Second Congregational Church (Hamilton, NY) records, M2011

The Second Congregational Church was founded on February 4th, 1828 in the house of John Foote Esq., a local lawyer. Pindar Field was the first pastor of this small congregation of eight. They met in various local homes until a church was erected on October 1828 on Broad Street at the site of the present day post office. Students of the Hamilton Theological Seminary assisted with the construction. In 1832 they were admitted into the fellowship of the Oneida Congregational Association. Early on members took the pledge of temperance and by 1845 they resolved to actively seek an end to the great moral wrong of slavery. A petition against the extension of slavery into the free territories [Kansas-Nebraska Bill] was sent to Congress on March 12, 1854 via Gerritt Smith. In May 1851 the church burned to the ground and was rebuilt two years later. On June 7th, 1874 the church again experienced major damage from a violent hail storm that overturned the spire of the church and broke windows. By 1928 declining membership and ongoing financial issues led to a merger with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Hamilton. Shortly after the merger that church was renamed Park Church.