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'
