On January 27, 1834, a group of Episcopalians residing in Bethel gathered in a local school
house in order to establish plans for constructing a new place of worship. In the beginning, St.
Thomas’ Chapel was a part of St. James’ Parish located in Danbury, CT. By the end of the year
1834, sufficient funds were raised to purchase a lot from Isaac Seelye on Center Street, now known
as Greenwood Avenue. Deliberate in meeting the challenge of their new task, a cornerstone for the
white framed building was laid on April 22, 1835.
On October 26, 1835, St. Thomas Episcopal Church was consecrated. The first pastor was The
Rev. Lemuel B. Hull. While location and tradition were now established, many changes to the
structure would take place in the years to come. The thriving new Bethel parish was enlarged,
furnished with a new bell and organ and reopened with dedicatory services on November 14, 1855,
at a total cost of $3,006. The interior again underwent extensive renovations in 1881, including the
addition of stained glass windows to replace the plain windows and the removal of the side galleries.
A “parish house” was built on Rector Street in 1887.
Growth continued and in 1907 plans were made to erect a new building on the site of the old
church, thus the original white frame structure was taken down. The new cornerstone was laid on
July 24, 1909 and by Christmas Day of that year, the building, though far from completion, was able
to house its first service --a celebration of Holy Communion.
On Christmas 1909 the first services were held in the new building and on January 16, 1910, the
new structure was consecrated at a service of dedication. Total cost of the building was $14,200. A
new pipe organ was donated in the same year by Mrs. George Shepherd in memory of her husband
and her son, Frank. 1910 was also to see the purchase of a new rectory across the street from the
church at 100 Greenwood Avenue. The history written for the 100th Anniversary in 1935 noted:
“The stone church is from stone walls on outlying farms which the owners were glad to get rid of and
St. Thomas’ Parish was glad to get.” In 1946 all of the old lighting fixtures were replaced by lanterns
in memory of nine parish families, followed by a flurry of additional improvements and building activity
over the next decade.
The Rector Street parish house and Greenwood Avenue rectory were subsequently sold in
order to make provision for a new rectory built in 1965 at 15 Linda Lane, away from the center of
town. The most recent major construction was begun in 1971 and included the addition of the
chapel, downstairs classrooms, attached parish hall and kitchen built by architect Carl Conrad Brown
and contractor Joseph S. Szost. The parish hall proper was completed through the efforts of
dedicated parishioners in the fall of 1974. The second phase, a four room apartment upstairs for a
curate or sexton was completed on March 25, 1977.
In 1983, changing times and changing perceptions led to the decision to sell the rectory on
Linda Lane thus enabling the rector to purchase his own house.
In 1978 a columbarium for the interment of ashes was constructed in the courtyard against the
north wall of the church. Since almost all of the spaces for the original columbarium were either used
or reserved it was decided in 2006 to build a second section of the columbarium to match the first.
The second section was completed in the fall of 2006. No other major structural changes have taken
place with the church building.
History of St. Thomas'