National Register of Historic Places

Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage

South Thomaston, Knox County, Maine
Listed
June 23, 1994
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
94000639

About this property

The Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage is a historic church at 172 St. George Road in South Thomaston, Maine, United States. Built in 1921, with the parsonage (now a Finnish heritage center) added about 1925, the church represents one of the earliest formal expressions of Finnish-American culture in the region. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The Finnish Congregational Church stands on the east side of St. George Road (Maine State Route 131), about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of its junction with United States Route 1 in the main village of Thomaston. The church faces west and is set behind a semicircular drive, with the former parsonage house just to its right (south). The church is a basically vernacular wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboard siding. A square tower projects half its size from the center of the front, with the main double-door entrance at its base, a narrow sash window above, and a pyramidal second stage topped by a shallow pyramidal roof. An addition extends to the rear of the main body, which houses a kitchen and dining area. The former parsonage is a smaller single-story wood-frame building, three bays wide, with a full-width hip-roofed porch across the front. Finnish immigration into Knox County appears to have begun in the 1890s, and is one of two places (the other being Oxford County) where Finns clustered in these early years. The earliest documented land ownership by Finns in the county is 1896. The Finnish Congregation was formally organized in 1921, earlier services have taken place at a local school. The church was completed later that year, and the parsonage was added in about 1925. It was the first religious building constructed for the Finnish community in the state. National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Maine

Location

South Thomaston, Knox County, Maine
44.07166, -69.16145

Categories

EUROPEAN
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Thomaston Historic District
Listed
0.9 mi
Dunn & Elliot Sail Loft
Industrial
1.2 mi
Thorndike, George, House
Industrial
2.1 mi
Williams, Timothy and Jane, House
Industrial
2.3 mi
Rockland Turntable and Engine House
Listed
2.8 mi

Questions about this property

When was Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage listed on the National Register?

Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 23, 1994.

What type of historic resource is Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage?

Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage?

The period of significance for Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage is recorded as the industrial era.

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