21: Congregational Church

The Congregational Church of Laconia, originally known as the Meredith and Gilford Congregational Church, was organized on July 26, 1824, with nine members, six of whom were named Jewett.

In 1811, the Meredith Bridge Religious Society built a meeting house for the use of Christians of all denominations. This was located on the south, or Gilford, side of the river, near the former Elks Home and present Chamber of Commerce building.

On the last day of February 1836, this first meetinghouse was burned, and on June 6 of the same year the Meredith Bridge Religious Society laid the cornerstone of a new building, with a pepper-pot belfry, where Church Street now joins Main Street.

This meetinghouse was used until 1903, when the land on which it stood was condemned by the city for the purpose of widening Church Street and squaring the library lot.  The edifice was moved from next to the library to its current location (Veterans Square, then called Depot Square), so that teams of horses and trolleys could pass along that area of Church Street, where the church blocked half of the street.  (The church built a new edifice of stone on Pleasant Street in 1905-1906.)