Faith Congregational Church
(Talcott Street Congregational Church)
Faith Congregational Church grew out of the 19th century and early 20th centuries Talcott Street Congregational Church and Windsor Avenue Congregational Church. Early founders were Amos Beman and James Pennington. The original home of Faith Congregational was 30 Talcott Street built in 1826. In 1840 operated district school for African American children. Teachers Ann Plato African American poet; Augustus Washington famed daguerrotypist. The Congregational Church now Faith Congregational Church is associated with the famous Amistad Case 1839-1841. Reverend James W.C. Pennington, one of the Church's founding members, was among citizens who came together with African American and white Americans to pressure local authorities for the release of African men, women and children who had been captured from Sierra Leone. The Supreme Court decided that the Africans had been captured in violation to U. S. law and ordered their release. In 1860, home of city’s oldest African American congregation took name Talcott Street Congregation Church. Faith Congregational occupies an important role in Hartford's architectural and African American History. Constructed in 1871 in the High Victorian Gothic style with a bell tower and steep cross-gabled roof, the church still has the original doors in place. Located in Hartford's Northend, Faith Congregational continues this tradition of civic activism and religious support to the neighboring community.