Gathered in 1743 as the Second Parish of Sheffield, the congregation first worshipped in The Meeting House, located one half mile from here in the Water Street Cemetery near the big bridge, one of only three public buildings west of Springfield on the bourgeoning frontier of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its first minister, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, a 22 year old graduate of Yale, found five men willing to accept an extremely strict Puritan Covenant with God, and this became the third church founded in this Indian area of Housatunnock. Hopkins preached here for 25 years, but people eventually objected to his doctrinal and argumentative style of preaching, and the Town refused to pay his salary. In 1813 the congregation moved to this site and built a Federal clapboard structure, and although Puritan ethics had moderated by then, strict principles were still enforced against the amusements of the ballroom, intoxicating liquors, and members who did not attend weekly worship services. In 1860 a stone church replaced the wooden building, which had been sold to the Town for use as the Town Hall, and the new building measured 108 by 60 feet with a spire 140 feet high. On March 4, 1882, fire destroyed the house of worship and adjoining chapel. The present structure, designed by W.C. Brocklesby of Hartford, CT, was built upon the lower walls and foundations of the burned church and chapel and was dedicated Sept. 21, 1883. Inside is the largest remaining Hilborn L. Roosevelt Organ of 3,954 pipes, a gift of Timothy Hopkins, great, great grandson of the first minister. Attached by cloister is the Parsonage or Manse with its Carriage House, built 1884, designed by Peabody and Stearns of Boston. The church building, Manse, and organ were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 20, 1992.