USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > A history of Saint John's Church, Hartford, Connecticut, 1841-1941 > Part 5
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ing on May 4, 1908 accepted the plans and appointed a building committee. Five days later ground was broken, and on the twelfth workmen started to dig the foundation.
On July 14th, the sixty-seventh anniversary of the first one, the second cornerstone of Saint John's was laid at four o'clock in the afternoon, with an historical address by Mr. Bradin. The form of ceremony was the same as in 1841 and was witnessed by a large company of distinguished priests from neighboring parishes, Berkeley Divinity School and Trinity College. Only two of them are still living and serving the Church in Connecticut: the Reverend George B. Gilbert of Middletown and the Rev. James B. Lord of East Hartford. The Rector paid a moving tribute to the parish's founders and early pastors, and voiced the hope of his people for a new life in old Saint John's. "Thanks to a kind Providence, and to the generous gift of a most desirable lot, we are at last in the right place. Fully one mile and a half from any other parish of our communion, and in a new part of the city, we can carry on the life of this parish for all who wish to join us, rich and poor, known and unknown. We are enabled to start the old parish amid con- ditions that are most promising The strength that comes through discipline, the prosperity that awaits faithful- ness in adversity, we dare to hope is now ours."
The old cornerstone, dated 1841, was placed on top of the new one, which held a copper box containing half dollars of 1840 and 1908; a copy of the deed of land; lists of rectors, wardens, treasurers, clerks and present parish officers; copies of the Hartford Times, Courant and Post, the Churchman and Connecticut Churchman; Saint John's Parish Record; a Prayer Book and photographs of the old church. The weather reminded all who knew, that Saint John was called a "son of thunder." While the procession formed at the Chapter House, a black July storm was rolling up. It burst in full fury during the ceremony, in a downpour of rain, vivid flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder. Sometimes the
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service could scarcely be heard by the company of about two hundred people gathered in a tent pitched on the scene in anticipation of such an event. Heaven interpreted literally the livid streak of lightning shown in the old parish seal!
Once begun, work on the new edifice progressed so rapidly that it stood ready for consecration in less than a year. The solemn ceremony took place at eleven o'clock on the morning of June 9, 1909, with Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster as consecrator, the Reverend Dr. Samuel Hart as preacher, and Robert A. Wadsworth, the parish clerk, as marshal. The Senior Warden, Mr. Edwin P. Taylor, read the instrument of endowment and presented it to the bishop. After the consecration came a service of Holy Communion, with music under the direction of the new organist, Mr. Denison Fish. After service the parish served a collation for the visiting clergy and other guests. Bishop Doane of Albany, the third Rector, was unable to attend, but sent a letter expressing his regret and assuring the parish of his "living interest" in its welfare.
The new church was designed to follow "the best style of the English parish church." The unusual material, trap- rock, was shaded to give an appearance of age, and trimmed with concrete. All wood-work, excepting the pews and chancel furniture, is of Carolina pine, stained to harmonize with the rest of the building, and the floor is of masonry. The fine stone altar bears on the front nine niches with figures portraying the orders of the celestial hierarchy, each properly vested and with appropriate symbol. The chancel floor is of Moravian tile set in stripe of green slate, and the choir and sanctuary are paneled in darkened and richly carved red oak. Originally there was a dossal curtain behind the altar, of rich green material inwrought with gold thread. A portion of it is now a dossal for the side altar in the east transept. Previous to its enlargement in 1928, the nave with the transepts provided seats for slightly over four hundred people.
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The organ, built by the Austin Organ Company, is a fine instrument of sweet tone. In accordance with the ideals of the architects, who wanted all materials to appear without disguise, the pipes were left in the natural color of their metal. The electric fixtures are of dull bronze, save in the chancel, where silver-plated and clustered lamps hang from a lofty wooden ceiling. The font originally stood at the rear of the nave on a masonry platform, but now occupies a baptistry alcove in the west aisle lighted by superb stained- glass windows. It was cast in lead, which at the time was unique in this country and was suggested by its use in the Norman and early Gothic periods of the Church in England. As in the old church, the parishioners provided splendid memorials to beautify the interior and make it worshipful.
The organ was a gift from Thomas B. and John O. Enders in memory of their grandmother, Mrs. Harriet Burnham. The altar was given by Miss Sarah M. Pardee. The font, a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Lucius J. Hendee, was given by Mr. Abner Hendee of New Haven. The east transept window was given by Mrs. T. Pearse as a memorial to her parents; and the one facing it in the other transept commemorates the father and mother of Mrs. J. H. Root. Six small windows in the side aisles were given by Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, Mrs. Sloan, Mr. and Mrs. J. L. English, Mrs. Jacob Knous, Mrs. James W. Bradin and Miss Hendee, Mrs. Charles Pease and Miss Danforth.'
Those who cherished the memory of the old church could see the continuity of parish life in the bell, pulpit, lectern and altar rail brought from the old sanctuary on Main Street. Their sound and presence must have comforted some older members when they felt a pardonable twinge of regret for the place they had loved so much.
The beautiful new home of Saint John's was consecrated without debt, having been paid for with funds in the treas-
*A full list of the memorials in Saint John's appears in the Book of Remem- brance.
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urer's care. The total cost was one hundred thousand dollars, including seventy thousand from sale of the old property, fifteen thousand as the value of the lot, five thousand for the organ, and the remainder for memorials, gifts, stained- glass windows and the font. Saint John's at once became known as one of the finest church buildings in the land, and was admired by hundreds of visitors. On every beholder it produced an impression of sober richness-
A fine aspect in fit array, Neither too mean, nor yet too gay-
as the poet George Herbert has said of the Anglican Church. The spirit of the church seemed to be typified in the great window above the altar, a gift from the parish in memory of the founders and departed members. The richly robed and stately figures, gazing down upon the worshippers, seem to show forth to their successors the calm assurance of the generous and devout men and women who sustained the parish in adversity and enabled it to step forth into the light of a new service to God and the community.
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The New Church on Farmington Avenue.
Interior of the New Church.
The Reredos
The Peace Cross and Outdoor Pulpit.
Font and Former Altar Cross.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The New Life
TH HE RENEWED LIFE OF SAINT JOHN'S BEGAN ON SUNDAY, April 7, 1907, a fair and clear day. Many of the old parish- ioners and new neighbors gathered in the Kings Daughters Chapter House for the first service. The choir and the familiar ornaments of worship made the people feel "hopeful and assured of still better things to come." Mr. Bradin was touched by the neighborhood's warm welcome and the deep loyalty of old parishioners, some of whom had to come from a distance. Many members of the choir could not follow the church, and to them the Rector and parishioners bade a grateful and affectionate farewell, while they expressed a heartfelt appreciation of the faithful work of Mr. Emmons and Miss Wainwright in training the choir and playing the organ. It lifted everyone's pride to reflect how for many years the choir had contributed members to the Sunday School, the confirmation class and the parish organizations. Not a few communicants were former choristers.
Sunday School was temporarily suspended, but far from forgotten. To teachers and scholars who could not easily reach the new home, the Rector confided his hope that they would join and work in other schools, and wished them God's blessing in their new relations. "Remember the old parish," he said, "and come and see us whenever you can. You will always be welcome." He looked forward to meeting all the old members who could still come, as soon as the school should resume classes.
So a fresh venture of faith began, with high confidence in spite of losses of some members because of the removal of nearly three miles. The roll had to be clipped again, to
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only eighty families and individuals, one hundred and fifty communicants and eighty in the school. The devoted rem- nant worked hard to rebuild the parish, so that in only eight years the families and communicants nearly doubled while the school tripled. Legal membership, the solid foun- dation of interest and support, grew by leaps and bounds. A striking contrast with the later years on Main Street, when from 1882 to 1906-practically a whole generation- there were but sixty-five applications and in some years only one. During the first fifteen years on Farmington Avenue there were one hundred and twenty-one new members. At the annual meeting of 1912 sixteen women were admitted, according to a ruling of the last diocesan convention.
Rapid growth was due not merely to West Hartford's expansion as a residential community, but also to a great deal of patient effort to make the neighborhood acquainted with Saint John's. In the autumn of 1909 the Vestry named the Rector and Wardens a committee to devise ways of making contact with friends of the parish, and later a circular was distributed in the pews. Just before Christmas of 1913 the Vestry appointed a neighborhood committee and empowered the Rector to arrange for personal calls. The Sunday School, choir and other organizations also helped Saint John's to become a valued part of the new and growing community.
Most of the service groups were inherited from the old parish life on Main Street. They comprised the school, Altar and Decoration Committee, Relief Committee, Missionary Society, Girls' Friendly Society and Church Home Com- mittee. Eventually, in 1919, the women's groups were com- bined into the Woman's Auxiliary and Church Service League for all types of parochial work. The Girls' Friendly, founded by Mrs. Jacob Knous, was very active and even organized its own choir. When it dissolved about twelve years ago, the members voted to give their funds to the parish. In addition to all its other duties, the Service League
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established a choir to sing during Lent. Although the parish now has no men's club, several such groups have existed from time to time and have stimulated or sustained interest in Saint John's and the Church at large.
Especially after the erection of the parish house in 1914-15, the Sunday School-later called the Church School -grew far beyond anything the older parishioners had ever seen. Mr. Charles A. Pease contributed largely to this growth through his twenty-five years of devoted service. It was reorganized on November 22, 1908, and by 1914 had about two hundred and forty pupils. By 1925 there were over five hundred, ten years later about eight hundred and fifty! Classes at first were held in the church, which was inconvenient in some ways and helped to stimulate the desire for a parish house. The sums expended upon religious education in the nineteen-twenties would have staggered the parish's founders, and they kept on growing.
The school's expansion was due only in part to the popularity of West Hartford as a place of residence. It depended also upon a vast amount of detailed staff work, which by organizing and visiting kept the gains from drift- ing away. That demanded a parish secretary, and in 1920 the Vestry decided to employ Miss Frances O. Rees, who took charge also of a portion of the Church School work. Within three years the school seemed to require a profes- sional director, and the often-discussed question was settled by engaging Miss Barbara Jareo of Detroit, who served also as parish secretary. Under her competent hands the school soon acquired the outlines of its present administra- tion. It continued to grow right through the period of depres- sion until 1932, when there were over twelve hundred pupils, with adults and the Cradle Roll. Attendance thereafter tended to decrease, because of removals and the growth of other Sunday Schools in West Hartford. The demand for enlargement of the parish house represented the school's increasing pressure upon the available room for classes.
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Through the building expansion, classrooms, a kindergarten and an attractive children's chapel are now available.
Under the inspiration of Mr. Hooper's keen interest in children and religious education, the Church School attempted to extend its influence deeper into the commu- nity. In 1920 he outlined a comprehensive plan to offer religious instruction to all willing pupils of the public schools for an hour a week. The experiment aroused great interest in Hartford and attained considerable success. Saint John's was a pioneer in that field of education, which today is commanding increasing respect from churches and educators throughout America. Mr. Hooper also inspired the school to undertake a venture in real social service, by caring for pupils from the Newington Home for Crippled Children. In the winter of 1925 he invited Miss Constance Leigh, the Superintendent, to appeal to the Vestry for a plan to bring the children into contact with the school, not only through their attendance at classes but also by instruc- tion at the Home and pastoral visits by the Rector. Deeply appreciating such a privilege, the Vestry accepted the work as a missionary responsibility of the parish under the Rector's direction, including provision for transportation by buses. The school has given to the parish the Church School Choir, of girls vested to sing at the school service and regularly trained by the organist and choir director. It now consists of about forty or forty-five members.
The regular male choir came to the new Saint John's as an established institution, and was reorganized in the spring of 1909 under Mr. Denison Fish as organist and choirmaster. During the interval in the Chapter House the music had been conducted by Mr. D. P. Goodrich and Mr. Robert H. Prutting. Since his resignation in 1910 Mr. Fish has served as head of the music departments at Saint Mark's School in Southboro, Mass. and the Hotchkiss School in Salisbury, Conn. His successor, Mr. Ralph M. Lowry, served for four- teen years, until 1924. He was succeeded for a short time by
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Mr. John W. Harrison, now organist of the Methodist church in Simsbury. Mr. Stanley R. Waterman, now a master at Kingswood School and organist of Trinity Church in Water- bury, came to the parish in 1925. He was followed by Mr. Clarence E. Watters, from the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh, now head of the music department and organist at Trinity College, Hartford. The present organist and director of the choir is Mrs. William W. Malcolm.
Four of the earliest members of the new choir are still singing: Mr. Harold N. Chandler, an original member, Everett P. and Dudley A. Newman and Lester E. Curran. In early years there were generally about ten men and twenty- two boys, who sang at the late service on Sunday morning. Full choral evensong was started in the autumn of 1909, with Doctor W. M. Urban intoning and the choir singing un- accompanied. Later Russian church music was introduced into the evening services and sometimes attracted large congregations. As years passed and amusements multiplied, the appeal of evening services decreased and in 1925 the Vestry voted to allow the Rector to discontinue it. Easter music always has been one of the glories of Saint John's, especially at the traditional early Communion service, which came from the old church, with the choir gathering for breakfast in the parish house. For many years the choir has sung Stainer's "Crucifixion" in Lent, and formerly used to sing it at Grace Church, Saint Monica's Mission and Saint James's Church, West Hartford.
The organizations all represented a healthy and expansive parish life that quickly began to outgrow the church build- ing. Within a short time some parishioners began to agitate the idea of buying more land for expansion and to keep un- desirable buildings away from the church. In the spring of 1909 two men began a fund to purchase the lot on the corner of Farmington Avenue and South Highland Street, known as the Fenn property. Ten years later the parish bought it for about twenty-one thousand dollars, including the house,
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which eventually was moved to the rear of the church and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lewis, the sexton and parish secretary.
The project of a parish house was in the air as early as 1912, when the Vestry even considered buying the Chapter House on Prospect Avenue. Plans began to crystal- lize in the fall of 1912, when the women of the parish urged speed in securing plans and requested a joint meeting of the Vestry, the Men's Club and the Women's Guild to discuss the matter. Plans were drafted by Bertram G. Goodhue, and on December 30, 1914 the cornerstone was laid with a simple ceremony attended by the Rector, one of the Wardens, several members of the Vestry, the builders and a few of the Congregation. The building, extending back from the rear hall and old choir room, was erected during 1915 at a cost of about twenty-six thousand dollars, which was raised with astonishing speed by large and small gifts from young and old, who were all determined to have a spacious place for parish activities. But their expectation that it would accom- modate the parish's future growth, was destined to a pleasant disappointment.
The next project was a further improvement of the church interior, suggested in the spring of 1922 by plans for a reredos representing the Last Supper, as a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Pease. The chancel was considerably enlarged and a chapel installed in the east transept for daily and special services. During the following year the chancel, choir and chapel were enriched by many gifts, which were solemnly dedicated by Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster on Sunday, October 14, 1923. Besides the reredos, they included the Enders Tablet in the respond of the west transept, the altar cross, missal and stand in the east-transept chapel, the altar cross and candlesticks, the Foster Memorial altar of the chapel, the clergy stalls and extension of the chancel .*
*See Book of Remembrance.
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In 1923 it became necessary to make extensive repairs, to prevent seepage of water through the masonry, particu- larly around the tower and crossing. While the safety of the edifice did not seem to be seriously endangered, the leaks made unsightly stains. After much earnest discussion, the parish accepted an offer from the famous Obelisk Company for repairing and waterproofing the stonework. The work, which continued for several months, was practically com- plete early in the summer of 1924, and gave the parish a greater sense of security while it improved the appearance of the interior.
That task was hardly complete, when it was seen that something must be done to relieve that strong plant, the Church School, which was becoming potbound in the old buildings. The annual meeting of 1925 stated frankly that the parish house, only ten years old, was already inadequate, while the church was frequently overcrowded. The Rector named a building committee to study the whole matter and get plans for extension of the parish house. Before Mr. Goodhue's death in 1923, he had unfolded to the Rector his vision of a complete, unified group of buildings with all facilities for worship, education and social events.
His dream became possible through the generosity of parishioners and friends, who raised a fund of about two hundred and ten thousand dollars to build the new parish house, cloister, outdoor pulpit and peace cross, to lengthen the nave by two bays and rub out the old debt incurred for the Fenn lot. The cornerstone of the new parish house was laid on May 1, 1927 by the Senior Warden, Charles A. Pease, who so performed the last of many services to his beloved parish. On June 28, 1928 was laid the church's fifth corner- stone, marking the extension of the nave. The great service of dedication, on December 9th, was performed by the Right Reverend E. Campion Acheson, Bishop of Connecticut, the Reverend William T. Hooper, Rector, and the Reverend Walter H. Gray, assistant. Present in the throng was the
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Very Reverend Henry B. Washburn, D. D., Dean of the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, Mass. (recalling the second rector) who preached the sermon. In his address the Rector paid a well deserved tribute to the Building Expansion Committee, consisting of Messrs. Shiras Morris, Richard B. Bulkeley, Charles J. Bennett, Joseph W. Thurston, John O. Enders, L. Edmund Zacher, Henry H. Conland and Oliver R. Beckwith. For the occasion the parish published a beautiful Book of Remembrance, with a full list of memorials and a brief historical sketch.
Since the parish came to its new home, the expansion of its activities and buildings have required the introduction of an efficient system of finances. The duplex-envelope system, first adopted on Main Street, was officially continued by vote of the Vestry in 1911, and fully explained by the Treasurer's Committee in a statement prepared for the Parish Record. The annual meeting of 1917 went a step further, by appointing a Committee of Finance which became a permanent institution. About three years later the Vestry formally adopted the budget system on recommenda- tion of the committee, and named a special committee to report on the parish's financial needs. The every-member canvass was inaugurated at that time and has been success- fully continued. In 1922 its effectiveness was increased by a new plan, which was explained in a circular letter, and the result amply justified the effort, by substantial increases in the number and amount of contributions.
Efficient administration, however thorough and devoted, would have meant little in adjusting the church to its new home, without the continuing consecrated service of the clergy. Mr. Bradin, suddenly taken from a place he had loved, quickly appreciated his new position and bore most nobly the double task of adjusting himself and the parish to a new life. He continued his ministry for more than eleven years, until June 27, 1918, when a special parish meeting heard and accepted his resignation with deep regret. By a
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curious coincidence the resolution of acceptance was signed by thirty-seven persons-the exact number of the parish's original members. Mr. Bradin accepted the office of Rector- Emeritus, which he held until his death on December 12, 1923, at the age of seventy-seven.
In a resolution spread upon the parish record the Vestry expressed their appreciation of his missionary work in the city, his love of humanity and ministrations to the lowly, his "abundant loving kindness," his social charm that made leading people of the city his friends, and his personal sacri- fices to the parish's welfare. Above all, the parish and Vestry united in testifying that "To the beginning of the new church he devoted himself with all his vigor
In the later years of his ministry he had felt that his strength was no longer equal to the task of carrying the whole burden alone. As early as 1913 the Vestry offered him an assistant and named a committee to consider the matter with him. In the winter of 1916 the Rector and parish welcomed as assistant Dr. W. M. Urban, a professor of philosophy at Trinity College, who had officiated in previous years, especially at the evening services. He remained as a lay assistant until early in 1917. He left Trinity College in 1920 and is now professor of philosophy in the Yale University Graduate School.
His successor as Assistant to the Rector was the Rev- erend William Thomas Hooper, who was called to the parish on March 28, 1917 to serve from July 1st. About a year later he was invited to attend regular meetings of the Vestry, and on June 27, 1918 was elected as rector. He was born in Bristol, England, on March 6, 1886, and was edu- cated in Canada and at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, which conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1913. Bishop E. M. Parker ordained him a deacon in June and priest in November, 1914. Before coming to Saint John's he was a teacher of science at Saint Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.
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