In 1750, the first building for the Ware River Parish was erected for worship and town meetings and was named the Ware Center Meetinghouse. In 1799 a new building was built on Route 9, and called the previous name, and it served as both church and town hall. The Ware Center Meetinghouse now houses the Ware Historical Society Museum on the ground floor. The worship space on the upper floor is used by The United Church of Ware one Sunday a year in the summer, on what is known as Old Home Day.
In 1825, land at 49 Church Street, the location of our current church, was donated to the East Congregational Society by the Ware Manufacturing Company, with the cornerstone laid in 1826. That building was destroyed by fire in January 1925. Through faithful stewardship and hard work, the church was rebuilt in the same year.
Meanwhile, the Methodist Society built a simple structure on the eastern outskirts of town, relocating to a grander, newly-built structure at 13 Church Street in the early 1860’s. That structure still stands and is used as an arts/education center known as Workshop 13.
In 1969, these two churches, the East Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) and the Ware Methodist Church (United Methodist Church) became a cooperating parish of one faith community with ties to our two denominations. The fellowship hall was added at the rear of the church in that same year and later, a second story was added. A small Chapel, just off the lobby of the side entrance to the church for a time welcomed the congregation on Saturdays for a weekly praise and communion service as well as a small meditation group on Wednesday mornings. (These aren’t meeting at present.)
Reflecting the understanding that Christ calls us to use our building to serve not only the congregation, but also the community in which we live and worship, we provide space to several programs serving people in need. These include the Ware Family Center and the Ware Head Start Program, which operates under the auspices of Hampshire County Community Action. These programs, which rent space on the second floor of the fellowship hall, serve low-income families and children. We also host five daytime and one evening time meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in our fellowship hall, and one evening meeting of TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) provides further support to people in need in our community.
