The First Congregational Church of Bennington, also known as the Old First Church in Bennington, Vermont, was first a meetinghouse and served for general public meetings, as a school, and for worship.
The present sanctuary, completed in 1805, was the first church built in Vermont that reflects the separation of church and state. That is, the state would have no role in the maintenance of the church's building or ministry; and the church would be free to support and direct its own work. The townspeople raised the money to build ($7,793.20) mostly by selling the main floor pews. They hired the noted church architect, Lavius Fillmore, as builder. He was a nephew of an early church member and cousin of the nation's 13th President. Fillmore had built other churches in Connecticut (e.g., East Haddam Congregational Church, 1791) and later in Middlebury, Vermont. The pillars, which extend from the basement footings to the rafters are each planed from the trunk of a single tree, the sort of which had previously been reserved for the mast's of naval sailing vessels.
Robert Frost is buried in the church cemetery. Although he was not a member, he read a poem at the re-dedication of the building in 1937.
There was some controversy as to whether Lavius Fillmore was indeed the architect. Some thought that the plans were taken by Fillmore from a book of plans called "The County Builders Assistant" by Asher Benjamin, who would therefore be the architect. Further research found that before Benjamin's book was published, Fillmore, in about 1794, had already designed and built the church at East Haddam, Connecticut.
