About:

In September, 1989, a group of Telugu-speaking Hindus organized and incorporated the Hindu Temple and Cultural Society. The group started to explore the possibility of building a Hindu temple with the Hindu God Shri Venkateshvara as the main deity. The board discovered a unused church property in Bridgewater that had recently been set for auction in bankruptcy court. On December 9, 1991, HTCS won the bidding and settled on a final price of $950,000. The judge gave them 45 days to raise the full amount. During that time, they raised $450,000, and loans from temple members made up the rest. On January 29, 1992, the property was theirs. After some renovation, they inaugurated the existing building for use in February, and opened it to the public in March. At that time, the temple consisted of a large gathering hall with posters of the various deities used in worship. A full-time priest was hired from the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens, and in November, 1992, the Pancaloha (“five-metal”) murthis (images) arrived from Tirupati, India. These became the official images of the temple. That same year, the HTCS held its first election for seats on a 25-member board, and drew up a constitution and bylaws