In 1868 the Congregational Church was formed at Mott's Corners by local members of the Methodist Church and the Reformed Church of America at Boiceville1, which stood next to the extant graveyard across from the Caroline School.2 The only church in Brooktondale at the time was the Baptist Church, at the corner of Valley Road and Elm Street3. The Methodists needed to travel to Slaterville to attend services. The Reformed Church disbanded sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century, although the building was extant and in occasional use as an Episcopal Church at least into the 1870s.4 (St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Slaterville was not built until 1893.) It made sense for the Brooktondale Methodists and the members of the Reformed Church to form a local congregation and build a church.
The Methodists had intended to build a new church for their congregation, but due to a doctrinal dispute with the regional conference, they chose to align with the Congregational Church.5
The church’s bell was bought from the Reformed Church by the Congregationalists, and is probably the oldest bell in this area. It was manufactured by the American Bell Company in 1864.
The steeple was blown down by a windstorm in 1925. It wasn’t replaced until a fiberglass steeple was lifted to its platform by a crane from H. D. Besemer Co. on June 22,1977.
In 1938, the name was changed to Caroline Valley Federated Church. In 2006 the name was changed to the Caroline Valley Community Church.
The church celebrates its 150th anniversary on April 15, 2018.
- History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, & Schuyler Counties, New York, 1879, p. 460.
- New topographical atlas of Tompkins County, New York. From actual surveys especially for this atlas., 1866, p. 19.
- New topographical atlas of Tompkins County, New York. From actual surveys especially for this atlas., 1866, p. 21.
- History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, & Schuyler Counties, New York, 1874, p. 459.
- Caroline Federated Church History Shows Blending of Sects, The Ithaca Journal, March 30, 1938, p. 7
