History:

The town of Seymour's historical journey began in 1642, when land from the town of Derby extended into what, today, is Seymour. The center of activity was where the Naugatuck and the Housatonic Rivers met in Derby. John Wakeman was the first European to purchase land from the Indians that lived throughout this area. He established a trading post at the Derby port where, eventually, tall sailing ships from many far-off ports came to trade. Within 13 years, several more settlers came to the area and the New Haven court granted permission for a village to be established on land purchased from the Indians.

As the European settlers moved "up river" into the area of the falls, they and the Indians worked and lived together as friends. The area began to grow with more and more settlers moving into the hills of Great Hill on the west side of the river, the Skokorat area on the east side of the river and over onto the "Promised Land" area (Maple and Pearl Streets and Washington Avenue). The fertile, green land and dense forest now was spotted with clearings, housing farms and grazing cattle. Dirt roads criss-crossed fields to connect outlying settlers with the town and the port of Derby. This small settlement, although still part of Derby, now needed a name. To honor Chief Joseph Mauwehu, who had been given the nickname of "Chuce," the settlers called the area Chusetown.

As the population grew, small industries began to make an appearance, especially along the banks of the town's valuable natural resource, the Naugatuck River. Its falls and numerous brooks and tributaries provided much-desired power for grist mills, corn mills, paper mills and blacksmith shops. By the mid 1700s, the people of Chusetown, in the Colony of Connecticut, and the colonists of the other 12 colonies were becoming upset with England's "taxation without representation." When the Revolutionary War began, the people of Chusetown were proud to enlist and more than 100 soldiers hailed from this small village. An important figure from Chusetown to serve was General David Humphreys. During the war, he joined the Continental Army and became an aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Following the war, Humphreys and Washington remained close friends. When Washington became the U.S. President, he appointed Humphreys minister to Spain and Portugal.

On November 3, 1789 the first Congregational Ecclesiastical Society was formed to support the religious community in Derby, near Bladen Brook.

In 1804, the name of the town was changed from Chusetown to Humphreysville, in honor of General David Humphreys.  In 1805 Rev. Beach moved to Milton and it was about this time that the village of Seymour suffered a decline in commerce. During this time of decline the congregational members in Humphreysville attended other churches in the area.

In 1817 a Council of Five convened for the express purpose of reorganizing and re-constituting things ecclesiastical in Seymour. These five were the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Taylor, who became a professor in Yale; Rev. Bennett Tyler, who was involved with Hartford Theological Seminary the Rev. Samuel Merwin, Rev. Bela Kellogg and the Rev. Zephaniah Swift of Derby. Rev. Swift began to supply the Seymour pulpit a portion of the time.  On March 12 of that year nine persons presented themselves to a council of clergy from the area for the purpose of "organizing a church of Christ." Up until this time there had only existed an ecclesiastical society.

In 1850 the townspeople wanted to change the name of the town to Richmond, but then agreed to honor Governor Thomas Seymour by naming their community Seymour. But by 1890 the situation must have inproved for the church set about to enlarge by an addition the south end. A new pipe organ was installed and the church was incorporated as the Seymour Congregational Church.

In 1961 our congregation voted to become part of the United Church of Christ. Then in 1979 our church celebrated its 200th Anniversary. We are the oldest church in the town of Seymour as a congregation, and we still have a vibrant ministering presence in our community.

Most recently in 1993 we began a 3 year Renovations Program to effect some badly needed repairs both inside and outside the church buildings. Our heating system has been completely redone and re-zoned. Our roofs have been nearly all replaced and a new steeple was raised to replace the Cupola that had capped our Bell Tower since 1890. Built as closely as possible to the specifications of the original steeple that was destroyed by lightening in 1890, in November of 1993, the Seymour skyline was changed as a new Spire rested on the top of the Congregational Church for the first time in more that 100 years. And we set about to fully restore our organ which had been damaged in the 1955 flood. It had been repaired, but now it was time to bring it back to its glory. At a cost of $100,000 the A. Thompson-Allen Company, LLC., curators of organs at Yale University, took the organ apart and replaced all of the rubber and leather parts. When completed a re dedication service was held on March 12, 2006.