St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the second oldest religious community in Shelton, was founded originally as a branch of the Church of England in 1740 when the construction of the first church building began. Christopher Newton, the first full-time pastor for the church, served as the “Missioner in the Parish of Repton in the Colony of Connecticut” from 1753 until his death in 1787.
        
During the American Revolutionary War, St. Paul’s was forced to close due to being a Church of England parish and its sworn allegiance to Great Britain. After the war the Anglican parishes in the United States, including St. Paul’s, reorganized into the Episcopal Church. The church building was destroyed in 1811 and reconstructed in 1818 when a well-meaning townsman attempted to rid the belfry of pigeons and set the building on fire. Intensive exterior and interior renovation was completed on the building in 1995 and 2008, respectively.
        
Expansion continued across Church Street, beginning in 1841, when the rectory was initially built, and continuing to the 1960s, when a kitchen, stage, auditorium, classrooms and offices were added. In the 1990s, a chapel was constructed adjacent to the parish hall. The chapel and parish hall are used for mid-morning Sunday worship and other activities, while the Church continues to house early-morning Sunday worship and special occasions.

http://www.stpaulsct.org