Beginning in about 1986, the New Repertory Theatre rented the Parish Hall and staged four to six plays per year. According to Alexander Stevens, an arts correspondent for Wicked Local, Larry Lane, the founding artistic director of the theatre, and a small group of fellow actors began looking for a location to stage their productions …
NHCC celebrated its 110th anniversary with a fundraising concert on November 21, 1982. A quintet of singers performed arias and ensembles from operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Guiseppe Verdi.
In May of 1953, NHCC dedicated Founders Hall, excavated beneath the sanctuary and finished by the direct effort of the men and women of the church. In 1961 plans were drawn for establishing 10 classrooms in Founders Hall, but not acted upon. The Christmas pageant was started in 1959. Memorial and Teaching windows along the …
Read more1953-1972: Founders Hall, Weekday Nursery, 100th anniversary
The upstairs office suite was built in 1946. Special services on June 15 and June 17, 1947, marked NHCC’s 75th anniversary.
NHCC celebrated its 50th anniversary with several services in June 1922. A few years later, in 1924, the Hayward family donated the current Hook & Hastings organ, and the Parish House was enlarged and re-equipped. The old organ was given to The Episcopal Parish of Saint Paul. Eventually, the organ console was moved to its …
Read more1922-24: 50th anniversary celebrated, organ replaced
The cornerstone of the new meeting house was laid on July 29, 1905. The new meeting house was dedicated on October 7, 1906. The church historian believes that the church bell, cast in 1875, came from the old building. The Chancel and North Transept windows were made by John Hardman & Co. of Birmingham, England. …
In 1905 NHCC decided to replace its first meeting house, a wooden structure, with a larger stone building, at a cost of about $65,000. The last service in the first meeting house was held on April 30, 1905. During construction, NHCC held services at the Methodist church (now condominiums at 511 Hartford Street, Newton Highlands).
In his King’s Handbook of Newton (1889), M. F. Sweetser describes the site of the Newton Highlands Congregational Church as “pleasant and commanding…at the intersection of two of the principal streets,” looking “benignantly over the drowsy hamlet.” Erected in 1876, it was important to the community as a place where “the people enjoy their harvest festivals and …