USA > Connecticut > Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley > Part 7
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The general characteristics of the style were well carried out with the comparatively meagre means
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which the committee had at hand. The original church with its very simple straight lines and broad unbroken surfaces was a dignified structure. The spire, or tower, always the most difficult feature of this style to handle, was rather unsatisfactory.
The program presented to the architects of the alterations of the church was to provide Sunday school accommodations at the front of the church and make these accommodations two stories in height. The requirements of the addition called for a division of the addition into several rooms, which should be amply lighted. This meant an increase in the wall openings for windows, and, moreover, that these openings should be comparatively small, a requirement which virtually destroyed the characteristic charm of the Greek revival type of architecture. Then, too, the placing of the addition on the front of the church called for an increase and added prominence to a belfry, already rather small. The architects, therefore, decided to go back twenty years in history, and, by making slight changes in front and in the tower, convert the church into the Colonial type, so well known through- out the valley."
Rev. John Pierpont, the present minister of the church, writes, "Our church is said to be one of the three finest examples of a remodeled Colonial church."
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Congregational Church Enfield Massachusetts
S ITUATED on both banks of Swift river and shut in by the near-by hills, Great Quabbin, Ram Mountain, and Little Quabbin, the village of Enfield is one of the many attractive places in the paradise of the Connecticut valley and contiguous country. The late Francis H. Underwood, L. L. D., a native of Enfield and noted in Boston literary circles, describing in his interesting book "Quabbin" a view from the top of a hill overlooking the village of Enfield says: "The traveler who has seen something of the Old World finds that the tranquil beauty of the scene lingers in memory." The following interesting de- scription of the old church is taken from "Quabbin :"
"The meeting-house of the village formerly stood sidewise to the road in a green space, flanked by rows of horse-sheds, some of them decrepit, and all unpainted. In its first estate it was of a dingy sulphur color, and without a steeple ; but its oaken frame and trussed roof were made to endure. Later, a steeple was set astride the roof; the building was painted white, furnished with green (outside) blinds, and turned with its end to the street. The vane, of sheet metal, gilded, was cut in form of a man, the head cleaving the wind, and the legs extended for rudder. As it turned with a sharp cry on the rod which pierced its body, it needed but little aid from the imagination of a boy to become the image of some sinner transfixed in air, and held aloft to swing in lingering pain.
In later days the boys found, in the cob-webbed and dusty space below the belfry, a long-forgotten cask of ball catridges, which had been kept, according to law, to be ready for an emergency that never happened. The paper covers were rotten, and the powder de- composed; and it was great fun to drop the leaden ounce-balls from the belfry railing, and then find them flattened and hot upon the stone steps below.
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The pulpit within was high, approached by flights of stairs, and above it was hung a sounding-board, in shape like an extinguisher. It was often a matter of wonder as to what would happen to the minister if the chain should break; but the boys were assured by the thought that 'The Lord is mindful of his own.'
The pews were square, each family being enclosed as in a pen, all facing inwards. The uncushioned wooden seats were hinged, and were raised as people stood up during prayer, to fall with a multi- tudinous clatter when the prayer ended. There was a gallery on three sides, the part facing the pulpit being occupied by the choir.
A century earlier it was the custom in New England to 'seat the meeting,' that is, to assign seats to the town's people according to their rank, as magistrates, elders, deacons, college-bred men, land- owners, mechanics, and laborers. In Quabbin each head of a family owned the pew he occupied, paying an annual tax thereon to the parish. The best places in the meeting-house belonged to those who had the money to pay for them."
Enfield was settled in 1736 and became a town in 1816. The first meeting house was built in 1786-7 at the time of the organization of the "parish," and the first minister, Rev. Joshua Crosby, who had been a chaplain under Washington, was settled in 1789. The site for the meeting house was given by the grandfather of General Joseph Hooker of Civil war fame. A belfry was built in 1814 and a bell, the gift of Josiah Keith, afterwards placed therein. Mr. Crosby continued as pastor until his death in 1835, nearly half a century. He was one of the first trustees of Amherst College and for a time acting president of that institution. The spire of the church, which is very graceful, was designed by Sylvester Lathrop, a resident of Enfield, when he was only twenty one years of age. In 1835 slips were substituted for pews and other improvements made in the building. An organ was placed in the church in 1855. In 1873 extensive improvements were made upon the edifice and an organ costing $2,500 took the place of the old one. Mr. Edward Smith was a large contributor and prime mover in repairing
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, ENFIELD. 1787
the church. A costly town clock was placed in the tower of the church some time prior to 1873. It was in 1873 that the house was given its present beautiful appearance. At that time modern windows were put in and the interior tastefully frescoed. W. F. Pratt and Son, architects, of Northampton, superintended the work, being assisted by a New York architect. In 1903 the church was repainted and refrescoed through the generosity of the late Lyman D. Potter. The late Edward Payson Smith served the church as organist for more than forty years without pecuniary compen- sation. His beautiful improvisations were much en- joyed by the congregation. The Enfield church is one of those that have wisely done away with the cumber- some system of parish and church organizations, the church having been incorporated February 15, 1906, and the parish dissolved in April of the same year. An interesting entry in the old parish records read as follows: "Voted April 1, 1816 that Ebenezer Winslow sweep the meeting house for one dollar and fifty cents per year to sweep it six times a year and after every town meeting."
The fine photograph of the church from which the accompanying halftone was made is owned by Miss Marion A. Smith of Enfield. The Rev. Alexander Sloan is the present pastor of the church.
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THE OLD WHITE CHURCH, WEST SPRINGFIELD. 1800
The Old White Church West Springfield, Massachusetts
T HE old white meeting house on "Mount Ortho- dox" in West Springfield is one of the most familiar land marks of the Connecticut valley in Massachusetts. Past this structure go countless auto- mobiles and their occupants, touring up and down the valley. The church stands on a considerable elevation and its tall white steeple can be seen from far distant points. In May, 1695, the people living on the west side of the river petitioned the General Court "that they might be permitted to invite and settle a minister." Their petition was granted and a church was formed in 1698 ; in 1702 the first meeting house was erected. The architect was John Allys, of Hatfield, Massa- chusetts. The following is quoted from a letter written to the author by Rev. George W. Love, pastor of the Congregational church in West Springfield:
"Turning to the description of this first meeting house, as the cut shows, it was evidently built after the untried plan of some local architect, for it was unique in every particular. It is described as forty two feet square and ninety two feet in height to the top of the spire, the vane of which, by the way, is largely conjectural. The timbers, which were of very large dimensions, were obtained in the nearby virgin forest, and, as was customary, were dressed by hand. The sills, it is said, projected above the floor and the people on entering and leaving were obliged to step over them, stumbling often, and in the early years of its occupancy they also furnished seats for the children : later it is evident an innovation was made by building seats upon
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them, an arrangement which was not altogether free from objection, as October 24, 1745, it was 'voted that if there be not a Reformation Respecting the Disorders in the Pews built on the great Beam in the time of Publick Worship, the Committee shall have power, if they see cause, to pull them down.' These pews were said to have been fifteen in number, and the woodwork, as of the pulpit and railing, was of oak and yellow pine. The body of the house was filled with slips, par- titioned through the middle, forming two divisions, one occupied by the men, the other by the women. The gallery was on three sides of the building and the treble singers sat in the gallery on the right of the pulpit and the bass singers on the left. The pulpit was much elevated. The glass in the windows was diamond shaped and set in lead sash.
The people gathered for worship in this quaint structure for a full century, although the subject of a new meeting house was agitated as early as 1769, when a committee was appointed to agree upon a location; indeed the location seemed to be a bone of contention, as votes upon this matter were three times passed and afterwards rescinded. This difficulty was not settled until the year 1799, at which time the records show Mr. John Ashley, a prosperous resident of Ashleyville, contributed to the parish the sum of thirteen hundred pounds, on condition that the parish erect a spacious meeting house on a spot designated by him. The last gathering for worship in the old meeting house was on June 20. The building remained standing for eighteen years and was used for town and parochial meetings, when by vote of the town, in 1820, it was demolished.
That the offer of Mr. John Ashley was speedily availed of is shown by the fact that, while the gift was made in 1799, the corner stone of the second edifice,
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the present 'White Church,' so called, bears the date June 14, 1800."
Associated with the first and second meeting houses was Rev. Joseph Lathrop, D. D., a representa- tive preacher of his times, who began his ministry in West Springfield in 1756, and died on the last day of December, 1820, in the sixty fifth year of his ministry. He, like many of the leading men of the region in his time, was a graduate of Yale College. The following estimate of Dr. Lathrop is taken from "Holmes' Annals," published in 1829:
"Dr. Lathrop, to an intellect of the first order, united the kindly affections. He was exemplary in the observance of the duties of piety and devotion, and of the social and relative duties. As a Christian minister he was very conspicuous. To his comprehensive intellect and exalted piety was added the acquired knowlege necessary to constitute a great theologian. In his pastoral inter- course he was peculiarly attentive to the state and circumstances of his flock, and an eminent example of prudence. In doubtful and perplexing cases of ecclesiastical concern, he was destinguished as a wise, judicious, and upright counselor ; and great confidence was reposed in his judgment."
Truly, there were giants in those days. It was to be expected that a region which in the first two hundred years of its history had such men for minis- ters of its churches and leaders of affairs as Thomas Hooker and Nathan Strong of Hartford, William Williams and Joseph Lyman of Hatfield, John Russell of Hadley, Solomon Stoddard and Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Noah Porter of Farmington, Samuel Osgood of Springfield, Eliphalet Williams of East Hartford, Joseph Lathrop of West Springfield, and Joseph Condit of South Hadley, would exert an im- portant influence upon both national and world life. What part of our own land has not felt the influence of the narrow strip of territory bordering on the "Great River ?" Indeed, is there any inhabited part of the
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globe that has not been in some degree enriched by the life of this region ?
In his letter, Mr. Love, referring to the second edifice, states: "In comparing the lines of the second meeting house on 'Orthodox Hill' with the earlier one, a vast improvement is at once noted in the architectur- al features. What the architect's name was is not any where mentioned, leaving us to suppose the builder was his own architect, which is more remarka- ble in view of the youth of the builder, Capt. Timothy Billings; indeed his youth seemed likely to defeat his obtaining the contract, for when he appeared before the committee, members of the committee 'doubted if so young a man could construct so great a building,' one of them remarking, 'Why, he has no whiskers on his face,' to which the youthful Billings replied that 'whiskers were not essential to the construction of the building, but brains were.' He had however a staunch supporter on the committee in the person of Justin Ely, Jr., for whom he had but recently completed a palatial residence in the most approved style and work- manship. At any rate, he secured the contract, as the records state, for $1,400 and ten gallons of St. Croix rum
The edifice was two years in building and was dedicated June 20, 1802. Until the year 1870, very few alterations had been made, except that of changing the
pews. In this year the question of repairing and remodeling the old building, or of building a new structure, arose and the church voted to build a new place of worship. The parish later voting not to con- cur resulted in a division of the church and the erection of the Park Street edifice; following this the old white church was extensively remodeled. The old galleries were removed and a floor laid, making two stories, with the audience room above and the social rooms below. At this time also the upper windows
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1708
LT.CHUBBUCK SPRINGFIELD MIS
FIRST MEETING-HOUSE IN WEST SPRINGFIELD,
were cut down, giving a more modern exterior. In 1902 a clock was donated for the tower by Mrs. E. J. Nichols, heir of John Ashley, the original donor of the building.
In 1909, the constituency of the old First Church gradually growing less and the Park Street church also feeling the effect of a changing population, a union of the two was effected. As a result of this action the services were transferred to the larger and more modern building on the common, at which time, April 1, 1909, regular services were discontinued in the old meeting house. Since that time it has been used as the head- quarters of the First Parish Historical Society, and here are kept the valuable historical paintings be- longing to the society. Services are also held during old home week and on anniversary dates. It is also the headquarters of the Boy Scout movement.
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THE OLD CHURCH ON THE VILLAGE GREEN. LONGMEADOW, MASS 1767
First Church of Christ in Longmeadow, Massachusetts
T HE church in Longmeadow is one of the oldest daughters of the First Church in Springfield, having been set off from that church in 1716. The story of the building of the first meeting house in Longmeadow is well told in the early records of the town.
"April 26, 1714. Voated, to proceed in building of a meeting- hous, and to accomplifh it so far as to Raise fhingle and Clabbord, the fame by the firft day of January next infuing. Voated, that the meeting-hous be built Thirty Eight foots fquare."
"February 10, 1715. Voated, to chufe and appoint a Committee to carry on the work of the meeting-hous to the finifhing and compleating of the fame. Except the Galries by the Month of April, which will be in the year 1716."
There is evidence in the town records that the house was used for worship in 1716. The many votes passed in town meeting relative to work on the meeting house show that the structure was not com- pleted for some time after it was used for worship and that it became necessary to make repairs on the building before it was finished in all its parts. It is also made clear by the records that soon after the building was completed the question of erecting a new house of worship was agitated.
"January 6, 1769. Voated that the Comtee Chosen for Building the New Meeting Houfe be Impowerd to Difpofe of the Old Meeting- Houfe for the ufe of the Precinct in fuch time and manner as they fhall think beft.".
Square pews were built in the first meeting house, a few at a time, at various intervals from 1748 to 1755. There was objection to square pews on the ground
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that they were aristocratic. March 12, 1716, it was voted that the women should be seated on the west side of the meeting house. The records show that in Longmeadow, as elsewhere, the "dignifying," or seat- ing, of the house of worship was attended with much dissatisfaction, giving rise to heart burnings and jealousies. The minister and his family, the heaviest tax payers, and persons of high standing in the com- munity were given the preference.
For many years the people were summoned to worship by the beating of a drum. The purchase of a bell for the meeting house was under consideration for some time. The records show that a bell was procured as early as December, 1744. In 1808 the sum of $125 was granted for the purchase of a new bell. May 1, 1809, the sum of $50 was added to the first grant. This bell, cast by Paul Revere and Son, was rung so violently to declare the joy of the town's people upon the declaration of peace in 1815 that it was cracked, and in August of that year a sum of money was granted for recasting it.
It was at the time of the erection of the first meeting house that the Rev. Stephen Williams, who, at ten years of age, had been taken captive by the Indians at the sack of Deerfield and had received a part of his education in Indian wigwams and among the Jesuits at Quebec, began his ministry of sixty six years in Longmeadow.
The building of the second meeting house was first discussed in town meeting in 1764, and an affirm- ative vote was passed that year. This was about fifty years after the erection of the first house of worship. The following is taken from an address delivered by Rev. Henry Lincoln Bailey on the 140th anniversary of the raising of the second meeting house :
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"The discussion preliminary to the building of this meeting house was lengthy. The matter was well threshed out by a series of not less than nineteen town meetings, extending over a period of two and a half years, before there was a really visible result of all their argument. Early in November, 1764, the precinct voted to build a new meeting house for the public worship of God. Twenty five days later it was voted that the new house be of wood. But by February the mind of the people had changed. They not only voted down the proposition for a new building, but they also refused to repair the old one. Next month they saw the need of repairs, and so voted. There the matter rested ten months until in January, 1766, they ordered a brick house, and in several meetings through the winter voted recommendations concerning its size, equipment, etc., only to nullify the whole series April 10, and next week vote repairs again. A meeting in June enlarged the committee on repairs, but the larger the committee the more hopeless was unanimity ; and in September the parish took up the matter once again and by a vote never repealed ordered a timber meeting house, which was raised in 1767 and is standing yet, the oldest Congregational meeting house but one in Western Massachusetts."
The date fixed upon for the raising of this house was June 17, 1767, and a committee was chosen to provide both "victuals and drink" for the occasion.
At eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the day set for the raising, pastor Williams gathered his flock in the old meeting house and "prayed with them." Meetings for prayer were held morning and night each week day while the erection of the new house was in progress. The work was finished on Tuesday of the second week by the raising of the steeple. The night of this day the minister and people went to- gether to the old meeting house, where a service of prayer and praise was held.
This second house was erected a little to the north of the first and stood without important changes for more than fifty years. In 1828 it was remodeled, the pulpit placed in the east end, the galleries rebuilt on the three remaining sides of the church, modern slips
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substituted for the square pews, and the porches on the outside removed.
As thus remodeled the second meeting house remained for about half a century longer, a conspicuous landmark of the town. It occupied a commanding position in the center of the long common. The tower, which faced to the west, was built from the ground up and was crowned by a two storied tapering spire, at the summit of which was perched a copper weather- cock. On the south and north sides of the house were two rows of windows. According to the vote of October 30, 1766, the house was fifty six feet long, forty two feet wide, twenty five feet in the clear, and the steeple fourteen feet square and fifty four feet high.
In 1874 the meeting house was moved to a new site in front of the old burial ground and "wholly clothed upon with new beauty under the advice of a competent architect."
Three of the men who preached in this second meeting house prior to the present century are remem- bered both for their distinguished abilities and their long pastorates. Rev. Stephen Williams ministered to the church from 1716 to 1782, Rev. Richard Salter Storrs from 1785 to 1819, and Rev. John Wheeler Harding from 1850 to 1891, their combined pastorates covering a period of about one hundred and fifty years.
Rev. Henry Lincoln Bailey, the present pastor, writes of the portions of the old meeting house re- maining in the structure of to-day: "The frame of the old building is still here, though the interior and exte- rior are greatly altered in appearance. The house is unique in that it has, despite its modern adaptation, been the scene of every pastor's preaching in the two centuries of church life in Longmeadow."
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A famous romance is connected with the Long- meadow church. No more remarkable story is to be found in all New England history than that of the Rev. Eleazer Williams, believed by many to be Louis XVII of France. According to the story, the Dau- phin of France did not die in the Temple, but was se- cretly brought to America, and later left in charge of an Iroquois chief, a half-breed, named Thomas Wil- liams, whose grandmother was the Eunice Williams of the Deerfield raid, sister of the Rev. Stephen Wil- liams of Longmeadow. In 1800 Thomas Williams brought to Longmeadow his two boys, Eleazer and John, to be educated under the care of Deacon Na- thaniel Ely, who had married the grandniece of Eunice Williams. Eleazer was converted in the old meeting house, under the preaching of Mr. Storrs, and later educated for missionary work among the Indians. In July, 1822, he engaged in missionary labors among the Indians at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where, in 1841, he received a mysterious visit from Prince de Joinville, eldest son of King Louis Phillippe. Eleazer Williams died in 1858. Any one who wishes to acquaint him- self with the details of the strange story of the lost Bourbon will do well to read a paper by the Rev. John Hanson, published in the February number of Putnam's magazine, 1853. The story is also well told by Mary C. Crawford in her interesting book, "The Romance of Old New England Churches."
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CHICOPEE
MARGARET BELCHER'S SKETCH OF SECOND
Some Churches in Chicopee, Massachusetts
CHICOPEE STREET
R UNNING parallel with the Connecticut river, a short distance from the east bank, and ex- tending from the Chicopee river to a point opposite the city of Holyoke, is Chicopee Street, the location of the first meeting house built in territory now included in the city of Chicopee. The first settle- ment was made here as early as 1675. The records show that Japhet and Henry Chapin "were living in homes of their own" at that time.
Clara Skeele Palmer, in her admirable work, "Annals of Chicopee Street," referring to Japhet and Henry Chapin, says: "Sons and daughters were born to these brothers and in a few years there were eighty eight grandchildren."
In the ancient records of the First Church of Springfield is this interesting note by the "compiler" for the year 1751: "'Inhabitants of Chicabee' desired to be set off as a parish; of 50 petitioners (males) exactly one half were Chapins." The petitioners actually numbered forty nine, twenty four of whom were Chapins.
Thus began the life of the community. It was Hannah Chapin, daughter of Japhet, whose wedding outfit, when she was married to John Sheldon of Deerfield, contained "a dress suitable to wear into captivity." A few days after the attack upon Deerfield, at which time the young bride was taken captive, an Indian woman was seen wearing the dress.
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