The Summer Hill Congregational Church was founded on April 17, 1827, with seventy members and had begun earlier that year as The East Church of Locke and the East Congregational Society of Locke. Fire claimed the original church building in January of 1841 but the church quickly built a new building and dedicated it in September of that year. That new building served the church on the Homer-Locke Highway, Route 90, for the remainder of its history. The church was rededicated in May 1896. The church is also known as the one-word variant “Summerhill,” as is the town it served.

The church was part of a local consortium of churches known as the Cortland Larger Parish, formed in 1925, that also included the Second Congregational Church of Cortland and the Congregational Church of Groton. The Cortland Larger Parish dissolved with the exit of the Cortland church in 1947 and was replaced by an entity known as the Tri-County Parish, comprising churches in the counties of Cortland, Cayuga, and Tompkins. The church’s final affiliation was part of the Cortland-Summer Hill Parish.

Members of a single family served as clerk for Summer Hill Congregational Church for more than a century, 1835 to 1838. The legacy began with Winslow Hamblin, who was followed by his son-in-law, George Allen, who was in turn followed by his son, J. Gurnsey Allen, who held the post for 41 years.

Members of the church voted to close the church permanently and sell its assets on May 5, 1974. The church held its last service on September 29, 1974.