 Since the settlement of Connecticut Farms in 1667 by emigrants from that colony, residents had to travel 4–5 miles (6–9 km) over poor roads every Sunday to nearby Elizabethtown (today Elizabeth) to attend church.In 1730 they decided it was time to build their own place of worship and joined together to build a wood frame structure in the center of town on a small rise.Not long afterward, a parsonage was built nearby.