USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume III > Part 6
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
other improvements as shall give the building a more modern appearance, at an expense of $25,000; but so little interest was shown in the project that at the annual meeting it was decided to let the whole subject rest until the demand for a change had been made manifest by the society.
It "rested " for something more than two years, when the new church project came up again. At the suggestion of the pastor the Hon. Green Kendrick went with him to call on Deacon Aaron Benedict to secure a subscription, and their mission was successful. Mr. Benedict subscribed $25,000 in his own behalf and $5000 as a memorial of his wife who had recently died. To this sum Mr. Kendrick himself added $10,000 and A. E. Rice $1500, and the several subscriptions were conditioned upon raising $80,000 and beginning the building by May 1, 1873. It was of course desirable to secure these sums to the use of the society, and a meeting was called for July 29, 1872, at which it was unanimously voted that it was expedient and necessary to erect a new church and that the subscription paper be circulated for additional names. On Decem- ber 30, 1872, the subscription committee reported that they had raised $75,000 and asked for more time, which was granted. A building committee was appointed the same evening, consisting of Green Kendrick, A. E. Rice, L. S. Bronson, E. L. Bronson and S. B. Terry, Jr., and on February 10, 1873, they presented plans for a new church prepared by David R. Brown of New Haven, which were accepted. The committee was instructed to remove the old building and commence the erection of a new one on the same site at the earliest possible moment. In the Waterbury American of the following day the proposed edifice was briefly described as follows:
It will be of pure Gothic style, and will be built of the finest pressed brick, with bands of yellow and brown stone in front, stone arches and lintels, and polished granite columns at each of the three front doors. There will be a tower and spire at the southwest corner, and a chapel across the rear of the main edifice. The entire structure will be 162 feet in length,-the church proper measuring 126 feet, and the width of the chapel making thirty-six feet more. The main edifice will be built with a clear-story; the chapel will have two stories, the second extending over the eastern passage way, and supported by arches,-so that those who come in carriages may alight under cover, and enter the church at the rear. The plan of the audience room presents no novel feature, unless we except the position of the organ, which is to be placed on the right of the pulpit, the choir being on a level with the congregation. There will be a gallery across the rear, but none on the sides. The second story of the chapel will be given up to a church parlor, for the accommodation of the benevolent organizations and committees connected with the parish; and, that the social needs of the congregation may not be overlooked, provision is made for a kitchen, a pantry, a dressing-room, and indeed all the " modern improvements." The pastor's study will be situated in a small tower,
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THE FIRST CHURCH SINCE 1865.
looking to the east. The conference room will accommodate from two to three hundred persons. The auditorium will contain sittings for 825 persons on the ground floor, and 175 in the gallery, so that a congregation of a thousand may be accommodated if necessary. As the available sittings in the present church num- ber only 456, it will be seen that proper provision has been made for the future increase of the parish.
The new church was begun April 1, 1873, and the corner-stone was laid July 15, with an historical address in the old church by the pastor and addresses out of doors by Mr. Kendrick and the Rev. E. G. Beckwith of the Second Congregational church .* At the annual meeting of the society in December following, action was taken with reference to securing a new organ. An "organ com- mittee" was appointed, consisting of S. B. Terry, Jr., G. S. Parsons and L. C. White, who reported in October, 1874, that they had secured subscriptions amounting to $4560, whereupon they were authorized to sell the old organ and procure a new one at a cost not exceeding $6000. The organ was built by Steer & Turner of Westfield, Mass., and was exhibited to the public at an organ con- cert on the evening of March 23, 1875, conducted by John M. Loretz, Jr., and the choir of the Park church of Hartford.
The completed church edifice was dedicated on March 25, 1895.+ By an interesting concidence, not observed until the date had been fixed, this proved to be the thirty-fifth anniversary of the dedica- tion of the preceding house of worship, and the Rev. Henry N. Day, who preached the dedication sermon in 1840 was present and offered the dedicatory prayer in 1875. At the afternoon service the sermon was preached by the Rev. E. P. Parker of Hartford and an address of dedication was given by the pastor. In the evening a sermon was preached by the Rev. A. J. Lyman of Brooklyn, N. Y .. and the other services were assigned to the several pastors of the city.
The intention of those who built the church was to make it as complete as possible without and within. But the two subscrip- tions that have been referred to covered only the building itself and the organ. It was inevitable that the interior furnishings should involve a heavy expense, and the ladies of the church undertook to provide for this by establishing a "furnishing fund." Before everything was completed several thousand dollars had been raised and expended, although many things came as gifts.
* The Waterbury American of July 16, 1875, contains a fall account of the services and a list of the articles deposited in the corner stone.
+ A detailed description of the completed building, with a report of the dedicatory services, and Mr. Anderson's address of dedication in full, was published in the American of March 27, 1875.
FIFTH HOUSE OF WORSHIP OF THE FIRST CHURCH, 1875.
607
THE FIRST CHURCH SINCE 1865.
The communion table was given by the family of Israel Holmes, and was inscribed to his memory .*
The baptismal font was given by Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Spencer as a memorial of their daughter, Cora Burton.
The marble flower stand and the bronze vase which goes with it were given by other members of the family of Willard Spencer in memory of the daughter Mary. t
The pulpit was purchased with a fund raised by the Sunday school class taught by Miss Emily Hayward (afterward Mrs. William A. Morris).
The pulpit chairs were the gift of Mrs. Philo Brown.
The small pulpit table was the gift of Mrs. P. G. Rockwell of Aiken, S. C.,-a memorial of her children.
The water flagon (of Spanish mahogany and gold) with the bronze tray and goblet was the gift of Mrs. Ruth W. Carter, in memory of her daughter Esther S. Humiston and her son Carlos Carter.
The Bible and hymn books were presented by Mrs. Fanny J. Benedict. #
The six wooden alms-dishes were presented by Mrs. T. S. Buel.
The marble fountain in the vestibule was presented by Deacon E. L. Bronson.
The platform table and chair in the conference room were the gift of Miss Celestia Ives. The table is made of oak from the sills of the old church. $
The lounge and chairs in the church study were the gift of Mrs. W. H. Brown.
The small bronze vase commemorative of Mary Anderson Munger, which was placed on the pulpit some years after the church was finished, was the gift of Mrs. Munger's classmates, graduates of St. Margaret's school.
The piano in the church parlor was purchased from the " furnishing fund." The two pianos belonging to the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor and the Sunday school were procured at different times and paid for by special subscriptions.
According to the report of the building committee presented at the close of 1875, the entire cost of the church, the organ, the iron fence and the concrete walks, together with some repairs already necessary, was $91,457.06; and the liabilities of the society in excess of its assets amounted to $8431.41. The deficit, carried over in part from an carlier period, would soon have disappeared, were it not for extensive alterations and repairs which had to be made within a short time. It soon became apparent that the organ, which stood in the northwest corner of the church on the main floor, would have
* Mr. Holmes was one of the subscribers to the building fund, but had died before the completion of the church. With reference to the communion service see p. 599.
+ Ever since the dedication of the church either the vase or the bowl of the flower-stand has been filled with flowers on Sunday,-a fund having been secured from year to year through the loving care of some member of the family which the memorial represents.
# The pulpit Bible which preceded this was presented by a former member of the church, John W. Whittal, who died in church during the morning service. It is used in the conference room.
ยง The frame, of oak and mahogany, in the church parlor, containing the crayon portrait of the present pastor was also made of wood from the old church. So also was the tall case of a clock belonging to the pastor, which in 1893 was transferred from the church study to the hall of the new parsonage
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
to be removed on account of its exposure to dampness. In 1879 it was placed behind and above the pulpit, and its transfer, which involved a variety of other changes, cost more than $3000. In 1887 another improvement was made: the church was fitted up with apparatus for heating it with steam, and this cost more than $2000. And in 1889, the plaster ceiling having come to be considered un- safe, a panelled ceiling of ash wood was substituted for it, involv- ing another outlay of about the same amount.
One might infer from an examination of the society's records that such events as these were the only ones that filled any large place in the life of the parish. But while these things were being looked after, and contributions were being secured to meet the involved expenses, the church and society were doing a varied work through their several home organizations and at the same time reaching out in many ways to impress themselves upon the life of the community. Some of the matters to which they have given attention during thirty years are indicated in the following chronicle :
1865, April 9. The church appointed two delegates, Dr. Robert Crane and Israel Holmes, to attend a conference of churches at New Haven on the 19th, to select "messengers " who should take part in organizing a National Council of Congregational churches at Boston on June 14.
November 12. The church appointed two delegates, G. W. Beach and E. L. Bronson, to attend a meeting of the Congregational churches of the western half of New Haven county at Derby on the 15th, to organize a New Haven West con- ference of churches. The conference was organized, and the first semi-annual meeting was held at the Second Congregational church, April 18 and 19, 1866.
1866, October 14. The church instructed its delegate to the annual meeting of the New Haven West consociation (A. E. Rice) to favor the disbanding of the con- sociation, as in the opinion of the church it " had outlived its usefulness." The consociation was not formally disbanded, although it had ceased to exercise any functions, and the following year the church voted to withdraw from it.
1868. The legislature at the May session passed an act confirming and ratify- ing the doings of the First society under the various names by which it had been known or designated. The society was known until 1817 as the "First Society of Waterbury "; from 1817 to 1840 as the "First Ecclesiastical Society," and since October 17, 1840, as the "First Congregational Society," which last is the designa- tion established by the legislative act.
May 3. The congregation adopted in place of the Congregational Hymn and Tune Book the new book known as the Book of Praise, and used it until Novem- ber 4, 1894, when it was superseded by the Church Hymnary.
October 30. The church unanimously voted to withdraw from the existing arrangement for union services on Thanksgiving and Fast days, and to return to its former usage, thenceforth holding a separate service on such days. On Novem- ber 26 a separate Thanksgiving service was held, and was largely attended. A collection was taken for the Waterbury Industrial school, and each year afterward,
609
THE FIRST CHURCH SINCE 1865.
with two or three exceptions, the Thanksgiving offering was appropriated to this object. On October 31, 1890, the church by a unanimous vote accepted the invita- tion of the Second Congregational church to unite with them and other churches in the Thanksgiving services of November 27, and the independent arrangement was thus terminated after more than twenty years.
November 10, 1I. The first annual meeting of the General Conference of the Congregational churches of Connecticut was held at the First church. The General Conference was organized at New Britain, November 13, 1867.
December 28. St. John's church having been destroyed by fire, the society voted to offer to St. John's parish "the use of our church edifice for one service each Sabbath." The offer was accepted, and the service of the Episcopal church was read for a number of Sunday evenings by the Rev. F. T. Russell, a grandson of a former pastor of the First church.
1869, May 10. The society voted that on and after May 23, and until October 1, a Sunday evening service should be substituted for the afternoon service, and on September 30 it was further voted that the evening service should be continued until otherwise ordered by the society .*
1870, December 21 and 22. The 250th anniversary of the landing of the " Pil- grims " at Plymouth was celebrated by the two Congregational churches. A series of historical tableaux of exceptional excellence was presented at the City hall, in which many of the leading citizens took part.
December 30. The church placed itself on record as follows: "That in the opinion of this church the spirit of the New Testament teaching requires that female members of the church be considered as standing on equal terms with males in voting on church business and in participating in religious meetings."
At the same meeting it was voted that henceforth the superintendent of the Sunday school should be elected by the church at its annual meeting as one of its regular officers. In 1893 it was voted that all the officers of the Sunday school should be elected by the church.
1873, January 9. A fire occurred in the church, resulting in damages which were appraised at $743.75. This sum was added, September 29, to the amount subscribed toward the new church edifice.
October 5. The second Sunday service was transferred temporarily (during the building of the church) to the afternoon, and changed to a " Bible service " in which the Sunday school was included. The experiment was successful, but it was thought best, on opening the new church, to resume the evening preaching service.
1874, January 2. The church appointed a committee to consider the expedi- ency of electing a corps of deaconesses. The committee did not report, but on January 4, 1878, it was voted that the male and female members of the church be equally represented on the prudential committee.
May 5. In 1873 the pastor had declined a call to the chair of English literature in Michigan university. On the above date, without consultation with him, the society voted to add $1000 to his yearly salary.
* Until 1855 the second Sunday service was separated from the first by an interval of an hour, or at the most an hour and a half. The first attempt to abandon the afternoon Se the entirely and salesleute an evening service was made in 1801. The hour of the " preparatory feature " was changed them atferman ( evening in 1961.
610
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
July 7. The church voted that the benevolent contributions of the Sunday congregations for the rest of the year should take the form of a " weekly offering" in envelopes. In January following, the "envelope system " was fully adopted, and it has been in use ever since.
1875. The pastor gave during the year a series of twelve Sunday evening lectures on the history of the First church. At the annual meeting of the society in December a committee was appointed to lay before the Bronson library some plan for the publication of these lectures, but their author preferred to withhold them from the press.
1876, January 10. The society voted that hereafter its annual meeting should be held on the last Monday evening in March. In March, 1879, it was fixed upon the " Monday preceding the last Sunday " in March, so that the annual rental of pews should take place uniformly on the Monday preceding the first Sunday of April.
February 4. The first regular meeting of the Women's Missionary society, auxil- iary to the New Haven branch of the Woman's Board of Missions, was held.
July 9. The centennial of the Nation's declaration of independence was cele- brated by the two Congregational churches by special services. The congrega- tions met separately in the forenoon, and historical discourses were delivered ; a union Sunday school service was held in the First church in the afternoon, and a union praise service in the Second church in the evening.
1877, April 2. A special committee to take charge of the music was appointed, and continued in existence several years.
April 26. The Young Ladies' Mission circle was organized.
During the year, and for one or two subsequent years, the church was repre- sented by delegates at a series of "fellowship meetings " at Naugatuck, Ansonia, Torrington, Wolcott and elsewhere.
1878, April 19. The church adopted a new and brief form for the public recep- tion of new members, and the public reading of the articles of faith adopted in 1832 was discontinued.
1879, November 11-13. The "General Conference" met the second time in Waterbury. The evening sessions were held at the First church.
1880. The church was represented on two councils convened to ordain young men "raised up" in the parish; one on April 18, to ordain Frederic E. Snow at Oxford, and another on June 13, to ordain Frank G. Woodworth (page 560) at Wol- cott. On April 30 the church invited the neighboring churches to meet in council to ordain Isaac Jennings, one of its members, to the Christian ministry (page 530).
1882, December 18. The award of the city for land taken from the so-called " parsonage lot" for the widening of Cedar street, amounting to $3394.60, was accepted.
1882. A Church Directory was published (20 pages), containing a page of his- torical memoranda, a list of the officers and committees of the church, the Sunday school and the ecclesiastical society, an account of the benevolent and missionary organizations, and a catalogue of the members, who at that time numbered 376.
December 29. The church appointed a committee to send out a letter missive (in conjunction with a committee of the Second church), inviting the Congrega-
6II
THE FIRST CHURCH SINCE 1865.
tional churches of the vicinity to organize a Naugatuck Valley Conference of churches. A "fellowship [meeting" was arranged for February 22, 1883, at the First church, and the new conference was organized and a constitution adopted at the afternoon session. The first annual meeting was held on May 8 at Bir mingham.
1884, May 27 and 28. The Connecticut Sunday school convention met at the First church. The pastor's eldest son, aged twenty-two, died on the morning of the 28th, while the chimes were ringing " Home, sweet Home."
July 6. The congregation voted by ballot in favor of changing the hour of the second service, for July and August, from half past seven to half past five.
1886, January 22. A Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was formed. It has been reorganized several times,
January 29. The church tried the experiment of employing a parish mission- ary, and Maude W. G. Burgess was engaged. She began work on February 5, and continued through the year.
1887, January 16. The church voted that the annual election of officers should be held on the first Friday evening of December, and that the annual reports should be presented on the Friday evening following the first Sunday of January.
July II. The society's committee was authorized to act in concurrence with the pastor and the standing committee of the church in adopting some plan to do away, so far as expedient, with the reading of notices in the pulpit.
July 20. A marble tablet commemorating the first three pastors of the church, presented by F. J. Kingsbury (a lineal descendant of the three), was gratefully accepted by the society and ordered to be placed on the wall at the north end of the auditorium east of the pulpit. The following resolution was adopted: "That we hereby express our appreciation of the proposed memorial gift and our deep sense of the fitness of the tribute which, in the erection of such a tablet, will be paid to men who filled a large place in the early history of the church and the town."
November 17. The pastor was granted leave of absence for three months for the improvement of his health, his salary being continued. He spent the winter in Bermuda, and the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Dr. L. W. Bacon.
1889, April 22. A meeting was held at the First church to consider plans for the systematic visitation of the city under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance. A "mass meeting " with reference to the proposed enterprise was held at the church on September 9, and plans having been carefully elaborated the visitation was undertaken. But it was soon discontinued.
1890, February 9. The pastor preached a historical discourse commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the commencement of his ministry in Waterbury .*
1891, November 4 and 5. The bi-centenary of the First church was celebrated with elaborate services, including a historical discourse, papers by representatives of the "daughter churches," and addresses by the city pastors and others. The entire proceedings were published in 1892 in a handsome volume of 279 pages, entitled "The Churches of Mattatuck."
1892. The parsonage property on Leavenworth street was sold, and a building lot for a new parsonage purchased on Prospect street. The society's committee,
* It was published in full in the Waterbury American of February 10, 1890. A sermon in recognition of Dr. Anderson's seventeenth anniversary was preached and published in 1882.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
consisting of Deacons L. M. Camp, A. C. Mintie and Alexander Dallas, was appointed a building committee, and under their supervision a new and commo- dious parsonage was erected, at a cost, including the land, of $13,500. The pastor's family removed from the old parsonage to the new during Thanksgiving week, 1893.
1893, April 17. The so-called "parsonage lot " or "little pasture," near the New York and New England railroad station, was leased for a period of twenty
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years. By an act of the legislature, passed May 19, the society was au- thorized to sell this land, whenever directed by a majority vote to do so, and invest the proceeds for the support and bene- fit of its ministry. (See pages 595, 596.)
June 25. The church voted to assume one-third of the indebtedness of the Third Congrega- tional church ($2,000), to pay the interest on the same until the amount shall be paid.
1894, June 29. The PARSONAGE OF THE FIRST CHURCH, 1893. church voted to become incorporated under the law of 1893, with reference chiefly to the holding of prop- erty. As soon as the incorporation had been accomplished and recorded, Mrs. Thomas Donaldson passed over to the church the deed of a house and lot on North Main street, purchased with funds which she had collected for establishing a home for old ladies. The institution was called the "Southmayd Home," in honor of one of the early pastors of the church, and a board of managers was appointed, consisting of ladies connected with the several Protestant churches.
The extension of the present pastorate over a period of more than thirty years is a fact which cannot be disregarded in any review of the history of the church. The entire first century of that history, down to 1795, was covered by three pastorates. In the seventy years that followed (1795 to 1865) the church had settled pastors during only fifty-one years and eight months, and this half century of service was divided among ten men, so that the average for each was only a trifle more than five years. That Dr. Anderson's term of service should have lasted so long-exceeding in length every city pastorate in the state but one *- is due in part to condi-
* The pastorates in the Congregational churches of Connecticut at the present time (September, 1895), of longer duration than Dr. Anderson's, are those held by the following men: F. D. Avery, Columbia, since 1850; E F. Burr, D. D., Lyme, since 1850; S. H. Fellows, Wauregan, since 1859; E. P. Parker, D. D., Hartford, since 1860.
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