,” by Debra Swirmicky, 1990
1796-1959: First Methodist Church ~ Bean Hill
Bean Hill is an area that was known for its strong advocates of religious and political freedom in the late 1700s.
In 1796, a small class (i.e., a group of Methodist believers) was formed at Bean Hill, comprising some of the most well-respected inhabitants of the town. Among its earliest members are the names of Captain James Hyde, father of the late Rev. Edward Hyde; Solomon Williams; Richard Lamb; Father Lathrop; Mrs. Carew; her daughter Sarah Carew; Mrs. Lamb; and Miss Sarah Clement. There being no class at the Landing, Mrs. Thankful Pierce also united with this class.
In 1738, the first known Episcopal services in Norwich took place on Bean Hill at Edmund Gookin’s home, 199 West Town Street. It was a small, private gathering officiated by Reverend Missionary Ebenezer Pundersen, an ordained clergyman of the Chuch of England. The Church of England was the predecessor to Episcopal religious groups in America. These early gatherings were not Methodist Episcopal.
Norwich Grange Hall ~ circa 1900
Site of former Bean Hill Academy
Bean Hill was a gathering place not only for Episcopalians, but also later for Methodists. Reverend Jesse Lee preached the first-ever Methodist sermon in Norwich on June 25, 1790, at the home of Thankful Pierce, near the Landing. The next day, Reverend Lee preached to a larger, more public group at the Bean Hill Academy. The Academy was established in 1782 with Samuel Austin as its first principal.
The Bean Hill Academy was located at today’s 174 West Town Street. Its building was demolished in 1831; however, in 1869, a new building was constructed at the site by the West Side School District. The building became the Norwich Grange Hall, which in 2025 was demolished in favor of a future Dunkin’ Donuts establishment.
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It is improbable that Reverend Lee’s discourse was met with great encouragement, for these first Arminian sermons were followed by a two-year period before the Methodists established regular preaching on Bean Hill. However, it is reasonable to suppose that the views of Reverend Lee had awakened attention and elicited a desire on the part of some to hear a further exposition of his novel tenets.
The Methodists on Bean Hill met regularly in the Bean Hill Academy before building their own dedicated place of worship.
The year 1799 was remarkable in Norwich Methodism. There were about seventy members of Norwich North, and it was decided to hold the Second Methodist Quarterly Conference for the circuit there. It was an extraordinary meeting for those times. People came from distant parts of the circuit, women coming nearly thirty miles on horseback, in the plain attire and dress which distinguished the Methodist sisterhood of that day.
The characteristics of the Methodist sermons and clergy in the early 1800s were highly varied. Some were argumentative, others doctrinal, some eloquent in language, others simple in diction, others disciplinarian, and many sermons were youthful and impassioned in utterance.
Norwich’s First Methodist Church ~ 1896
The First Methodist Church on Bean Hill was erected in 1831. The Methodist Society was initially known as “Norwich” and was commonly called “Norwich North” and “Bean Hill” because of its location.
The Methodist Society on Bean Hill held its public services in the venerable building for many years, which had served successively and alternately as a classical academy, and a free school. In this extemporized chapel, many of the early noted itinerants preached in their rounds.
Reverend Jesse Lee, Reverend Asbury, and other messengers of the church proclaimed their message in this house of worship. Also here, Rev. John N. Maffit delivered one of the first of his flourishing effusions on this side of the water. When the eccentric Rev. Lorenzo Dow was to preach, the building was not large enough, and the audience assembled in the open air, upon the hill, under the great elm.
The church building was altered in 1879, with the decorative pediments above its doors dating to this time. In 1959, the Bean Hill’s First Methodist Church merged with the Norwich Trinity Methodist Church to form the Lee Memorial Methodist Church. The new name honors Reverend Jesse Lee, the early circuit rider who helped establish Methodism in New England.
After the congregation left Bean Hill, the prior church building was remodeled as a furniture store and is now a photography studio.
“The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich, Conn.,” (1867), pgs 9-10, 22-53, by Reverend Edgar F. Clark
“Records of Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Norwich, Connecticut,” In a collection at Boston University School of Theology Archives & Special Collections, Overview
“Records of Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Norwich, Connecticut,” In a collection at Boston University School of Theology Archives & Special Collections, box contents
“Reminiscences of Bean Hill,” (1896), p 295, by Burrell W. Hyde, Courtesy Rob Ladd
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “First Methodist” in the SEARCH box.
1816-1823: Methodist Episcopal Church ~ Chelsea
Reverend David N. Bentley and his wife, Letitia, were regarded as the pillars of the Methodist Church in Norwich for more than 50 years. He organized a church in 1811 at his home. In the early spring of 1816, Rev. Bentley requested assistance from others, but meeting no success, contracted, upon his own responsibility, for the erection of a church, 36×30 feet, to be located on the north side of Wharf Bridge. To complete the undertaking, after having expended his personal means, he mortgaged his house upon a loan of six hundred dollars ($15,400 in 2025 $).
On March 6, 1823, a powerful freshet caused by 24 hours of continuous rain falling upon a deep snow flooded downtown Norwich. Six bridges over the Yantic were carried away, viz., three in Norwich, two in Bozrah (at Colonel Fitch’s Iron Works and Bozrahville), and one in Franklin. The oil mill at Bean Hill was swept off, and the oil mill and machine shop near the Falls were much injured. And, unfortunately, the Methodist Episcopal Chapel on the Chelsea (present-day downtown Norwich) Wharf Bridge suffered one of the most remarkable consequences of the flood.
During the flood, some of the buildings on the wharf bridge shifted their position, or partly turned round. Most notably, Reverend Bentley’s Methodist Chapel was entirely swept away.
Just before the flood, Mr. Bentley entered the chapel and removed the church’s Bible and Hymn Book. The Society was left in debt, and a superficial interpretation might have rendered the event ominous of the divine displeasure. Overwhelmed by the loss of the church on the Wharf Bridge, the feeble Society at the Landing experienced little but hopelessness.
After this tragedy, the congregation met at several locations in Norwich for two years. By June 1825, a new Methodist church building was erected at Yantic Falls.
Acknowledgements
“History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession From the Indians, to the Year 1866”, pp 602-603, by Frances Manwaring Caulkins
“The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich, Conn.,” (1867), pp 53-60, by Reverend Edgar F. Clark
Records of Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Norwich, Connecticut
1825-1834: Falls Society Methodist Episcopal Church ~ Yantic Falls
1833 Map of Norwich
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Overwhelmed by the March 6, 1823 loss of their church on the Wharf Bridge, the feeble Society in Chelsea experienced little but hopelessness. However, minor relief came as a result of an idea of Norwich’s Colonel Elisha Tracy. He introduced a resolution authorizing the Governor of Connecticut to issue a proclamation to all the churches in the state, of every denomination, to take a contribution on a specified Sabbath for the benefit of the Methodists in Norwich Landing. The resolution passed both branches of the Legislature by a large majority, and Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr. signed the proclamation. The proclamation only netted $423.32 ($3,200 in 2025 $).
The church’s leader, Reverend David N. Bentley, used this contribution as a nucleus to help pay for a new house of worship to be built at Yantic Falls. Local Freemasons laid the cornerstone, and the new house of worship was dedicated on June 19, 1825.
William Lester Jr.’s 1833 Map of Norwich, shown on the left, pinpoints the exact location of the Methodist Church located very near Yantic Falls on Lafayette Street. This building was home to the “Falls Society” from 1825 to 1834. In 1855, the Sachem Street Methodist Episcopal Church became home to the Falls Society.
By 1825, society members of the former church on the Wharf Bridge had become reduced to forty-five, but, still loving their fellowship, they found themselves once more happily seated in a house of God, where the “fruit of the Gospel was sweet to their taste.” After building the church at Yantic Falls, the Falls Society rapidly expanded, and within about a year, it reported 183 members.
For a time, the Falls Methodist Episcopal Church building appeared to have satisfied the members who lived at the Landing as a place for public Sabbath worship. But by 1833, the distance from the Landing to the Falls was felt to be a severe tax on the convenience. They were determined to erect a sanctuary near the Landing. Pursuant to this end, members of the congregation residing at the Landing petitioned the Conference for permission to supply themselves with local ministry.
It was resolved that a new building was needed at the Landing and that Reverend David N. Bentley be appointed as “preacher in charge.” Subsequently, the first services were held at the Landing’s new location on East Main Street in November of 1834, and the church’s new building, the East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, was dedicated on June 17, 1835.
Acknowledgements
“The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich, Conn.,” (1867), pp 61-88, by Reverend Edgar F. Clark
“1833 Map of Norwich,” by William Lester Jr.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Yantic Falls Methodist” in the SEARCH box.
1835-1895: East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church ~ Norwich
East Main Street Methodist Church
The first services at the East Main Street Methodist Church were held in November 1834. The building was dedicated on June 17, 1835, with a sermon by Dr. Fisk of Wesleyan University. The building, in size and convenience, far surpassed the previous accommodations of the Falls Society at Yantic Falls.
The postcard image’s point of view is facing west, and the building shown to the right of the church is the site of the present-day Buckingham Memorial. The map, shown on the right, identifies both Buckingham’s home and the East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church. The building was located at today’s 312 Main Street. However, William A. Buckingham was a member and deacon of the Second Congregational Church.
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1868 Map at Chelsea Landing
For a time, the Falls Methodist Church building appeared to have satisfied the members who lived at the Landing as a place for public Sabbath worship. But by 1833, the distance from the Landing to the Falls was felt to be a severe tax on the convenience, if not the religious prosperity of the latter, who determined upon the erection of a sanctuary in that part of the city. Pursuant to this end, members of the congregation at the Landing petitioned the Conference for permission to supply themselves with local ministry at the Landing.
It was resolved that a new building was needed at the Landing and that Reverend David N. Bentley was appointed as “preacher in charge.” Upon further inspection of the map (shown above), one can see the residence of one Dr. Bentley located to the right of the church. It is unknown if Dr. Bentley was related to Rev. David N. Bentley.
The East Main Street church building was also known as “Norwich South” and “Landing.”
Among the pastors of this church were Reverend D.N. Bentley, G. May, W. Livesey, A.U. Swinerton, R. Ransom, G.F. Pool, S. Bent, D. Dorchester, F. Gavitt, J. Howson, J. Lovejoy, G.M. Carpenter, J.D. Butler, M. Chase, G.W. Brewster, J.B. Gould, F. Upham, E.B. Bradford, E.F. Clark, H.W. Conant, E.J. Haynes, J.D. Weeks, F.H. Newhall, A.P. Palmer, A. Anderson, S.O. Benton, William C. Kellogg, George N. Kellogg, George A. Morse, and E.M. Taylor.
After the church was used for 60 years, the congregation merged with the Sachem Street Methodist Episcopal Church and the Center (also known as Main Street, Free, Central, and Bethel) to form the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church.
“History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession From the Indians, to the Year 1866”, p 603, by Frances Manwaring Caulkins
“The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich, Conn.,” (1867), pp 89-143, by Reverend Edgar F. Clark
“Records of Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Norwich, Connecticut,” In a collection at Boston University School of Theology Archives & Special Collections
“Plan of the City of Norwich,” (1868), by Beers, Ellis, and Soule