Heritage Trail Guide

Stop #11 - Methodist Meetinghouse (1839) And The Burritt Home (c. 1836)

The Methodist Meetinghouse as it appears today. In 1972 The Roman Catholic Church purchased the church. Today it is the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Chapel where the traditional Latin Mass is still celebrated.

Two centuries ago “religious diversity” had a very narrow definition in Connecticut.  Congregationalism, the theological successor to Puritanism, was the state’s established tax-supported religion.  The only other faiths Connecticut grudgingly tolerated were Protestant denominations, like the Episcopalians and Baptists who had established churches before the American Revolution.

Methodism came to Connecticut and Monroe in the 1790s.  In 1811 the first Methodist church in Monroe was built in the East Village section.  In 1818 a new state constitution stripped Congregationalism of its special status.  Other denominations subsequently gained large numbers of new members.  Before long Monroe needed a second Methodist church.  The logical location was Birdsey’s Plain, later known as Upper Stepney.  Birdsey’s Plain, at the intersection of two new turnpikes, was fast becoming Monroe’s commercial center.

This Greek Revival-style structure was the residence of Isaac Burritt, built circa 1836. In 1939, the house was sold and became the Stepney Methodist Church Parsonage. Today it is the convent for the Dominican Sister’s of Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel. This house at 9 Pepper Street is an example of one of the stylish homes constructed during this era.

In 1839 the Stepney Methodist Church, designed in the popular Greek revival style, was built at 15 Pepper Street.  A decade later local Baptists constructed a church on Main Street that was a near duplicate of the Methodist Church directly across the road.  The two buildings became known as the “twin churches.”

Methodists worshiped in the Pepper Street building for 134 years.  In 1973 members joined the East Village Methodist Society to form the United Methodist Church, which built a new home on Cutler’s Farm Road.  But the Stepney Methodist Church building would play an additional role in the expansion of religious diversity in town.

Roman Catholics first came to Monroe in the mid-1800s, but they had to worship in Trumbull or elsewhere.  In 1973 the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement acquired the former Stepney Methodist Church.  It was transformed into Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel, where the traditional Latin Mass still is celebrated under the direction of Bishop McKenna and the Dominican Sisters.

A distinguishing feature of the Methodist church is the granite cut-stone foundation. The high foundation allows for 8-foot ceilings for meeting rooms located under the church sanctuary. This foundation detail features an original door and hardware leading to the area under the steps.

Architecturally the Methodist church is a Greek-revival style structure with four bays facing the Street.  The entrance is articulated with two engaged columns flanked by Doric corner pilasters.  The main face is flushboarded, while the sides are covered with clapboards.  The paired recessed entries have their own simple pediments, and the fenestration, with Queen Anne style stained glass, is quite simple.  A simple gable articulated as a severe, stripped classical pediment tops the main facade.

The entire building rests on a high granite cut-stone basement.  There is a large shed-roofed wing at the rear of the building.  The church is approximately 38 by 50 feet in size.  At one time there was a steeple that would have matched the steeple found on the Stepney Baptist Church located directly across the green.  The steeple was removed in the 1960’s due to deterioration.  A simple cross now stands in its place.  The church is an excellent example of its style and it has retained most of the essential components that make up a quintessential Greek Revival Church.

One of two original black iron lamps that flank the entrance doors.

The house immediately north of the church dates from about 1836 and is the Isaac Burritt Home.  In 1800, Isaac Burritt built a general store located across the Green at the intersection of the Bridgeport/Monroe turnpike (Route 25) and the Monroe/Newtown turnpike (Hattertown Road).  The store was purchased by Burr Hawley and would continue in operation into the twentieth century.  In 1839, the Burritt home was sold and became the Stepney Methodist Church Parsonage.  It would remain the Methodist Parsonage until 1972 when the Methodist Church closed and sold to the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement.  It now serves as a convent for the order of the Dominican Sister’s of Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel.

Architecturally it is a simple three-bay, two-story Greek revival style structure, resting on a stone and brick foundation.  Its wraparound porch has received modern posts and a new balustrade.  The horizontal window in the gable end has been replaced, 1/1 windows are trimmed with simple surrounds, as well as half-height sidelights flanking the modern entry door.  Although altered over time the building has retained its essential massing and a few details.