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164-Year-Old Church Transformed
Photos provided.
WILTON — State Farm Insurance agent Dione Ramsdill celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 28 at her new office location at 4285 Route 50 in Wilton. However, the new office is actually the oldest church in Wilton. The former Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1854.
Ramsdill purchased the building in an auction and paid $148,500. Ramsdill and her team made the move on Oct. 19, her previous office was located in The Shoppes at Wilton.
“I had my eye on this building for several years. It was going though a foreclosure process and unfortunately it’s been vacant and not being maintained because of that. So I had been watching the status of it for a while,” Ramsdill said.
Changes to the church are mostly cosmetic. Ramsdill did make changes to the floor, ceiling and painted the surfaces. The building did have to be brought up to code but according to Ramsdill, it just needed some TLC and to be made more homey.
“I’m a genealogy buff so the fact that this has been here as long as it has, being able to preserve a building like this and hopefully improve on it to keep it for future generations to still be able to appreciate it, is really neat,” she added.
While transforming the church Ramsdill found artifacts in the building such as hymnals that date back to 1914 and newspaper articles that were used for insulation. The church remained active until 1988, according to Ramsdill. An architect and a friend of hers then purchased it.
Ramsdill has lived in Wilton her whole life and has even attended church at this building growing up. She says her team members’ parents were married there as well. Ramsdill has worked with State Farm for 22 years and began her career at the State Farm Operations Center in Malta. On Dec. 1 she will celebrate 12 years at her own office.
An open house will be held at her new office on Dec. 8 beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m. with free photos with Santa from noon to end. All are welcome and no insurance with State Farm is required.
