The First Ecclesiastical Society of East Haddam, Connecticut was gathered in 1704 for purposes both spiritual and governmental. The Society relinquished its political authority in 1796 but retained its new constructed Third Meetinghouse for continuing religious and community purposes. The meetinghouse, designed by architect and glazer Lavius Fillmore (second cousin to President Millard Fillmore), was dedicated on November 27, 1794. It is the oldest surviving example of the fully-evolved Federal-period meetinghouse style, whose basic design was duplicated extensively across New England and the Midwest for the following 35 years. The Third Meetinghouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the Little Haddam Historic District.