A success from the ashes of eminent domain
“A Hispanic Baptist church in New London may be one of the few winners to have come out of the destruction of Fort Trumbull by eminent domain.
And, curiously, the church’s success in the wake of the taking and demolition of its Fort Trumbull building could soon greatly help animate an unfolding renaissance downtown.
After its building was taken by the New London Development Corp. around 2001, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de New London found some empty land in a center city neighborhood, on Redden Avenue, and built a big modern new church.
And in the years since, the Hispanic church, which was originally created in the 1970s, as a ward of the traditional American Baptist Churches USA’s New London congregation – which worshiped in an 1804 church on State Street – has been thriving.
In fact, the Hispanic Baptist Church has outgrown its new building, attracting more people than can fit for regular services in its 300-seat main sanctuary.
Meanwhile, its original parent church, on State Street, has been withering, with fewer than 50 congregants most Sundays, many who come from suburban towns. Soon they probably would have had to abandon their 210-year-old church.”
THe Day 25 May 2014.