LITTLE RED CHAPEL

The Little Red Chapel on South King St was built by Eliud Comes in the 1820s as a place for nondenominational worship. The chapel was donated to the King St Christian Church in 1846. Over time the tiny chapel fell into disrepair and in the late 1960s, the chapel was set on fire. Preliminary research by this author suggests Danbury structures were being burned by an arsonist who was at work in the area in the spring of 1967. Abandon hat factories and houses were torched. The Little Red Chapel also could have been a victim of this possible arsonist Who was this possible arsonist? Years ago this writers’ mother related a story to him that when the large abandon hat factory in Danbury’s rail yard was set ablaze a man was seen jumping from a window in the structure. She also told a tale that the late 60s early 70s arsonist was caught and he turned out to be a volunteer fireman memories become muddled with time and this has to be corroborated before it can be accepted as fact. In any event the Little Red Chapel was saved that day in 1967 before the fire totally destroyed it; however, because it was damaged it was going to be razed but, area residents rallied and saved the chapel through donations.