{"nrhp_refnum":"72000135","name":"First Church of Christ, Congregational","other_names":["(Fourth) First Church Congregational"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.10092301100008,"lon":-72.58926261399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden Congregational church at 50 Elm Street, corner of Court Square Avenue, in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is the fourth meetinghouse of its parish, built in 1819 by Isaac Damon.","why_significant":"It is the earliest surviving church by builder Isaac Damon and is probably his second church design. Its simpler form set the pattern for much of his later church work. It is also the fourth meetinghouse of a parish organized in 1637, thought to be the oldest continuing body of worship in Western Massachusetts.","narrative":"Fronting a common in downtown Springfield, this wooden Congregational church was built in 1819 by Isaac Damon. It is the fourth meetinghouse of the First Parish, organized in 1637 and thought to be the oldest continuing body of worship in Western Massachusetts. The design follows the familiar New England meetinghouse plan: a rectangular auditorium under a pitched roof, a giant Doric portico, and a tower rising through the portico roof to a three-stage spire. Inside, a gallery on Ionic columns runs along three sides, and the original coved ceiling remains, though it was reshaped and given Adamesque decoration in the twentieth century. A brick Venetian Gothic Parish House was added at the rear in the 1870s. The church matters as the earliest surviving church by Damon, whose later work in the Connecticut River Valley repeated elements seen here. It has also been certified a Massachusetts Historic Landmark.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1819)","architect_builder":"Isaac Damon","architectural_style":"Country builder's interpretation of the transition between late Federal and early Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in good condition, in religious use; a brick Parish House of the 1870s was altered in the mid-twentieth century.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.24607-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/53/7953/63795353/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000135.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000135/735a8cc505-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000135/735a8cc505-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"dms1788","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_First_Church_2010_07_04.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">dms1788</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_First_Church_2010_07_04.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795353","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Church_of_Christ,_Congregational_(Springfield,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452662"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/first-church-of-christ-congregational-72000135/"}