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- Category: Past Issues
captions, clockwise from top left:
Getting the steeple ready Jan. 4
Bell on its way back home.
Steeple heads skyward.
Photos courtesy of Pastor Thomas Meyer
Warped stained glass window framework. Linda Lemmon photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- The steeple and bell might be settled back on top of the tower, but inside the tower, work continues full force to bring the Congregational Church of Putnam back to full splendor.
The church's steeple was lowered in September, completely refurbished --- down to a new custom weathervane --- and then last week a crane raised the steeple and the bell back onto the tower.
But the $25,000 cost for the steeple work represents only a third of the project, according to Capital Campaign Chairman Charlie Leach.
The two-year Capital Campaign centers on fixing the steeple and renovating other parts of the church, including the water damage caused by the faulty steeple. Thus far, the campaign has raised more than $60,000 of the $75,000 goal.
Currently Dexter Masonry is knocking out the existing plaster in the tower's "access room," which houses the stained glass windows near the top of the tower. He is knocking the finish down the lathe so the estimate is more solid. The church plans to repoint the bricks will be repointed in that section.
The water damage in that area was so severe that the framework around the stained glass windows is twisted and wire is being used to keep the stained glass windows from falling out. Leach also said that a volunteer is working on the clock in the tower. The mechanism was found to be too far gone and a new mechanism is on order.
The church is looking at painting and restoring trim around the outside of the church - in fact that project is first on the list when warmer weather hits.
Leach said donations are still being accepted. Send donations to the Congregational Church of Putnam, PO Box 463, Putnam, CT 06260.