USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > Years of Meriden 150: published in connection with the observance of the city's sesquicentennial, June 17-23, 1956 > Part 24
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In 1847 the Baptists moved into their new church next to the Center Congregational Church building. The house of worship of the First Baptist Church is another example of the best in post-colonial architecture, and one of which its members are justly proud. For many years it maintained the Olive Branch Chapel as a mission school and it has been generous in the spiritual and financial support which it has provided for its offshoots which grew into separate churches as the city expanded. Its pastor is the Rev. Fred L. Shiffer.
Less than 20 years after the completion of its stone church on Broad Street, the parishioners of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church decided to construct a new building farther to the west to meet the growing trend in that direction. Much of the present edifice, standing diagonally across from the entrance to the City Hall, was built with stone from the razed church. The new building was dedicated in 1867 and has served the congregation, with improve- ments and modernizations, until the present day. Extensive modernization and redecoration were completed in 1953.
St. Andrew's was served by the Rev. Giles H. Deshon from 1850 to 1883 and by the Rev. Arthur T. Randall from 1883 to 1926, a total of 76 years. The Rev. John S. Kromer is the present rector.
Methodism established a permanent station in Meriden in 1847, and until 1867 the congregation was housed in the meeting house on Broad Street. In that year a large stone church was built on the present site at the corner of East Main and Pleasant Streets and was in use until it was destroyed by fire in 1941. In 1912 the Rogers Memorial Building was erected to house parish activities, at a cost of $50,000.
The early history of the First Methodist Church is marked
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by more than one instance in which its members showed their generosity and gave their support to people of other denomina- tions that were struggling to establish themselves. After the disastrous fire which wiped out the church and severely damaged the memorial building, the congregation of St. Paul's Universalist Church across the street showed the same kind of generosity in return when they shared their Sunday worship services with the homeless Methodists. The new Methodist Church which rose on the site of the old was completed in 1949, at an estimated cost of $285,000. It is a beautiful edifice of brick and white-painted wood, colonial in inspiration, and an outstanding addition to the group of public buildings which clusters around this area.
With the opening of the railroad in 1839 a new contingent of Meriden citizens began to arrive. To minister to their spiritual needs St. Rose Church, the mother Roman Catholic parish of Meriden, was organized in 1848, with missions in Wallingford, Cheshire and Southington attached. Regular services were held in the building on Broad Street purchased from the Episcopal congregation until 1856, when a church at the present location on Center Street was built. Even before removal to the new building, the church had begun parochial school classes for its children.
During the first quarter-century in the new location a new parochial school was built, along with a convent and a chapel for the Sisters of Mercy who came from County Clare, Ireland, to teach in the school.
Enlargements were made to house the growing membership in 1868 and again in 1882. In 1883 the parish was the fourth largest in the state. The present church edifice was formally consecrated in 1926. Another milestone of this period was passed with the erection of St. Rose Community Building.
A program of building and enlargement is currently in progress under the direction of the Right Reverend Monsignor Joseph M. Griffin, permanent rector of St. Rose Church since 1947.
Authentic records place the founding of the South Meriden Methodist Church in 1851, when meetings were first held in the village schoolhouse, and an ecclesiastical society was formed. The Methodist Preaching House was built the same year at the cost of $1,333, with the ground floor of the building to be rented as living quarters for the sake of economy.
Until 1871 preaching was done on a supply basis by students
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at Wesleyan. Later a regular supply minister serving several parishes officiated. The first resident minister was appointed in 1884. Currently occupying the pulpit is the Reverend Kenneth B. Welliver. Extensive improvements and enlargements over the years have enabled the church to carry on community responsi- bilities as well as serving as a house of worship.
Formerly known as St. Paul's Universalist Church, the First Universalist Church was formally chartered in 1854. In 1860 a small wooden building was erected at the present site on the corner of Norwood and East Main Streets to house the growing congregation. The society was placed on a permanent basis in 1862.
Rapid growth of the congregation during the 1880's resulted in the need for a larger church and the present massive edifice was dedicated in 1893. The old building was removed to the corner of Norwood and Liberty Streets and was used temporarily for town and city offices after the Town Hall burned in 1904.
In the years since the new century began, the church has received valuable gifts and bequests from its members which have enhanced its beauty and usefulness, and has been renovated and modernized. The Rev. William E. Gardner is the present minister.
The Main Street Baptist Church began its ministry in 1860 when 14 members of the First Baptist Church were granted letters of dismissal to start a West Meriden Baptist Church. Its location at the corner of Crown and East Main Streets is a reflection of the shifting population and growth in the city subsequent to the coming of the railroad. Its early years during the Civil War were hard, but by 1868 the chapel which had served early worshippers was supplanted by the brick building which still stands today and which is the oldest church building in the center of the city.
The present name was assumed when the old name of West Meriden went out of ordinary usage. During its history it has done outstanding work with young people and has welcomed Baptists coming to Meriden from foreign lands. Russian Baptists from Meriden and surrounding communities are among the members of the congregation today. Present pastor at the church is the Rev. William V. Allen.
St. John's Lutheran Church was founded in 1865, just after the end of the Civil War, by citizens of German descent, and its first
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meeting was held in the courtroom at the Town Hall. The Pennsylvania Synod, which had encouraged the Meriden Lutherans in their attempts to set up a congregation, sent a pastor and in 1867 the first church was built and dedicated. Membership increased rapidly and an addition was soon necessary.
In 1886 a parochial school was opened, which was to continue until it was finally closed last year. English services were instituted and the parish hall was built and equipped during the 37-year pastorate of the Rev. S. F. Glaser, who began his dutes in 1900. The Rev. Adolph H. Wismar is the present pastor.
Another group of German immigrants founded the Liberty Street Baptist Church, which was organized in 1874 as the "Ger- man Baptist Society." Ten years of meetings in private homes had preceded the church's formal establishment. A site on the corner of Liberty and Twiss Streets was purchased, and the small con- gregation erected the building which is still used today.
Change to the present name occurred after the First World War, at which time English was adopted for use in the church's wider ministry. During the last 30 years extensive alterations and improvements have been made to the church and parsonage. The present pastor is the Rev. August Lutz.
In 1880, St. Laurent's Roman Catholic Church was organized to minister to the needs of the many French-Canadian and Ger- man Catholics who had worshipped at St. Rose's. The Rev. Alphonsus John Henry Van Oppen, who spoke German, French, and English, was the first pastor and served for almost 40 years. The church building on Camp Street was begun and its basement put into use in 1881, and the completed structure was blessed in 1888. By 1894 a parochial school building, a convent, and the rectory had been completed.
The present pastor, Rev. Edward A. Mathieu, assumed his duties in 1945, and is the fourth to have charge of the parish since its foundation. Many improvements on the school and the convent, and the complete renovation of the exterior of the church have been made during his pastorate.
Trinity Methodist Church was organized in answer to the city's downtown and westward growth. Its first meetings in 1885 were held in the Y.M.C.A. building, then located on Colony Street, and it made arrangements to share with the South Meriden Methodists the services of their preacher. In 1887 a chapel was
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completed and opened for worship on West Main Street, just east of Butler Street and the minister was put on a full-time basis.
Growth of the church membership in the ensuing years led to the purchase of the present site on West Main Street on the corner of Cook Avenue, and the erection of the church building which is still in use was completed in 1895. Numerous improve- ments and enlargements have been made since. The Rev. Robert Stith, pastor, resigned in March of this year.
All Saints' Episcopal Church on West Main Street is another church built to serve the increasing parish to the west. Services were first held in this part of town in 1885 by the rector of Saint Andrew's, and the number that attended soon outgrew the private homes and other quarters in which they met.
A bequest from the widow of a former rector was the basis of the building drive for the new church, and parishioners of Saint Andrew's were generous in their support of the new parish. The church was built and consecrated in 1893 and has subse- quently been enlarged and improved. For many years the rectors of All Saints' have also served as priests-in-charge of St. John's Episcopal Church in Yalesville. The Rev. Richard Elting is at present the rector of All Saints'.
Next to the Methodist Church on East Main Street, across from the City Hall, and one of the cluster of religious edifices in this area, Temple B'Nai Abraham's location is an effective reminder of the friendship and brotherhood of Meriden's religious institu- tions. It was completed in 1952 and is an impressive brick building for worship and community service, with a large wing containing classrooms where the Hebrew language and traditions are taught.
The first Hebrew religious society was organized informally in 1887, 15 years after the first Jewish families came to Meriden. Two years later an official charter was obtained and in 1891 the first synagogue was erected on Cedar Street. The cornerstone for a new and larger place of worship, also on Cedar Street, was laid in 1908 and this building served until the erection of the present Temple. Rabbi Albert Troy is the present spiritual leader.
Holy Angels' Church in South Meriden was built in 1887 as a mission church to care for the spiritual needs of members of St. Rose Parish living in that area. It was made a separate parish in 1888.
The Rev. Eugene A. Moriarty has been pastor of Holy Angels'
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since 1950. His predecessor was the Rev. Walter A. McCrann, who served the parish for more than two decades. The church has grown in recent years and a chapel in the basement of the church and two classrooms in the rectory have been added to accommodate the expansion. Extensive new building plans are in a formative stage. Plans for the erection of the Roman Catholic church in Yalesville have been under the direction of the South Meriden parish.
The Parker African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was begun as a missionary service conducted in local homes to care for the spiritual needs of Meriden's Negro families in the 1880's. It is named for Charles Parker, Meriden's first mayor, who contributed generously to the founding and construction of the church on Court Street.
Outstanding in its rolls of pastors is Mrs. Zoe Walters who served the church from 1930 to 1945. Membership has reflected the number of Negro families in Meriden which for many years was very small but which has increased rapidly since 1942. A building program to increase the church's beauty and facilities for service is being planned. The present pastor is the Rev. George C. Battle.
Founded by newly arrived Swedish immigrants who wanted a spiritual home in which their native language was spoken, the Park Avenue Baptist Church began its ministry as the Swedish Baptist Church. For a time its services were held in a small hall on Britannia Street and at the Main Street Baptist Church. The present building was completed and dedicated in 1890.
Since 1923 enlargement of the membership to include people of many national backgrounds has caused the use of English in all church services. The Park Avenue Church has over the years shown special interest and devotion to the fields of foreign service and to youth organizations. Under the ministry of the present pastor, the Rev. Herbert R. Peterson, who has served since 1932, extensive improvements and additions to the church have been made.
The Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Church was organized by a group previously affiliated with St. John's Lutheran Church. Immigrants of German descent, they wanted a church where their own language was spoken and English services were first intro- duced into the church and Bible School in 1910. A church
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organization was set up in 1889 and the present site on the corner of Cook Avenue and Hanover Street was settled on for a church location. The First Lutheran Church of Southington sought affiliation and the two congregations worshipped as one parish until 1914. The Rev. C. Reinhold Tappert served as pastor in the early years, from 1889 to 1912.
On New Year's Eve, 1917, fire destroyed the church com- pletely. For several months services were conducted in the parish house of St. John's, and later a building on West Main Street was rented. Immanuel's parishioners decided to begin their re- building program with a parish house, which was completed in 1920. The main church building was dedicated in 1925. Further improvement and expansion was accomplished under the leader- ship of Rev. George A. Hagedorn, who came here as pastor in 1943 and served until his death in December 1955. The Rev. Oscar Werner then became supply pastor.
Meriden residents of Swedish birth formed the religious society which became Augustana Lutheran Church. The first meetings in 1889 resulted in the formal organization of the Swedish Evan- gelical Lutheran Church of Meriden and the purchase in 1891 of the present church site on Center Street. Ground was broken for the new church in 1895 and the men of the parish did much of the work of erecting the building. It served until 1934, when it was destroyed by fire.
Plans for new building began at once. It was finally completed in 1939, the congregation worshipping in the basement while building and fund-raising went forward. The present program of worship and service is carried on under the pastorate of Rev. Charles R. Bomgren who began his duties in 1952.
St. Mary's Parish was founded in 1890 to serve as the spiritual home of the German Catholics who had previously worshipped at St. Laurent's. A wooden edifice was built on Church Street to serve as church, parochial school, and convent and was dedicated in 1891. The cornerstone of the present church building was laid in 1912 on the site of the first wooden church, which was moved to Grove Street to make room for it. Solidly built of brick and Gothic in design, it was completed in 1913.
Since its beginning, St. Mary's has been under the care of four regular pastors. One, the Rev. Nicholas F. X. Schneider, served for nearly 35 years until his death in 1935. During the last two
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decades important expansion has gone forward. The combined school, convent, and parish hall were erected in 1937, and a new rectory has been added. The present pastor, the Rev. B. J. Butcher, has served since 1949.
Italian Catholic residents of Meriden, living mainly on the west side, were provided with their own place of worship when in 1894 a wooden church was erected for their use on Goodwill Avenue. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church held its worship services in this building until 1935 when plans for badly needed expansion matured to produce the present church building on Lewis Avenue. It is of yellow brick faced with artificial stone, and is a free adaptation of the Lombard style of architecture seen in central Italy.
During the pastorate of the Rev. Walter J. Lyddy, who served from 1930 to 1947, the church acquired by purchase from the city a parochial school building which has the only complete junior high school program among the city's parochial schools. The Rev. John J. Kelly is the present pastor.
By 1895 St. Rose parish had increased in numbers and in area so that services for people on the west side of Meriden were being held on West Main Street, in a building purchased from the Trinity Methodists. In 1901 St. Joseph's parish was formally authorized, to serve that part of Meriden west of the railroad. The cornerstone for the new church, between Goodwill and Lewis Avenues on West Main Street, was laid in 1902, and the former chapel was put to use as a parochial school.
A continuous program of building and improvement has marked St. Joseph's progress. The school building was dedicated in 1915 and numerous expansions and modernizations have been carried on in the church plant since. Four pastors have served in the direction of the church since its founding. The Rev. John T. Lynch, the first pastor, served until his death in 1924 and Mon- signor Jeremiah T. Duggan was pastor from then until 1944. The present pastor is the Rev. Thomas B. McGarry.
St. Stanislaus' Roman Catholic Church, the first Polish Catholic church in Connecticut, has grown and prospered in serving Meriden families of Polish descent. In 1880 there were only ten of these, who began meeting in the basement of St. Rose Church. By 1892 they had become a separate congregation, meeting in
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their own wooden church building which had been completed on the corner of Jefferson Street.
In 1906 the Rev. John L. Ceppa began his duties at St. Stanis- laus', duties which were to continue through the growing years of the new church and which ended only with his death in 1948. The present church building, a brick edifice of Gothic design, on an eminence at the corner of Pleasant and Olive Streets, was dedicated in 1908. In 1915 the new parochial school building was completed. During Father Ceppa's long pastorate, improvements and enlargements totaling in cost more than half a million dollars were made and paid for. Among them were the convent and St. Stanislaus Community Center, which includes an auditorium with a gallery accommodating 1,200 persons. Ceppa Field, sold to the city in 1941, was used for some years by the church as a play- ground and athletic field. Father Ceppa was elevated to the Monsignori in 1943. The Rev. Stanislaus F. Nalewajk, who began his pastorate in 1948, is at present in charge of the parish. Current plans call for a new convent of 30 rooms to be begun this year. Further additions to the parochial school are also being planned.
First Church of Christ Scientist of Meriden was organized in 1899. Services were held in a succession of rented halls as the membership and attendance grew. In 1922 the first meeting was held in the present brick edifice at Bradley Park.
The Meriden church serves the surrounding area including Wallingford, Southington, and Cheshire. It maintains a reading room, serving members and the public, at 37 East Main Street. Mrs. Edith Lipke Ulisney is president of the organization, Mr. Howard B. Preble serves as First Reader, and Mrs. Elizabeth Sembler is Second Reader.
In 1911 Sts. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church was established, under the pastorate of the Very Reverend Seraphim Oblivantseff and the church building on Bunker Avenue was completed the following year. Under the direction of the Very Reverend Alexander Pogrebniak, who officiated at the church between 1933 and 1948, a parish and community building was erected in 1939.
July of 1955 saw ground broken for a new church building which is currently under construction. Plans call for completion and dedication in July of this year. The Rev. John Mason is the current pastor.
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Meetings which led to the founding of the first Italian Baptist Church were begun in the year 1909 when the minister of the First Baptist Church held meetings for the people in the Spring- dale Avenue area, bringing with him Sunday School teachers from his own and from the Main Street Baptist Church. The organiza- tion continued meeting in Columbus Hall under the leadership of its first pastor, the Rev. Rolando Giuffrida, until the present building was completed in 1912.
Recent improvements to church property include the purchase of a parsonage in 1945 and the installation of an organ and chimes in 1946 as a war memorial. In 1954 the men of the church redec- orated and modernized the kitchen and Sunday School rooms. The Rev. Samuel Binch is the present pastor.
St. Nicholas Parish serves the spiritual needs of the Byzantine Rite Catholics of Meriden. The parish was organized in 1914 and land was purchased for the church site in the same year. Until the church building was completed the members of the parish worshipped at special services organized for them at St. Joseph's Church.
Ground was broken for the new church in 1919, and the official dedication of the building took place in 1921, during the pastorate of Father Vladimer Michalich, the first resident pastor. The acquisition of a rectory in 1923 and recent additions and improvements to the church property mark its growth. The present pastor is the Rev. Peter P. Kichinko, who assumed his duties in August, 1955.
Mt. Hebron Baptist Church is a Negro congregation organized in 1945. It is currently meeting in a building at 21 Veteran Street but plans are under way for the construction of a regular church building. The Rev. F. H. Hicks who has officiated since 1951 is the third pastor of the church.
Jehovah's Witnesses, established for some years at Kingdom Hall on Grove Street, have recently completed a substantial brick meeting house on Coe Avenue, erected largely through labor supplied by members of the congregation. Meriden's Seventh Day Adventists hold regular weekly services at 32 Crown Street. The Salvation Army offers regular religious services as part of its program.
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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Meriden Schools; 1860-1956
ALTHOUGH THE history of Meriden schools begins almost with the first establishment of a settlement in this area, free public schools as we know them did not come into being until 1863. During the 18th century the parish acted in its annual meetings in the capacity of a town meeting, appointing school committees, mapping out school districts, and laying taxes for the support of the schools.
In December of 1773, for example, it was voted "to lay a Rate of one farthing upon the pound for ye use of schools and each quarter or school to have their proportion of said money according to ye list of each quarter." "Ye Society Committee" voted in 1776 to "call in ye loan & excise money that belongs to ye Parish for the use of schools next March & let it out with good security to be paid yearly to said committee for use of schools only .... "
The parish was divided into seven school districts in 1791, presumably with the purpose of establishing seven separate school- houses. These were designated as southeast, east, northeast, northwest, west, southwest, and center. As the town grew these districts were subdivided until in the mid-nineteenth century a total of thirteen was recorded.
During the years before 1863 Meriden's schools were public but they were not free. The responsibility for maintaining and financing each school fell to the district in which it was located, with little help or supervision from the town. Most of the cost seems to have been made up by tuition charged on a per pupil basis although the practice of making payment in kind, from firewood for the schoolhouse stove to board and lodging for the teacher, probably took the place of a cash payment in many instances.
In 1863 the town voted that "all the public schools of the town shall be free, and the expense of said schools, heretofore defrayed from the avails of rate bills, shall be paid by the town." It was also voted to increase the educational tax from three tenths to one
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and one twentieth of a mill on the dollar so as to cover all the expenses of the several districts.
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