Second Congregational Church Diaper Bank

The Second Congregational Church of Winsted was founded in 1854 by fifty-one members of the First Church and six additional members from other nearby congregations. They convened at Camp’s Hall until a church on Main Street could be constructed in 1857.

After being appointed as the church’s pastor in 1897, Rev. Newell M. Callhoun organized a campaign to have a new stone church constructed in the French Gothic design. His vision was realized in 1899, the year the new church was solemnly dedicated and is still used as the church today.

The Second Congregational Church and the First Church (Baptist and Congregational) amalgamated in 1957, giving rise to the Church of Christ (Baptist & Congregational).

The merger was short-lived, and many people went back to the First Church. The Church of Christ (Baptist & Congregational) preserved its name and affiliation with both the Baptist and Congregational denominations as a result of some Baptists making the decision to stay.

The Church of Christ joined the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1985, under the leadership of Rev. Bob Martin, despite having previously supported its missions and state organization. Numerous church members started to worry more and more in 2003 about the UCC’s opposition to biblical Christianity, which sparked heated discussion and unrest inside the congregation.

Rev. James DiQuattro retired from the church in 2004 after nineteen years of service, the same year the parish chose to leave the UCC. In order to lead the congregation in a more biblical direction, the church hired Rev. Robert Walderman as an intentional interim pastor in 2005. As a result, the congregation adopted a Statement of Faith in December of the same year.

The church decided to join the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) in 2007, however it later abandoned that affiliation.
Even yet, the Baptist Church continues to be associated with American Baptist Churches. Pastors Doug Aldrich and Dan Cote, who serve as SCC’s present clergy, are members of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference.

In order to better reflect its intention to be a biblical, traditional, and Protestant organization, the church changed its name back to the Second Congregational Church in 2011.