Last Updated on May 1, 2021 by
The Evangelical Congregational church of Harrisville was organized September 22, 1840, by a council composed of clergymen and delegates from the following towns: Swanzey, Troy, Antrim. New Ipswich. and Warwick, Mass., with thirty-one members, the first pastor being Rev. Otis C. Whiton. Their church building was erected in 1840-43, a brick structure capable of seating 350 persons, cost $4,000.00, and is now valued, including grounds, at $5,000.00. The society has fifty-one members, with Rev. George H. Dunlap, pastor. There have been added to the original thirty-one members 189 others, making a total of 220, of which 169 have been removed by death and otherwise, leaving now a membership of fifty-one, resident and nonresident. The church was organized through the instrumentality of the Harrises, there being fourteen charter members of this name. Bethuel Harris and his sons erected a brick vestry, in which evening meetings were to be held before a church was organized, and when finished the first meeting held therein was for organizing a church. Bethuel Harris gave one-half the money for the erection of the present edifice, and Milan donated the organ, employed at, organist, and made other liberal contributions from time to time.