History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 140

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 140

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St. Paul's Church .- This church was formed on the 4th day of July, 1869, and on the same day the cor- ner-stone of the superstructure was laid with appro- priate ceremonies. The basement had been com- pleted and served as a place for public worship until July 4, 1874, when the church itself (save the tower) was finished and dedicated. It is a Gothic structure, of cathedral proportions, with a facade of ninety feet in width, and with a length of one hundred and eighty-five feet, and stands upon elevated ground in the heart of the city. It is constructed of granite throughout, and cost two hundred thousand dollars. When its tower shall have been completed, according to the original plan, it will overtop any other structure in the city. This noble edifice owes its origin and com- pletion to the Rev. John J. Power, D.D., the first and only pastor of St. Paul's, and the vicar-general of the diocese.

Church of Notre Dame .- This is the only French Catholic Church in Worcester. The first movement toward its establishment was in 1869. Its name in full is " Church of Notre Dame des Canadiens." The first pastor was the Rev. J. J. Primeau. In 1870 the Methodist Church on Park Street was bought for its use at a cost of thirty-two thousand seven hundred dollars. Here the first Mass was celebrated in .June, 1870. At the beginning the church embraced seven- teen hundred and forty-three souls, of whom eleven hundred and fifty-nine were communicants. E eleven years the first number had grown to be forty- three hundred, and the number of communicants to be twenty-five hundred, while in 1884 there were over five thousand souls. In 1880-81 the great in- crease of the congregation required an enlargement of the edifice, and the result was, in effect, a new structure. The plain old building was transformed, by fine architectural tonches, into a handsome and spacious edifice, adding much to the surrounding at-

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tractions of the historic Common upon which it fronts. The dimensions are fifty-four by one hundred and twenty-eight feet ; the cost of the improvements was thirty-five thousand dollars. The pealing of the angelus from the massive bell in its tower daily re- minds the city of its existence and the faithful of their duty. After Mr. Primeau's retirement the Rev. Isadore Beaudry became in 1882 the pastor, and in the following year he was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Brouillet, who was in charge in 1888.

Besides the church of Notre Dame, Father Brouillet has charge of several French missions, which he es- tablished after coming to Worcester. The first of these was,-

St. Anne's .- This mission was established at South Worcester on the 9th of January, 1886. A house was purchased by Father Brouillet at a cost of five thou- sand dollars, and was converted into a temporary home for the mission.

St. Joseph's was established on the 9th of January, 1887, at the corner of Wall and Norfolk Streets, on Oak Hill, where a chapel was built in that year at a cost of sixty-five hundred dollars. Incipient meas- ures have been taken to add to the number of these missions.

When Father Brouillet came in 1883 he at once proceeded to take a census of the French Catholic population of Worcester, and found it to be eight thousand. According to his careful estimate, this had increased to nine thousand in 1888. Of that number four thousand were communicants.

Church of the Immaculate Conception .- This enter- prise was inaugurated in February, 1872, under Bishop O'Reilly and Rev. Thomas Griffin, chancellor of the diocese. The church was organized in November, 1873 ; the erection of the church edifice was begun in the same year. In the next year the basement was completed and used for worship until December, 1878, when the whole superstructure was finished. It was dedicated by Father Power, vicar-general, with a large body of the priesthood assisting. The building is seventy feet wide by one hundred and twenty-four feet long, and has eleven hundred and fifty sittings. The cost was thirty-five thousand dollars. Rev. Rob- ert Walsh became the pastor in 1874, and has re- mained such ever since.

Church of the Sacred Heart .- This, the sixth Roman Catholic church in chronological order, is located on Cambridge Street, at New Worcester. On the 2d of July, 1879, the first excavations for the building were made; aud on the 14th of September following the corner-stone was laid by Bishop O'Reilly. On the 24th of January, 1880, the parish was organized, and at the same time the Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, assis- tant at St. John's Church, was appointed its first pas- tor. The superstructure was finished, and the base- ment furnished for use on Easter Sunday of the same year. On the 21st of September, 1884, the auditorium was opened for 'public service and the church was

then dedicated. There are eight hundred sittings in the basement and eight hundred and forty in the auditorium. The Sunday school has a membership of six hundred. The organization of total abstinence societies in this parish has been made a conspicuous feature by the pastor. The several societies for young men, young ladies and boys include three hundred and fifty members. The cost of the parish property was about eighty thousand dollars.

St. Peter's Church .- This church stands on the corner of Main and Grand Streets. The corner-stone was laid on Sunday, the 7th of September, 1884, by Bishop O'Reilly, under the supervision of the pastor, Rev. Daniel H. O'Neill. The event was marked by a great military display, with a procession of various orders through Main Street. The vicar-general and the chancellor of the diocese were also present assist- ing. The building is of brick, with granite trimmings, seventy feet by one hundred and thirty, with a mas- sive tower, ninety-eight feet high. It has a seating capacity for one thousand, but for the present public worship is held in the basement.

St. Stephen's Church .- This church is ou Grafton Street, at the corner of Caroline. It was founded in 1887, and is the most recently organized church of this order. The Rev. R. S. J. Burke was the pastor in 1888.

The Roman Catholic population of Worcester, other than that of French descent, was supposed to be about twenty-five thousand in the year 1888.

EPISCOPALIANS .- The parishes of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Massachusetts are organized under a special statute. This provides that the rec- tor or one of the wardens, unless other provision is made in the by-laws, may preside at meetings with all the powers of a moderator; and the wardens, or wardens and vestry, may exercise all the powers of a standing committee. To secure as much uniformity as possible, the "Convention " of this church prints with its annual journals, and recommends for adop- tion, a standing form of by-laws for the government of the parishes. Among other things this Form pro- vides that the wardens shall be communicants and that all officers shall be baptized men ; that the rec- tor, wardens, treasurer, clerk and vestrymen shall constitute "the vestry ;" and that the rector shall be chosen by the parish, or by the vestry, when so au- thorized by the parish. A noticeable feature of this Form, in its latest expression, is, that " any person," subject to the other conditions, may become a mem- ber of the parish. In earlier editions of the Form the words used are "any male person." Provision is thus made for the admission of women to a partner- ship in the management of Protestant Episcopal par- ishes. This change in the direction of progress con- forms also to the statutes of the Commonwealth. In general but not altogether exact accordance with these provisions, the Protestant Episcopal parishes in Worcester have been organized. The oldest, and the mother of the rest, is the parish of

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HISTORY OF. WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

All Saints. - The beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Worcester are reported by the late Judge Ira M. Barton in two letters written in the year 1835, but first printed in the year 1888. From this con- temporary and authentic source of information it appears that in the former year Dr. Wainwright vis- ited Worcester "to see as to the practicability of establishing a church here." An arrangement was then made for services in the Central Church, but through a misunderstanding it fell through. This failure was less discouraging than the difficulty in finding persons "to sustain the burden." "No such persons have yet offered themselves," wrote Judge Barton under date of October 2d. A little later the prospect had brightened. Under date of December 13th he wrote: "Regular church services were, for the first time, held in Worcester to-day." At that first meeting there were present "some sixty people." The preacher on the occasion was the Rev. Thomas H. Vaill, then in deacon's orders only. And now the time had arrived when this enterprise took to itself a body and a name by an act of incorporation under the style of the " Proprietors of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Worcester." The act bears date of April 8, 1836, and the incorporators named in the act are Thomas H. Vaill, Ira Barton and Edward F. Dixie. The experiment was fairly begun. For six months Mr. Vaill continued his ministrations and then left "thoroughly discouraged." As the present bishop of Kansas he still lives to look back upon this day of small things. Seven years of silence tol- lowed his departure, when, in 1842, services were again beguu, never afterwards to be intermitted. On Christmas day of that year the Rev. Fernando C. Putnam held a service in the chapel on Thomas street belonging to the Central Church. Mr. Put- nam was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Black- aller.

With Mr. Blackaller as minister in charge, Thomas Bottomly and Charles S. Ellis as wardens and Edwin Eaton as clerk, the first church of this order was well on its foundations. It continued, however, in a low condition until 1844, when the Rev. George T. Chapman, D.D., came and applied his sturdy shoulders to the work of upbuilding. Dr. Chapman had a zeal for his church. Organizing and assisting churches in various parts had been his self- appointed mission, and now the feeble church in Worcester was to feel the good effects of his help. Coming at Easter, he remained in charge of the parish for two full years. At the end of that time he gave place to the Rev. George H. Clark, who became the first regularly chosen and settled rector of All Saints. In January, 1849, Mr. Clark resigned because of ill health, and the Rev. N. T. Bent succeeded to the office. Mr. Bent remained till the spring of 1852, when the Rev. Archibald M. Morrison became the rector. At the end of four years, illness in his family compelled him to lay down his charge. A period of

three years now elapsed in which All Saints was without a rector. In this time the Rev. William H. Brooks and the Rev. Albert Patterson were the min- isters in charge. But in December, 1859, the Rev. E. W. Hager became the rector, and so remained till August, 1862, when he resigned his place.

At the close of the year 1862 began the ministry of the Rev. William R. Huntington, which was destined to change the whole face of things for Episcopacy in Worcester. His ministry of twenty-one years was a period of constant and rapid growth. Dr. Hunting- ton found his Church of All Saints feeble and left it strong. He found it poorly housed and left it rejoic- ing in one of the most beautiful and costly of our churches. He found it solitary and left it the mother of children, born and to be born. And yet, at the close of his ministry, he was moved to say that, "in the whole English-speaking world there is probably not a city of the size of ours in which the Episcopal Church is numerically so weak as ours." That this reproach is now measurably taken away is owing more to his agency and influence than to any other. It was on the 3d of December, 1862, that Dr. Hun- tington was both ordained and inducted into the rec- torship of All Saints. His ministry began in the church on Pearl Street which had been erected in 1846 after plans drawn by Upjohn of New York. Dr. Huntington described it as " a beautiful specimen of rural architecture." It remained as originally built until 1860, when it was altered to gain additional sit- tings. In the course of twenty-eight years it was four times reconstructed ; then, on Easter night, April 7, 1874, it was destroyed by fire. This was the signal for removal and enlargement.

On the 15th of May a committee was empowered to build a church and chapel ; on the 29th of December ground was broken at the corner of Irving and Pleasant Streets ; on the 13th of May following the first stone was put in place; on the 2Ist of July the corner-stone was laid ; and on the 4th of January, 1877, the finished building was consecrated by Bishop Paddock. Church, chapel and parish building are grouped in one capacions structure. All the walls, including bell-tower and spire to the finial, are of red sandstone. The pulpit of the Pearl Street Church, a gift from Emanuel Church in Boston, rescued from the flames and erected for use in the new church, is a memorial of continuity ; while encrusted in the inte- rior wall of the tower-porch are stone relics of medic- val architectural ornament, given by the dean and chapter of Worcester (England) Cathedral, as a token of " brotherly regard and church uuity."

Having declined various calls from different bodies to important ecclesiastical offices,-one, in 1874, to the office of bishop-Dr. Huntington at length accepted a call to the rectorship of Grace Church in New York, and in 1883 severed his long connection with All Saints'. By his published writings, by his unwearied fidelity to his parochial charge and by his wise ac-

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tivity in the Church Conventions, he had come to be a power in his own communion.

Shortly after the termination of Dr. Huntington's service, the Rev. Lawrence H. Schwab became the minister in charge. He was succeeded by the Rev. Alexander H. Vinton, who was chosen to be the rec- tor on the 28th of April, 1884, and who assumed the office in September following. Under his ministry the prosperity of the parish was continued. The number of communicants last reported was about fonr hundred.

Parish of St. Matthew .- In the winter of 1869 a mis- sion chapel fund of $721.21 was raised from a Christmas sale by the women of All Saints. This was the germ of the parish of St. Matthew. Additions were made to the fund from time to time, and in 1871 a mission was established at South Worcester. An association of communicants in All Saints was formed, with the rector of that parish as trustee, and by them an estate was bought at the corner of Southbridge and Wash- burn Streets. On this site a chapel was completed in September of the same year, and on St. Matthew's day, February 24, 1875, it was opened for public wor- ship. The Rev. John Gregson, assistant minister at All Saints, was made the minister in charge, and he so remained for nearly a year. After him Mr. Thomas Mackay acted as lay reader until the following Octo- ber, when the Rev. Thomas A. Robertson assumed the charge and continued in it for a period of nine months. Mr. Mackay then resumed his post, and with other lay readers held services until January 1, 1874, when the Rev. Henry Mackay became the min- ister in charge. This continued until the spring of that year; then the mission was organized with Henry L. Parker and Matthew J. Whittall as war- dens. The Rev. Mr. Mackay remained the minister in charge until July, 1875. In April, 1876, the Rev. Amos Skeele was called to the rectorship, which he retained for several months ; but in April, 1877, the church was again without a rector and Sunday ser- vices were cared for by the Rev. George S. Paine, of Worcester. To him succeeded the Rev. Alexander Mackay Smith, assistant at All Saints, by whom, it was said, "wonderful work was done." January 1, 1878, the Rev. George E. Osgood became the rector, and in September the church was "renovated " and again opened for public worship. All incumbrances having been at length removed and a deed of the land given by Sumner Pratt, St. Matthew's Church (or chapel) was consecrated on Quinquagesima Sunday in 1880. Mr. Osgood having resigned the rectorship January 16, 1881, on the 8th of April following the Rev. J. H. Waterbury became the rector but resigned in November of the same year. He, however, re- mained in charge until his death, which occurred in the next spring. In the summer of 1882 land for a par- ish building was secured on the corner of Southbridge and Cambridge Streets, and in the course of the season St. Matthew's Hall was erected upon it. In August the

Rev. Henry Hague assumed the charge of St. Mat- thew in connection with that of St. Thomas at Cherry Valley. In February, 1888, the number of commu- nicants was one hundred and seventy-five, and the value of the parish property $7,500, less an incum- brance of $1,250. Thus, from asmall beginning, with a frequently changing ministry, this parish had slowly grown through a period of nineteen years, until it appears to have come to rest on a permanent founda- tion. For its success much was due to the fostering care of Dr. Huntington.

Parish of St. John .- This parish was organized as part of a broad and long-cherished plan of Dr. Huntington. A scheme of four missions, embryons of four churches in different sections of the city, named after the four Evangelists, was what he had conceived and steadily aimed to realize. St. John's was the second in the order of the plan. It was be- gun by the formation of a Sunday-school, March 11, 1883. The first meeting was held in an upper room on the corner of Lincoln Square and Main Street, and the first church service was held by the Rev. Henry Hague, of St. Matthew's, on the 6th of Jan- uary, 1884. On the 9th of March following, the first regular Sunday service was held by the Rev. John S. Bens, general missionary of the diocese. On the 9th of March the Rev. Edward S. Cross began work with the mission, and on the 13th of April took for- mal charge. On the 21st of the same month land for a church was bought on Lincoln street; on the 13th of May ground was broken; and July 5th the corner- stone was laid. On the 18th of September, 1884, the parish was organized under the laws of the state. Mr. Cross, the minister in charge, preached his farewell sermon on the 19th of October, and on the 30th of November, in the same year, the Rev. Francis C. Burgess entered upon his duties as the first rector of the new parish. Public worship in the church was held for the first time on Christmas Day. For a time the free church system was tried, but was soon abandoned, yet so as in the hope that under more favorable conditions it might be afterwards re- sumed. In the first four months of parish life the average congregation and the number of communi- cants increased two-fold. This growth continued until, in 1887, it was found desirable to enlarge the church in order to gain more sittings. This was ac- cordingly done, at a cost somewhat exceeding $2600. In 1888 the money to defray this cost had all been subscribed and paid. By this enlargement the whole number of sittings was increased to 308. At the last-named date the church and land were valued at $17,000, upon which there rested a debt of $9300. The number of communicants at this time was 209. This year witnessed a new departure for Episcopacy in Worcester by the union of St. John's with the Cen- tral (Congregational) Church in the observance of Lent. Services were held alternately in the two churches, conducted alternately by the two ministers.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Clergymen from abroad were also brought in to as- sist in this fraternal recognition, of whom chiefly to be mentioned are the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Herrick, both of Boston. If any ill came out of this unwonted fraternization, it was never publicly reported. On the contrary, the continued prosperity of St. John's seemed to bear witness that this new departure was a safe step in the line of progress.

Parish of St. Mark's Church .- In the order of time this was the third in the scheme of four churches which Dr. Huntington set on foot. But not till some years after he had gone from Worcester did a good opportunity for inaugurating the enterprise present itself. At length the founding of Clark University, in the spring of 1887, became the signal for moving. That great educational project causing a marked ad- vance in the price of real estate in the quarter selected for St. Mark's Mission, spurred on its friends to make haste and secure a suitable lot for church purposes. The purchase of a lot was the only object of the first meeting, which was in September, 1887; but this very speedily led to the formation of a mission by the name of St. Mark's Mission. A place for meeting was secured, and about October Ist a Sunday-school was opened. Public worship was held for the first time on the 23d of October, by the Rev. Alex. H. Vinton, rector of All Saints, other clergymen in and out of the city assisting. After this date the services of the Rev. Thomas W. Nickerson of Rochdale were secured. He continued to officiate until the Easter following, when the Rev. Langdon C. Stewardson took charge of the mission. He came fresh from a three years' course of theological study in the uni- versities of Germany, prior to which he had been for five years rector of a church in Webster. "Under his leadership," says a competent authority, "the mission has made a progress which is believed to be unprecedented in the history of this diocese." The number of communicants, about forty at Easter, had nearly donbled within the next five months. From the beginning the mission was independent and self- reliant. No aid from any outside source was accepted. On the other hand, the mission, in that brief period, had raised out of its own resources the sum of twelve thousand two hundred dollars. With part of this the lot for church and chapel, already spoken of, was purchased on the corner of Main and Freeland Streets. On the 6th of September, 1888, the corner-stone of the chapel to be erected on this lot was laid, a solid silver trowel, given by Mrs. Ellen Lawson Gard, wife of its maker, being used in the ceremony. An imposing aspect was given to the occasion. At five o'clock in the afternoon nine clergymen from the city and other parts, with Dr. Huntington of New York, the origi- nator of the enterprise, at their head, marched down the street in surplices and took their places by the corner-stone. When the ceremonial act was com- pleted, Dr. Huntington made a brief address, admir-

able alike for its substance, expression and tone. " Rarely," said he, " is the building of a church under such assured circumstances. You have a marvelously chosen building site, you are in perfect harmony among yourselves, and your leader you love and trust. What more do you want? Is it the money to com- plete the building? That is a very doubtful advan- tage. The very fact that it is lacking is a spur to never-failing effort." Again he said : " We lay this stone in charity. If there are any within the hearing of my voice not of this household of faith " (and there were many) " let them not feel disquieted. We come not as destroyers, but maintainers of peace; not to divide, but to unite. The Episcopal Church sees in itself a great reconstructing influence. There is one object, one purpose, and that the purpose of building up the kingdom of God." The plan con- templates in its ultimate realization a chapel and church of red sandstone throughout.

St. Luke's Church, the fourth and only one remain- ing to complete Dr. Huntington's quadrilateral of churches, in his own words uttered at the laying of St. Mark's corner-stone, " bides its time."

UNIVERSALISTS-First Universalist Church .- The first Universalist Society was formed on the 3d day of June, 1841, in accordance with the laws of Massachu- setts. So said the Rev. Stephen Presson Landers in his historical address delivered a quarter of a century afterwards. Mr. Landers was the first pastor and had preached his sermon in Brinley Hall on the 2d of May previous. In the summer and autumn ten thousand dollars were subscribed for building a church. The pastor himself subscribed " more than he was worth." A very choice and central site on the corner of Main and Foster streets was bought for a little more than $1.25 a square foot. But "stagnant water " caused delay. In 1842 a further subscription of more than five thousand dollars was added to the former. Then, early in 1843, ground was broken, and on the 22d of November in the same year the house was dedicated with a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Miner, of Boston. On the evening of the same day " was the recognition of our small church," wrote the historian, and also its first communion with thirty-one participants. The pastorate of Mr. Landers terminated on the 16th of June, 1844, when he preached his farewell sermon. His death occurred at Clinton, N. Y., on the 15th of April, 1876, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. On the 12th of March, 1845, Rev. Albert Case was installed as his successor. After somewhat more than four years he left his Worcester charge and engaged in secular business of various sorts. He was also settled again for a time as pastor at Hingham, Mass. He died at the age of about seventy on the 29th of December, 1877. It was noted of him, as a mark of great distinction, that he had, while in the Worcester pastorate, "attained to the thirty-third degree, the highest of the Masonic grades in the world." His successor, the Rev. Obadiah Horsford Tillotson, was

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 140

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464