Memorial Reformed Church
Placed on the National Register of Historical Places, June 21, 1990
The Memorial Reformed Church, now Memorial United Church of Christ, is an 1887 brick structure with a 1914 entrance/bell tower and a 1936 - 37 Sunday school addition. Its unusual combination of Classical Revival and Gothic Revival, was built by Salathiel Bolick. The original sructure was a two-bay-wide by four-bay-deep building, with pedimented facade, pilastered walls, and segmental-arched windows with keystoned lintels. A steeply arched brick hood molds over the side windows. The sanctuary is entered through a small vestible at the base of the bell tower, which has a double-leaf entrance.
The church was founded in the mid - 1880's and built under the auspices of the Carpenter family. The Reformed congregation formally organized in September of 1886 and honored Perry Carpenter, youngest son of Henry Carpenter, who died on July 9, 1886, by naming the church "Memorial Church". The Carpenter family's firm donated a two-acre lot, in March of 1887, for the building of the church, with construction beginning in July of that year. Construction was finished and the first service held on April 8, 1888, with formal dedication on September 16, 1888.
At the time of its organization, the Memorial Church had 29 members. This number grew quickly and by 1890, the church had 112 members. They also constructed a parsonage and established a cemetery, which is now part of the Maiden Cemetery. Both were on land donated by the Carpenter firm.
In 1965, The Memorial Reformed Church merged into the United Church of Christ.
Picture donated for use by Mary Rink Harbinson
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