I haven’t found any contemporary references to a chapel or Sunday services on the property between May 1870 and October 1872. According to the Courant article on the purchase of the land, the “few gentlemen” bought the land “with a view to the erection of a chapel, and, by and by, a church edifice.” It appears that this was standard operating procedure for new Baptist societies at this time: first, acquire the land; second, build a chapel; and third, raise funds to build a church. Research will continue!
According to George Keller, as quoted by David Ransom, Jonathan Niles offered $10,000 toward the construction of the new church, and James Howard told Keller about Niles’s offer. Niles appears to have retired to Hartford, and he settled on Farmington Avenue. Howard, who lived on Collins Street, was very prominent locally and statewide: he served as lieutenant government and was one of the organizers, with James Batterson, of Travelers Insurance Company. Batterson’s company worked on the construction of Asylum Avenue Baptist Church, at which time Batterson employed Keller.