USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > History of St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Watertown, 1836-1936 > Part 4
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Events of importance soon after the settling of Dr. and Mrs. Twombly in their home were a large supper and reception to the pastor in the vestry, the Annual Strawberry Festival at the Town Hall by the Ladies Society, and an annual May Day Festival for the children in the vestry. "The children were assembled in the vestry of the church, when, after a cheerful good time, much in harmony with their own views, consisting of music and marches and so forth, they sat down to a table well laden with cake, ice creams, and other good things." Modern times were coming on apace, when children could be entertained in the vestry!
The first mention of an organized missionary society appears in the records of 1886. "The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society and the Home Missionary Society are receiving the care of the ladies - elder and younger."
Collections for various benevolences continued to be taken every year, and each year at this time would show an improvement, in 1886 totaling $436 as follows: General Missionary Collections from the Church, $100; from the Sunday School, $25; Church Extension, $20; New England Educational Society, $18; American Bible Society, $20; Domestic Missions, $20; Tract Society, $6; Sunday School Union, $6; Preachers Aid, $41; Freedman's Aid, $20; Church Aid, $21; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, $45; Golden Rule Mission Band (for Missions), $108.
In 1886 the by-laws for the Board of Trustees were again revised and carefully recorded. The Trustees' book at this time continually shows, as do the pastoral addresses, that the principal
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subject on everyone's mind was the possibility of a new church. The congregation was always supported in this ambition by Dr. Twombly, but it was not to be his joy to be here as pastor when their hope was at last fulfilled. A vote taken in Quarterly Confer- ence in 1887 even authorized the Trustees to sell the church prop- erty whenever they should find it advisable.
On July 4, 1886, a large "Missionary Concert" was held, and the date being a holiday, it was made a "National Concert." Religious and patriotic songs were sung, and addresses were made by several of the church members who had fought in many of the great battles of the late rebellion. Other special meetings during the year were devoted to Temperance and Education.
Dr. Twombly's ministry seems to have been quite successful, and if his tabulations are correct, he received a net gain of thirty new members in his two-year charge as against a net gain of forty- two members in the preceding five years. He claimed average benevolent contributions of $336 per year, as against an average of $164 for the six preceding years. It is impossible to tell just why some unsatisfactory feeling rose between pastor and Church, but rise up it did, and to Dr. Twombly's disappointment he found that instead of the expected request for his return, the Quarterly Con- ference had prepared the following resolution, polite but firm: "Resolved, that having full confidence in the ability and integrity of the regularly constituted authority of the Methodist Episcopal Church, we wish the whole matter of appointment of a Pastor for the Church in Watertown be left, as has before sometimes been the policy of this Church, to the Bishop and his Cabinet, with the request that they do for us what in their judgment is for the best."
Brothers Clough, Priest, and Paine were the committee to take this resolution to the bishop, and the matter ended with a newly appointed minister for Watertown when the New England Con- ference met. Dr. Twombly felt at the time that the action was an impeachment of his ministerial ability, but he left a fine record of a growing church and increased benevolences, an "era of progress" in the society's books, which must have been some consolation. He himself also went on to greater success in the world.
The Board of Trustees of the Church, elected at Annual Meeting of 1887, included the following: E. F. Porter, president; George E. Priest, secretary; F. J. Berry, W. H. Perkins, Oliver Shaw, W. H. Dadman, H. W. Martin, W. C. Howard, and W. W. Savage.
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CHAPTER VII THE DECADE 1887-1897
PART I
THIS very important period in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Watertown is occupied mainly with the suc- cessive hopes, plans, activities, and accomplishments connected with the erection of the new stone church. All records are full of the members' efforts to help in the building of the new edifice. For this reason it will perhaps be best to divide the following chapter into two parts: Part I will be the chronological record of the Church as a whole, 1887 to 1897; and Part II will tell of the building of the Church.
Rev. J. H. Twombly was succeeded in May, 1887, by Rev. William G. Richardson, the same Mr. Richardson who settled in Watertown many years later (1915) after his retirement from the ministry, and lived among us respected and beloved until his death in 1935. He found the society very cordial and eager to be led for- ward to new accomplishments, and he was repeatedly asked to return to this Church, so that his term lasted five years - an unusual thing in those days.
The great event of Mr. Richardson's pastorate was the celebra- tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Church (1837). The detailed history telling of all the events connected with this celebration has been lost, but Mrs. William G. Richardson saved several program cards which were printed at the time, and kindly gave them to the committee in charge of this one hundredth anni- versary. From these cards we can get a good idea of that celebra- tion of 1887. October 25 was the Semi-Centennial Class; October 28, Town Hall, 7.30 o'clock, Reunion, Roll Call, and Banquet; followed by "Reminiscences" by Rev. B. K. Peirce, D.D., Rev. Daniel Richards, Mr. J. B. Husted, and others; October 30 (Sunday), morning service, Prof. M. D. Buel; evening, Rev. Frederick Woods, D.D .; November 1, Dean W. S. Huntington; November 2, W. R.
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L. SIDNEY CLEVELAND TRUSTEE
REV. WILLIAM G. RICHARDSON FORMER PASTOR
Clarke, D.D .; November 3, Rev. A. M. Osgood, Dr. W. H. Thomas; November 4, Prof. L. T. Townsend, D.D .; November 6 (Sunday), Mark Trafton, D.D .; November 8 and 9, Rev. George S. Butters; November 10, Rev. N. B. Fisk; November 11, Rev. Fayette Nichols; November 13 (Sunday), the pastor, and Rev. T. W. Bishop.
What an array of ministerial and oratorical abilities is repre- sented in that list! The Semi-Centennial of the Methodist Episcopal Church surely caused much favorable attention in the town to be drawn to the society, and revived the interest of everyone connected with the Church. The attendance at services on Sunday ranged from 105 on a rainy day to over 300 during the celebration months. The Young People's meeting outgrew the small vestry and had to be held in the larger vestry. The missionary interests of the Church increased, and the two societies flourished, as did the Sunday School and Class Meetings. The Sunday School superintendent was now Mr. George E. Teele, who continued the good work of Mr. George E. Priest in organization and methods. In 1890, Mr. Teele reported a total Sunday School membership of 224, an average attendance of 150, and in the same year, Mr. Richardson reported a total known and contributing church membership of 175. In 1891, the Epworth League began sending in quarterly reports under Curtis Bixby, president (who had succeeded Bartlett M. Shaw). This group had started out several years before as the "Young People's Christian League," but was later renamed the Epworth League to coincide with the name given a similar society in Meth- odist churches everywhere. The Ladies' Social Circle or Ladies' Benevolent Society had likewise now become the Ladies' Aid Society and had assumed all church work over which it now has charge. Also, a "Training Class" in Bible study and practical church work was organized under Mr. C. R. Fletcher, which was a great help to the pastor.
In fact, Mr. Richardson could gladly and truthfully report in 1891 that in his opinion the Church was peaceful, united, and "now in a better condition in all respects to do aggressive and suc- cessful church work, than it ever was before." The finances of the Stewards - the current expenses - were not always promptly paid, but the Trustees found themselves with small surpluses in these years, and several times paid two hundred dollars to the Stewards from pew rent accounts. The Music Committee became
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more interested in music than such a group had ever been in the past, even contributing generous sums to the treasury to be spent for music. Brother J. B. Husted, an elderly and beloved member, had charge of a church paper which had "a goodly number of subscribers."
In 1892 Mr. Richardson was succeeded by Rev. G. M. Smiley, who arrived in the midst of the excitement caused by the actual purchase of land for a new church. Mr. Smiley found average church attendance 150, prayer meeting attendance 75. He wished to make the Sunday evening praise-and-prayer services as attractive as he could, and in the autumn of 1892 arranged to have a chorus and small orchestra supply extra music for these occasions - a radical departure, but a popular one. He was very much pleased with the progress shown in young people's work, and believed in a great future for the prosperous Epworth League. The officers of 1892 for this society were: President, Curtis W. Bixby; Vice-Presidents, Miss Eva Berry, Mrs. C. R. Fletcher, Austin M. Howard, and C. R. Fletcher; Secretary and Treasurer, Miss Mabel Cleveland. The Sunday School at this time was under the direction of Richard H. Paine, and was in such a flourishing condition that it was able to subscribe $1,000 to the "New Church Fund," to be paid over a five-year period. Church membership was also increased by thirty during Mr. Smiley's pastorate, when the Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist churches engaged in special revival services under Rev. Walter A. Dumnett, a well-known evangelist. The Stewards had an unsatisfactory year and a troublesome deficit, but other than that Mr. Smiley must have had a pleasant and untrying ministry.
The Rev. J. W. Dearborn came to Watertown to be pastor in 1893, and in his first pastoral report gives us a clear picture of the village, or perhaps it should now be designated as the town, he had come to serve. "I find an old and respectable town waking to a new life. It is still a town having yet the beauty of wooded hills and green slopes, gardens and lawns, with great trees arching nearly all its streets; but it is just now seeking by a more rapid transit to be brought so close to the great city as to feel every moment the throb of municipal life. At this opportune time, our church with more than half a century of honorable history, but whose later growth has been cramped and hindered by a shabby house of wor- ship, is taking a new, ambitious, and hopeful departure."
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Mr. Dearborn found a cordial and well united people welcom- ing him, but being a very spiritual and righteous man, he often wondered if the material interests of his charges entirely over- shadowed their spiritual interests. "Let us keep in mind," he begged them, "that permanence of our work is not in stone and mortar but in the enlightened and regenerate lives of those in our care."
By reason of this belief, Mr. Dearborn labored carefully with all his parish, and was greatly beloved. The new church building and its attendant excitement he left to the business men. But in the first winter of his ministry in Watertown, fatal illness overtook him, and he died in January, 1894. The whole Church was greatly shocked. His quiet, responsible, and courteous ways, and his earn- est, well illustrated, and lofty sermons had made him many devoted friends. The sad and kindly Memorial Resolutions dedicated to him and presented to Mrs. Dearborn by the Trustees in March, were a masterpiece and must have been a wonderful satisfaction to her.
In the spring (1894) Rev. C. A. Littlefield was sent to Water- town, and it was really under his pastorate that the fine new Church was completed. His salary was set at $1,500. Mr. Littlefield was young and ambitious, and joyfully felt that he had been sent to a church, which, for its size, had splendid possibilities when everyone should devote a reasonable amount of time to make it enterprising, thrifty, and successful. During the first summer of his stay in Watertown, the new Church was actually begun, so Mr. Littlefield started plans for enlarging the community service of the Method- ists, determined that they should be a great and good influence in the town.
In the meantime all the various church activities continued as before. The King's Daughters, a home missionary group, presented a course of lectures by Mr. Leon H. Vincent, an intellectual treat. The Epworth League could boast ninety active members and had a monthly paper, The Husted Chronicles. They also had a "Reading Course," a semi-monthly Bible Class with the pastor, and a sub- scription of $52 a year to current church expenses, as well as ample provision for their own benevolences. The honored "Class Meet- ings," however, had passed their prime as far as large attendance was concerned (to the great regret of the pastors). They were still faithfully conducted by Mr. F. J. Berry and Mr. Francis Whitcomb,
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but their numbers had decreased to an average of sixteen members for one, and twenty for the other. The Sunday School was under the leadership of Mr. Nathan B. Hartford, who naturally was very anxious to get into the fine quarters provided in the new edifice.
Mr. Littlefield returned to the Watertown Society in 1895 for a second year, and had the double pleasure of seeing his church mem- bership gradually increase and of being pastor when the new house of worship was dedicated. At this time the collector of weekly offer- ings reported that there were 102 pledged subscribers to the society, representing 166 persons. He recommended frequent practical talks from the pastor and treasurer on the Church's claim for financial support; and a more careful canvassing of the entire society by a committee that will do its duty; and the abolishing of the pew- rental system when they should move into the new Church (C. R. Fletcher, collector). The merits and demerits of this pew-rental system were often argued, but it was to be a long time before the Trustees actually dared to depend, as the Stewards did, on free-will offering and yearly subscriptions to take care of their part of the church expenses (1913).
September of 1895 came, and with it the promise of moving up to the new Mt. Auburn Street edifice. Mr. Littlefield was bound that a modern policy should be the mark of his newly located Methodists. "A liberal policy," he said, "a broad conception of church activity and a sunny and hopeful faith on the part of our people will insure for us a new and enlarged place in our commu- nity. Anything short of this will bring discouragement to our best workers, disappointment to an expectant community, and meagre results to our church. The watch words of the church should now be liberality and enterprise."
Chief among the October reports was that of the pastor about the church dedication. On the twentieth of October, the last services, full of hallowed associations, were held in the old meeting- house on Main Street, and on the following Tuesday, October 22, the new Church was dedicated to the worship of God, the service being conducted by the presiding elder (District Superintendent), Rev. G. F. Eaton. The evening service was preached by Rev. S. F. Upham of Drew Theological Seminary. With the beginning of services in the new building, Sunday evening preaching meetings were inaugurated with extended musical programs. Mr. R. N.
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Lister was engaged to train the choir, and much time and attention was devoted to this training and to the selection of anthems.
The sole regret in leaving the Main Street site was that it removed the Methodist, indeed the last Protestant, meeting-house from easy accessibility to the people of West Watertown. Mr. Littlefield and some others felt for a while that at least a Sunday School should be conducted at some suitable gathering place in the western part of the town, but the "western inhabitants" came so freely to the new Church which they admired, that the idea was dropped.
In the spring of 1896 it became known that Mr. Littlefield had been offered an executive position with the Boston City Board of Missions and that his position in Watertown must be filled by another after the spring conference. Mr. Littlefield left a united and hard-working group to his successor, with the words: "If there is no exuberant revival spirit in the Church, there is that which in the end is quite as good, a strong religious undercurrent of convic- tion and interest."
Rev. Oliver W. Hutchinson came to the new Church in April, 1896, finding a membership of 191. For that spring the average Sunday morning attendance was 158, the largest 268; the average Sunday evening congregation was 175, the largest 355. At his First Quarterly Conference, the pastor was presented with the following general information by the President of the Trustees, Mr. L. S. Cleveland: A sum of $21,000 had already been collected and paid in cash for the new building; $24,000 had been borrowed from the Watertown Savings Bank, and $2,450 (temporary loan on sub- scriptions) from the Union Market National Bank. The cost of the new property, including land, was $45,831.86, while gifts of material, windows, heating, and furnishings were valued at $4,500. The total valuation, therefore, stood close to $50,000. The mortgage debt of $24,000 would doubtless be reduced to $16,000 when the sale of the Main Street property was effected.
The estimating committee reported that Mr. Hutchinson was to receive $1,500 a year, and the music committee asked for $550- $300 for the organist and $250 for the soprano soloist. The entire church budget for the first year in the new edifice ran as follows: preacher, $1,500; rent (house), $360; organist, $300; janitor, $300; elder, $54; bishop, $10; conference expenses, $10; vacation supply, $30; moving expenses, $15; gas, $130; fuel, $175; sundries, $61; stationery and postage, $5; music, $250; total, $3,200.
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This was called the Stewards' budget. The items of insurance, repairs and paying off of the debt and its interest came under the Trustees and their Treasurer, whose income was $819 from pew rents.
The greatest progress in the Sunday School in this era was the gradual adoption of the graded system of lessons and classes. In a few years the whole organization had been changed about very competently by Mr. Nathan Hartford, Superintendent, and infant, primary, junior, and intermediate grades were separated into departments - to be taught from new graded lesson books. It was a splendid improvement, and when the arrangement was completed there was not a soul but who must praise it. The Sunday School Register for 1897 carries 230 members.
The Epworth League continued strong and influential with 117 active members (though the average attendance was around 60). Willis C. Hamlin was president; Wallace A. Shipton, secretary; and Miss Alice Corson, treasurer. The Junior League, meeting on Sun- day afternoons, had a membership of 50, Charles Lamb, president. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, New England Branch, held its two-day meeting in the new Watertown Church in 1896, and was presented with our annual missionary offering, which was fifty per cent larger than it had been in 1895. The Watertown Methodist women were proud hostesses indeed to four hundred admiring visitors on this occasion.
In this period of raising money for the large indebtedness of the Church, the benevolent collections continued to be taken as usual on special Sundays throughout the year. The congregation deserved much praise that all these calls were successfully met during this era when home demands were more strenuous than ever. It was likewise a great satisfaction to the pastors to be able to give in good reports at Conference on this same subject, benevolences.
Mr. Hutchinson found himself to be greatly aided in his church work by a member fairly new to the town, Mr. Cornelius C. Hodges, who had a local preacher's license. At this time a local preacher was also required to file a full report with the Quarterly Conference, and it is amazing the amount of work and reading Mr. Hodges had the opportunity to do. For instance, his report in February, 1897 read in part: "Number of sermons preached, 5; gospel addresses, 12; prayer meetings attended, 6 out of 10; Class meetings attended, 7 out of 10; Sunday School sessions, 7 out of 10. Under reading,
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would say that 'Hundred Years of Methodism' has proved a renewed spiritual benefit. 'Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation' (Walker), 'Field's Christian Theology,' 'Outline to Bible History' by Hurst, 'The Ministry of the Spirit,' by Dr. Gordon, 'Social Law of Service,' by Dr. Ely, 'Mission of Christ in the Poets,' by Stuart, and 'Portrait of St. Paul,' by Rev. John Fletcher, are numbered with my readings for the past six months.
My stay thus far with the members of this church and congre- gation, whom I have learned to love in church relationship, has been short but exceedingly pleasant. I would further say that the cordiality extended to my family and myself has exceeded any previous relation to church or society."
C. C. HODGES.
This part of the chapter on the 1887-97 church history will be concluded with a list of the Trustees serving in 1897, and a list of the Stewards. Trustees: L. Sidney Cleveland, president, Frank J. Berry, Richard H. Paine, William Perkins, George C. Priest, Bartlett M. Shaw, Wallace W. Savage, Chester Sprague, and Wilbur F. Learned. Stewards: Curtis Bixby, Cyrus H. Campbell, Henry Chase, Nathan B. Hartford, Willis C. Hamlin, Herbert Learned, Mrs. Savage, George E. Priest, C. R. Fletcher, George E. Teele, . Mrs. Teele, Freeman Cobb, and Henry Pollock.
The Church lost several important and beloved members dur- ing this period, each of whom deserves a long memorial here, but for whom lack of space necessitates only a brief mention: Mr. William H. Dadmun died in 1888, Mrs. Caroline Russell Whitney (widow of Leonard Whitney, Jr.) in 1889, Mr. Oliver Shaw in 1894, and Mr. J. B. Husted in 1896. All of these would have wished to live to serve a long while in the new Church, perhaps, but were called to greater service after beautiful and useful lives.
PART II
The Methodist people in Watertown had long been hoping for a new building, but the first record of definite action comes in October, 1888, when a committee representing the Ladies' Society met with the Trustees and requested the men to take action as soon as they were able on the new meeting-house project. At this very meeting a committee was appointed, Chester Sprague, chairman, to take subscriptions for a "Building Fund," sums to be paid
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before January 1, 1889. A second committee was to solicit the sur- render of all pews still owned by individuals to the Trustees, so that when a new meeting-house should be built, the Trustees might own all the pews in it.
After this subscription was taken, nothing further was done for over three years, until on April 4, 1892, it is recorded that a group of the churchmen were bargaining for a lot of land situated on Mt. Auburn Street near the Francis Schoolhouse (an old wooden school building standing about thirty feet west of the land St. John's now occupies). It was voted, first, that this land, when purchased, should be placed in the names of the Trustees; and secondly, that operations might commence as soon as $20,000 was subscribed, the lot paid for, and $7,300 in cash on hand.
The Committee of Trustees bought the proposed land for $7,700. On this lot stood a house, one hundred and fifty years old, known as "the old parsonage of the First Parish Church," then owned by the Wheeler heirs. No buyer could be found for the dilapidated building, so it was torn down, while the committee went ahead studying plans for the new church. This group was composed of Chester Sprague, Frank Berry, L. Sidney Cleveland, Richard H. Paine, and George E. Priest.
In February, 1893, the above committee reported to the Church that four plans had been presented to them but only two came under the required limit of cost, $30,000. The committee themselves recommended the plans of Alberto F. Haynes, which had specifications as follows: Seating capacity, 500 for audience room, 300 for vestry ; measurements of building, 97 feet 6 inches by 117 feet 6 inches; material, Milford granite and sandstone; vestry to have a basement, but the Church to have none; interior finish, sheathing of cypress to a height of five feet, with tinted plaster above this; in the roof, trusses to be exposed, with panels of plaster. The fine water-color sketch and architect's plans which accompanied the specifications showed the style of architecture to be a free treat- ment of the Romanesque, simple in outline and character, yet magnificent and imposing. At the southeasterly corner was to be the principal tower, 18 feet square and 90 feet high, and at the westerly front corner a tower 15 feet square and 41 feet high.
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