USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 7
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57
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.
the northerly end of the house. Mural commemorative in- scriptions and monuments are very scarce in the town, but of them there are in this meeting-house two that honor those who erected them, as well as Rev. Dr. Walker and Rey. Thos. Pren- tiss, to whose memory they were raised. The former, placed at the side of the pulpit towards Wood Street, and dedicated Jan. 14, 1883, is a work of considerable size and elaboration, Renaissance in style, showing a portrait bust beneath an arch, flanked by inscriptions. Unlike six out of the nine Protestant places of worship here, this house has no rooms beneath it, but in place of them it has a cellar used during many years for storage and business, and making it the only religious edifice used for such purposes. A separate building for lectures and minor meetings, the Boylston Chapel, stands in a court at some distance (Plan IV.).
The Baptists' meeting-house of 1801, sold (for $1,850) by order of Court (1815), was used for a short time (1817-19) by the Unitarian congregation, and subsequently, for many years, by the Methodist society. Afterwards it was used as an armory, and a public hall, until 1882, when it was demol- ished to make way for " The Salem," a large, brick, apartment house, in picturesque style, belonging to Thos. Doane. At least four places of worship besides these already mentioned have also been occupied by the Baptists. Mr. Holden, the writer is told, maintained a very small chapel that stood nearly opposite the head of Wood Street, and between 1809 and 1823, Rev. W. Balfour ministered to a congregation with some pecu- liarities of belief. Both of these societies worshipped in pri- vate buildings (Dr. B.). In 1844, the High Street Baptist Church was formed, and March 5, 1846, dedicated its house, opposite the end of Elm Street. It was a plain wooden build- ing, afterwards enlarged by the Trinity Methodist society, to which it passed, and was burned on Sunday morning, Feb. 10, 1867. Meanwhile a wooden house had been built for a congre- gation in Elm Street, and another, with a steeple, at the Neck, near the line of the Eastern railroad. Both of these latter have disappeared. January 14, 1850, the Bethesda Baptist Church was organized, called since 1851 the Bunker Hill
58
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
Baptist, which built (1851) a plain wooden house that was remodelled (1885) and made much more elaborate, in the style sometimes called " Queen Anne." This house has a steeple westward, and is bounded on two sides by streets and on the other two by dwellings.
The Methodists, when in the house mentioned above, were divided, and another was built (1848) for a second society, on the corner of High Street and Monument Square. It is a neat, simple, building of brick, the facings of which are pressed, relieved by stone trimmings, and is surmounted by a small cupola. In 1866, the house was remodelled, and enlarged.
In 1867, the Trinity Methodist Society set an example that, certainly in one matter, ought to be much oftener followed. Their house burned Feb. 10th was insubstantial, combustible, and, if the truth can be spoken, it was also very ugly. On rebuilding, S. J. F. Thayer, architect, furnished designs, and a house was built not merely of brick in the customary way, but with hollow walls, on which the inside plaster finish was laid. The roof, supported by slender pillars and showing its frame, had no dangerous garret; partitions in the basement were filled solid ; indeed a nearer approach was made to un- inflammable construction than in any other public building ever in the town, while, at the same time, one of the largest Protestant churches then in the State was made convenient and attractive by simple forms of recent eclectic Pointed style. On a moonlight night the view of the front from the northeast- ward, when the tower, spire, and central gable, are seen at an angle, shows, perhaps, the prettiest bit of grouping now in the town.
The Congregationalists once more divided after 1816. In 1834 the Winthrop Church was formed, and for it, on Union Street, was built a brick house somewhat like that of the First Church, but plainer, -indeed, to Puritan austerity. In 1847 land was bought on Green Street (Plan IV.), and March 4, 1849, a new house there was dedicated. It is of brick, with a buttressed tower bearing a wooden steeple at the N. W. corner. The extreme outside measure is about 100 by 70 feet, and all parts are painted a dark brown color. There
Goana
CIRCUS
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-The Neck
Warren
Methodist B.H. Frey
Winikrop Univ . Vrut .
Ist Baptist
Harvard Ist Ch .
Nortche Boston
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Engine Tto.
School.
Mont, Bauch.
Ch.
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Ch.
School
State Prison
The Mills
Mill Pond
-Charles town, Mass, Sip, 1848, from the ledge, Cambridge road.
Boston
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(The foreground, 1887, is nearly covered with buildings)
59
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.
are lecture and other rooms in the basement, on the floor above which are sittings for a large congregation, such as has always been gathered here. The old native hall form, with the galleries on three sides appears, but, like the exterior, de- signed in the style of the earlier period of the Gothic Revival, an arched ceiling, a little more acute than the usual Tudor arch, being the chief feature. In the decoration, polychrome to a moderate extent was introduced in 1880, and in a recess behind the pulpit is a high, black walnut reredos of unusual elegance. . There are no grounds attached to the edifice.
The Episcopalians of the town, formally gathered Jan., 1840, at first held services in the Town Hall. In 1841 they built and dedicated St. John's Church, a brick edifice with a front of dark granite ashlar, having a low, square tower, standing at the corner of Richmond Street and Bow (now Devens) Street. Here also the taste of the earlier period of the Gothic Revival was shown in a building of the old hall form. A picturesque wooden chapel was erected (1873, Warc and Van Brunt archi- tects), on adjoining land bought by the Parish, and (1877, A. C. Martin, architect) extensive alterations and improvements were made inside the church. There the fittings are neat, and recently added chancel furniture is good and appropriate. Conspicuous behind the altar is the only memorial window of stained glass in the town, placed there in memory of Peter Hubbell, for many years the efficient senior warden, who died in January, 1871. In aspect and condition this church was never better than at present.
Of the Roman communion there were few persons in the town until about half a century after the rebuilding, but sub- sequently the number has increased until it has become large. Their first church, on Richmond Street, was dedicated to St. Mary in May, 1829. Notwithstanding the conservative regard for established forms characteristic of the great organization represented here, the old local hall, with its galleries on three sides, was built, partly for the same reasons of wants and means that affected the carly settlers. St. Mary's is a plain brick building, 45 by 133 feet (a considerable addition to the original length having been made a few years ago), with two light, open
60
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
cupolas on brick bases at the front, but with no architectural features. The interior shows scrolls and patterns in fresco on the walls and ceiling, a new altar, and several paintings. This church becoming utterly insufficient in size for a rapidly in- creasing congregation, another was erected on the summit of Bunker Hill, on the site of the British redoubt, and beside the Catholic burial-ground. Walls, 74 by 150 feet, of blue stone with granite trimmings, and a spire 181 feet high, rising from a gable at the front, form a substantial edifice that is conspicu- ously seen for a great distance. Internally, it shows a nave with slender pillars, lateral galleries, and a chancel, the light coming through two rows of low-pointed windows at the sides. June 17, 1862, it was dedicated to St. Francis de Sales, who was canonized in 1665. He was " of a noble family of Savoy," and (1602-22) a distinguished bishop of Geneva. It is nota- ble that two of the remaining four hills of the peninsula are closely associated with men of that one distant city, - John Calvin, who died in 1564, with the First Church, on Town Hill, and this great exemplar of the ancient ritual with the actual Bunker Hill. In 1887, still larger numbers of attendants made it necessary to build two more churches. At the junc- tion of Corey and Vine streets, the corner stone of one was laid (July 31) dedicated to St. Catharine of Sienna. It is of brick, with freestone trimmings, in modified Romanesque style, and measures outside 156 × 98 feet, and has a tower with a short spire 112 feet high. The other, or new St. Mary's, a massive and expensive edifice, at the corner of Warren and Winthrop streets, will be 1533 x 81 feet, and also be of brick, but a large amount of granite will be used. There will be a tower, ultimately crowned by a spire 180 feet high. The style will be a modern form of Pointed.
NOTE. - Of Christian Art, as known to the world for fifteen centuries, it is interesting to review what this prosperous New England town has at the end of two and a half centuries. The feeling of the founders has prevailed throughout, for while houses are commodious, and are now, as they were not in early days, comfortable or even luxurious, there is very little real Art. The First Church has the one interior designed on eccle- siastical lines, but the cxecution is American, in lath and plaster. It has,
61
INSTITUTIONS OF BENEVOLENCE.
also, the first mural monument in the town raised since the Revolution, a large slab commemorative of the ministers before that period, prepared at the desire, and by the care, of the Rev. Dr. Budington. The Harvard church has the one sculptured monument of this kind (p. 57). St. John's has the one memorial window of stained glass, besides good altar furniture (p. 50) ; and the Winthrop has an elegant reredos of tracery in Pointed style, executed in black walnut. Altar paintings, not numerous on the European scale, are found in the Catholic churches. Of architectural features in carved stone, there is scarcely a trace; of mosaic there is none; in the First Church there is some terra cotta; and a large chime of bells, also there, might be added to this list. Charlestown is, however, not ex- ceptionally poor in Art for an American place of its size.
INSTITUTIONS OF BENEVOLENCE.
Funds for educational, benevolent, and religious purposes have long existed in the town, but only in recent times have there been buildings that represented any of them. The old Church funds were in land and notes (in 1788, 32 acres, and £174. 7.4). The Charlestown Poor's Fund, originating at least as early as 1674 in the bequest of Richard Russell (£200.), was increased by that of Capt. Richard Sprague (equal, 1749, to $460, silver), of Mr. Rand (£38. 12), and of Thos. Call (1772, 888.89). After the Revolution it was, from time to time, still more increased, until now, counting the se- curities at par, it amounts to $23,300.
The Free School Fund, dating from 1647 and 1660, when lands were set apart for the purpose, also grew by degrees, so that, in a report to a Town meeting, Dec., 1792, it was " prized " at £861. 12. 1. After that time slight additions were made, and money for free education was raised by taxa- tion. Other funds, more or less public, and for special or less general objects, also exist.
Of institutions occupying buildings wholly devoted to their use, one, of which the germ appears at perhaps the earliest date, although both name and development are recent, is the Young Men's Christian Association. As far back as 1739 there was a "Society of Young Men in Charlestown, who [were] United together for the Exercises of Religion on the Lord's Day Evenings," to whom the Rev. Hull Abbot preached
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
(July 8) a sermon on Early Piety. The modern form of the institution was, however, long afterwards organized. In June, 1853, the Young Men's Evangelical Union was begun, with members from the two Trinitarian Congregational, three Bap- tist, two Methodist, the Bethesda, and St. John's churches. It ' owed " its origin to the late philanthropic movement in all our large cities, to rescue and aid young men constantly coming . .. from the interior," who " stand much in need of fellow- ship and assistance," says the preface to its By-laws. Through. changes an organization with similar purpose, although with enlarged or modified forms, has continued, and now occupies a large wooden building developed from that of the Seminary on Union Street. It was paid for by subscription, and in it a reading-room, and a hall with an organ and a stage for lectures or evening amusements are provided.
In 1833 the Infant School Society opened its school at 6 Warren Street, and in 1834 was incorporated. For many years (1834-70) it maintained a (wooden) house on Richmond Street, and took care of young children. To this name that of Children's Home was added in 1869, and a larger and better building (also wooden) on Austin Street, has been owned and supported by members of the Protestant societies. Its objects are commendable, and justly its condition is prosperous. In connection with it are especially associated the labors and name of Miss Mary D. Balfour.
A still larger institution, now supported by funds ($34,092 in 1886) and by general contributions, and managed in a simi- lar manner, originated (1865) in a bequest (valued at $10,000) by an old resident, and from her receives its name of The Winchester Home for Aged Women. Of these beneficiaries there were in 1886 thirty-five, aged from 61 to 89. At first the three-storied wooden house long occupied by Jas. K. Froth- ingham was used, but as more room was wanted, a picturesque building was erected (1872-73) on adjacent land. It has two stories and a high basement of red brick, a so-called French roof with another good story, and a flattened pyramidal bit of roof to accent the centre. The architect was S. J. F. Thayer, and the whole cost about $45,000, obtained by subscriptions and bequests.
Y
63
INSTITUTIONS OF BENEVOLENCE.
Until April, 1872, " Charlestown, with its thirty thousand inhabitants, was without any organization, excepting that of the overseers of the poor, for the ready medical and surgical relief of the sick and maimed poor," wrote the Rev. C. E. Grin- nell, chairman of a meeting called by Dr. E. J. Forster, who was then chosen superintendent of an institution incorporated Feb., 1873, as the Charlestown Free Dispensary and Hospital. With a small fund, but chiefly supported by annual subscriptions, it continues to do good work, attending annually to about a thousand cases, rather less than half of which are with patients of foreign birth, although most of them are of foreign parentage.
Other societies, but without special buildings, have also been, from time to time, formed for benevolent purposes. As early as 1802, the Rev. Dr. Morse and associates formed what was prac- tically a germ of the more modern Tract Societies. "There can be little doubt," says S. E. Morse (1867), "that in 1802, the pastor and people of the First Parish in Charlestown had done more in circulating religious tracts among the poor and destitute in the United States, than any other people in New England." It would be difficult now to find or make up a set of the works thus distributed, but there were 32,600 copies of 19 tracts. In 1813, ninety-nine persons of all classes and be- liefs formed the Charlestown Association for the Reformation of Morals, an object for which extraordinary means were then thought necessary. The Rev. Dr. Morse, foremost in the good works of the town, was the chairman. Six years later (Nov. 1, 1819) the Female Benevolent Society was formed, the name Devens being substituted for Female, Dec. 26, 1856. Its mem- bers are chiefly of the Universalist Society, and its object is to provide clothing for the needy. The Mechanic Union Charita- ble Association was incorporated in 1839, and in 1853 was formed the Bunker Hill Mutual Loan and Fund Association.
The modern form of religious ministration known as the City Missionary, was begun by the organization, Dee., 1843, of the Charlestown City Mission and Traet Society, composed of members " of all the Evangelical Churches of the Town," the directors being the minister and one layman from each of eight
64
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
churches. The first president was Capt., afterwards Commo- dore, J. B. Montgomery, a member of the First Church. In 1851, the operations of the Society were made more compre- hensive, and these continued for a considerable period. Mean- while, in 1846 (April 19), the Unitarians began a similar work called the Ministry at Large, that was continued until 1879, the Rev. O. C. Everett being most of the time, and indeed the chief, minister (Oct. 1, 1850, to Aug., 1869). For this enterprise the wooden Harvard chapel, costing $10,000, built on Edge- worth Street, was dedicated Feb. 12, 1856. It was sold at auction July 31, 1879.
During the Civil War, Charlestown, in work for the help and comfort of those under arms, was honorably represented by the Bunker Hill Soldiers Relief Society, originated April 19, 1861. Naturally, and very properly, it was neither sectarian nor partisan, and hard and nobly worked the many ladies, its members.
Mrs. H. G. Hutchins was the first President ; Mrs. W. L. Hudson, V. P. ; Mrs. H. Lyon, Sec. ; Miss A. B. Bates, Treas.
1862-63
1863-64
They were helped by funds as follows, from Bunker Hill Ass", California,
$2,735.50
$743.65
James Hunnewell, Charlestown,
500.00
500.00
From all other sources,
1,740.28
2,401.01
$4,975.78
$3,647.66
In the Roman Catholic churches there have been large and efficient organizations for their members. The Mutual Relief Society of St. Mary's was instituted January, 1834, and incor- porated March 1, 1844 ; the Father Matthew Mutual Benevo- lent Total Abstinence Society, also of St. Mary's, dates from August 30, 1849, and the St. Francis de Sales Church Debt Society from 1879. The latter proved one of the greatest successes of the kind in the history of the town.
A large number of organizations into which benevolent work enters exist also in the Lodges, Orders, and other pri- vate associations.
If not Benevolent Societies, the old Fire Societies were formed and maintained for the public or social good, and may properly be mentioned here. There were three organized
65
MILITARY COMPANIES.
after the Revolution, - the Phoenix (1795), the Washington1 (1800), and the Jefferson (1810). The oldest was, however, the Ancient,2 instituted Nov. 8, 1743, composed of house- holders acting for mutual protection or aid, and maintained until paid public companies took the place of such early and more restricted associations. The number of members was limited to 25, one of whom was clerk and treasurer. Candi- dates stood proposed three months, and two negatives on a ballot excluded. Each member was obliged to keep two leather buckets, two bags (12 x { yd.) with his name on them, and a bed-key and belt, and, on notice of a fire, must " repair with his buckets, bags, and key, to the place where it happens " (Rules, p. 5), and " use his best endeavors " to save property of the members.
A pair of leather buckets that belonged to James Hunne- well, who joined the Society soon after his final return from the Pacific, still hangs a few yards from the writer's desk, a reminder of an old and necessary, but now disused, custom. A few rods distant, in notable contrast, is the incomparably equipped station, and the efficient professional corps of the Fire Department of the present.
MILITARY COMPANIES.
While the steps of the British troops, when they left Charles- town in 1776, were the last by hostile forces on its ground, and while since then peace has been permanent within it, the mili-
1 From a copy of the Constitution, with 37 pp. MS. added, owned by the writer, it appears that there were 25 members, whose names, occupations, and residences are given.
2 The writer's list of members, 1743 to 1832, contains the names of owners of many of the most prominent estates in the town, and as the whole is early and rare, the names of the founders may well be here given : -
Jas. Flueker (clerk) ; Thaddeus Mason ; Ezekiel Cheever, Jr. ; John Foy ; Jolin Sprague ; William Ford ; John Leppington ; Edward Sheaffe ; Isaac Foster ; Isaac Johnson ; Joseph Austin Nathaniel Gorham ; David Wyer ; James Russell ; Richard Dane ; Samuel Bradstreet ; Richard Foster, Jr. ; John Stevens ; Samuel Henley ; John Codman ; John White ; Peter Edes ; John Breed ; Chambers Russell ; Samuel Dowso.
6
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
tary history of the place did not by any means end, even if it may be said to have culminated, in the battle of Bunker Hill. Peaceful and safe as the place has been nearly all the time since its settlement, the risks of the earlier years, and eren of the Provincial period, made troops desirable, and, indeed, neces- sary ; and subsequent exigencies, down to our own day, have shown the wisdom of having some good military organization. For service in " King Philip's War," at Louisburg, in the Rev- olution, the war of 1812, the Mexican War, and that for the Union, - especially the last, - Charlestown has furnished men. For the first, "one of its citizens, Capt. Samuel Hunting, raised a company of ' Praying Indians.' which mustered here " (1675), says Mr. Frothingham, and (1676) " having some English in it, performed efficient service." Citizens also enlisted, or were impressed, in other companies. As early as 1686, Rev. Cotton Mather preached (Sep. 13) at an Artillery Election held here, " a very good Discourse," wrote Judge Sewall, who adds that the " Company had like to have been broken up ; the animosity so high between Charlestown and Cambridge Men about the Place of Training." In Col. Thos. Gardner's Middlesex Regi- ment, at Bunker's Hill, was a company under Capt. Josiah Harris, raised in Charlestown. It did good service on the bank of the Mystic, at the left flank of the Provincial line, and was " the last to retreat." Along with the rebuilding of the town occurred the formation of the Artillery Company 1 (1786), and two more companies were added to the militia in 1804, -the Warren Phalanx, and the Light Infantry. The former is continued ; the latter two lasted about forty years ; and the Columbian Guards half as long, dating from 1818. In 1850, the City Guards were organized, and they had an active career, as also have had the Cadets, organized in 1864. Besides these were the Jackson Guards (Co. G, 9th Reg.),
1 Capt., Wm. Calder; Capt .- Lieut., Solomon Phipps ; Ist Lieut., Windsor Jones ; 2d, Sam! Morse. In 1797, 1st brigade, 3d div. Art. Battalion, with Capt., David Goodwin. 1802, Capt., John Carter, Jr. ; 1805, Joseph Reed. 1805, Ist brigade, 3d div. Reg. of Art., Capt., Andrew Roulston ; John Farley, 1$12 ; John Sweetser, 1$14; and many since. The Co. is now in the 9th Regiment, with Edward Eagan captain.
THE POWDER HOUSE
67
OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
dating from 1855, and the Prescott Light Guards (Co. C, 1st Batt. Cavalry) dating from 1863. During the war for the Union, Charlestown furnished its full share of soldiers. In addition to those scattered in a great many companies, no small number in the aggregate, they largely composed other companies. For 3 months' service (May-July, 1861) in the Fifth Regiment, there were in Co. C, 41; in K, 66; for 100 days (1864), in Co. D, 72; in H, 58; for 9 months (Sep., 1862, to July, 1863) in Co. A, 86 ; in D, 89; in H, 95; while in the Forty-seventh there were 85 in Co. E. For 3 years (from July, 1863) there were 124 in Co. I, of the Thirty-second, and (from July, 1862) 95 in Co. B, of the Thirty-sixth Infantry. (For Regimental Histories, sce pp. 276, 277.) Since the war there have been organizations of the Grand Army for veterans ; and for the young, who are likely to learn what a long future has in store, there are the High School Cadets.
OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The one existing public work of the town that can be called ancient, is the Powder House, near the corner of the road to Arlington and that between Cambridge and Medford, on land now in Somerville; indeed it is almost the only such work of the Provincial times to be found throughout a wide region. Its walls, built of rough broken stones, perhaps 30 ft. high, form, as measured by the writer (April 15, 1886), a nearly exact circle 602 feet in circumference on the outside. At the one door (towards the north) they are 2} feet thick, and the diameter of the interior directly thence is 14 ft., 2 in. Both outside and inside they curve slightly inward towards the top. which is covered by a tall conical wooden and shingled roof with curved outlines. Across the interior, until recently, there were heavy beams, and flooring, all of late broken, but these have been removed, leaving the whole space clear : the floor is the earth; the doorway unclosed, as also is a window oppo- site ; and the interior is dirty. Otherwise the structure is in tolerably good condition. Its roof was painted. and its walls
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