This image of First Congregational Church, Sandisfield, Massachusetts, shows a crowd gathering on the steps of the church. The church was organized in 1756. The caption reads, "5445 Photograph. Congregational Church, Sandisfield, Mass. 150th. Anniversary, Aug. 27, 1906." A note on the back reads, "Burned ca. 1909."
According to a descendant of The Art Store founder, this was part of a series by a local photographer named George Taylor. The information on another image of the church indicates that it was Sandisfield Congregational's third meetinghouse, built in 1852 and destroyed by a fire in May 1908.
After the loss of their meetinghouse, the congregation was listed as "inactive" in denominational yearbooks for several decades, but never managed to reassemble or construct a new church building. Sandisfield is a small enough town that the congregants of First Church probably just joined the nearby New Boston Congregational Church or scattered to the churches in surrounding towns.
--Robin
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