FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH (1847)
Current Resident - Pilgrim United Church of Christ
When community leaders came from New England they brought with them their Congregational faith, which they inherited from the Pilgrims. They founded the First Congregational Church in 1834 and meetings were first held in a one-room school house on this site.
The congregation moved next door to a larger space on the first floor of the community-owned 3-story log building called the Lyceum. That structure sat on the SW corner of Broad and Front Streets approximately where the Vaughn Mansion is today. It was moved to 3rd St in 1856 and converted to a residence.
Their preference for traditional New England style Greek Revival architecture is evidenced by the church they built on Broad Street (now Boulevard). Construction was on the old school site in 1847 using foundation stone quarried from the Gorge. The white wood framed church is typical of the Greek Revival Style seen throughout the Western Reserve with tall doors and windows and a triangular pediment on a pilaster supported entablature. The gable has a three-section arched Palladian style window. The round stained-glass window located in the social hall, was donated by the Rev. E. Danner, pastor from 1866-89, in honor of his wife M. S. Danner and his father-in-law, Elisha Noyes Sill, a founder of the church and of the city of Cuyahoga Falls.
Electricity was added in 1892. And reflecting their Abolitionist values, it is believed that secret passages in the basement were used on the Underground Railroad to assist escaping slaves. A basement tunnel leads to a hidden hatch in a Narthex closet. The steeple bell, added in 1913, is one of the last things brought to the area via the Ohio and Erie Canal system prior to its destruction by the Great Flood. The heavy wood timber, copper clad steeple on top of the wood-quoined scalloped-louver bell tower was struck by lightning, caught fire was and repaired in 1994. The iconic steeple and bell tower were completely restored in 2019 with financial help from the community.
A 1957 merger between Congregationalists, Evangelical and Reformed denominations became the United Church of Christ; and in 1964, the Pilgrim United Church of Christ. The building has had three major expansions as the congregation grew. The first large expansion was in 1870 at a cost of over $6,000. A large two-story Prairie Style wing, designed by Architect James Montalto, was added in the 1970s on the south and west sides of the 1847 building. The building is the oldest continuously occupied church building in Summit County.
The church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is located within the Cuyahoga Falls Local Downtown Historic District.
