A 200-year-old Congregational Church collapsed on Thursday 25th in New London

The First Congregational Church located on Union Street in New London collapsed on Thursday 25^th of January at 1:30 pm. According to Pastor Bob from Engaging Heaven Church, one person was in the building during the collapse but came out without injuries. However, the church was deemed to have suffered irreparable damage and thus engineers have assessed the building as beyond repair, scheduling its complete demolition.

To start the demolition, they spent Friday searching beneath the rubble, to be sure that there were no trapped people, and they cleared a path for the heavy machinery to access the site. New London Mayor Mike Passero stated that the demolition process will continue over the next several days. Moreover, New London police urged the public to avoid the downtown area for safety reasons, specifically State Street, Union Street, and Masonic Street.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is actively monitoring air quality in the vicinity since the cause of the collapse remains undetermined. The collapse has raised questions about the inspection history of the granite stone church. In this direction, Chris Kervick, a History Professor, expressed concerns about maintaining historical structures, noting the challenge posed by the severely compromised state of the church.

According to public records, a previous engineering study recommended numerous repairs for the church and the parish house, although the building shells were deemed to be in good condition. The city, which does not conduct routine building inspections, will now intensify the process of assessing the response and the stability of other aging structures.