USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
Entries in the record indicate that the parish early began to take an interest in the music of the sanctuary, which has con- tinued to increase to this time. The first appropriation of money for its improvement was eighty dollars, in 1795; the year after the completion of the second meeting-house, when Joshua Dan- forth, Woodbridge Little, Thomas Gold, and Robert Francis, were appointed to supply a suitable teacher, and see that a suitable num- ber should attend upon his instruction. Similar appropriations were made from time to time, until the organization of musical
.
421
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
societies in the town rendered other modes of encouraging the study of church-music more efficient.
About the year 1816, Joseph Shearer presented to the parish its first organ; but the gift, although received with thanks, does not seem to have been highly appreciated. At all events, either through some defect in the instrument, or from inability-per- haps indisposition-to obtain a competent organist, it was suffered to go to ruin, and its pipes became the spoil of the village-boys- the terror, in those days, of all interested in the meeting-house properties.
Until the year 1846, instrumental music in the church was furnished by an orchestra, consisting of a bass viol, violin, and a flute-sometimes two violins, two flutes, a violincello, and the bass viol, played by a performer as bulky as itself. In 1846, an organ was purchased in Boston-a second-hand instrument, whose price we cannot exactly ascertain ; but it was insured for one thousand dollars. Miss Helen Dunham, daughter of Deacon James H. Dunham, became the organist, and although having little or no previous acquaintance with the instrument, building upon her skill as a pianist, she soon became an accomplished per- former, especially admired for the grace of her voluntaries, and her excellent judgment in accompanying either the choir, or solo- vocalists. Her salary was one hundred dollars per annum.
In 1822, John C. Williams, Nathan Willis, S. M. McKay, Thomas B. Strong, Calvin Martin and Joseph Shearer, were incor- porated as the Trustees of the Ministerial Fund in the Town of Pittsfield, with power to superintend the permanent ministerial fund of the Congregational Church. The funds committed to their charge consisted of the legacy bequeathed by Woodbridge Little, as before stated, and of the remaining ministry-lot, reserved in the sale of the "Town Commons," and situated in the north- east corner of the town. It was sold in 1827, to Captain Hosea Merrill, for seven hundred dollars ; in 1831, a legacy of four hun- dred and seventy-six dollars and ninety-four cents was received from Mr. John R. Crocker,1 which made the amount of the trust- fund one thousand six hundred and seventy-six dollars and nine-
1 Mr. Crocker was a merchant doing business in the brick-store, now No. 3 South street, which he built. He married a daughter of Hon. Phinehas Allen, and died young, of consumption.
422
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
ty-four cents ; the income from which was paid over annually by the trustees to the treasurer of the parish. Subsequently, in 1866, the fund received an addition of five hundred dollars from a legacy of Deacon Daniel Crofoot, who died in 1832, leaving this bequest, besides others to the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, and similar institutions, to be paid on the death of his widow, which occurred in 1865.
In the year 1840, the parish bought the homestead of Deacon Josiah Bissell, on South street, for a parsonage, and it was occu- pied by Messrs. Brinsmade and Todd. But in 1842, it was de- stroyed by fire ; Dr. Todd losing three-fourths of his manuscript sermons, and most of his library. The loss to the parish was two thousand dollars, and the insurance one thousand; but, owing to some informality, the insuring company was able to avoid payment. It was determined, however, to rebuild at once, and on the recom- mendation of a committee, consisting of Lemuel Pomeroy, S. L. Russell, S. D. Colt, and Elijah Peck, application was made to the trustees for the loan of the Ministerial Fund. The trustees con- sented on condition that the parish would convey to them by warrantee deed the parsonage, when finished, together with the land attached to it, inserting in the deed a covenant that the parish would keep the building perpetually insured. The pastor being also required to release his right to occupy the premises by virtue of his office.
These terms being communicated to the " committee of ways and means " verbally, the deed required was understood by them to be one of mortgage only, instead of warrantee. Under this natural mistake they gave their assent; and, reporting the facts as they understood them to the parish, they were instructed to erect the building. And it was built by Abraham Burbank, including the painting of both the interior and exterior, for four- teen hundred dollars, it being his first contract after his return to Pittsfield from New Orleans. Papering, fencing, and other inci- dentals consumed the remainder of the loan of one thousand six hundred and seventy-six dollars and ninety-four cents.
The trustees of the Ministerial Fund gave a perpetual lease of the parsonage to the parish for the interest upon the loan, and as it was incumbent upon them to pay over the income of the fund annually to the parish to be applied to the support of the minis- ter, the accounts of the two parties of necessity balanced each
-
423
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
other without any formal adjustment, so long as no addition to the fund disturbed the equilibrium, and no new party was admit- ted to an interest in the fund.
Until the year 1844, rooms for religious purposes, when other than the meeting-house, town-hall, or the school-houses were required, were provided not by the parish but by the church, which at various times hired the old Union Parish meeting-house, which, on the dissolution of that society, was purchased by Lemuel Pome- roy, and appropriated to many uses, under the name of the lecture- room.
The church occupied it for their prayer-meetings and evening- lectures, and the following memorandum made in its records, preserves the memory of a scene not easily forgotten by those who witnessed it.
SUNDAY EVENING, September 6, 1835.
A pretty full prayer-meeting, supposed to number about three hun- dred, were in attendance at the lecture-room, when the lightning struck and descended the rod to the eaves. The rod had become detached from the building, and swung loose. There the lightning parted. One portion descended the rod to the earth, and there made a mighty dis- play of its wonderful power. The other portion entered the lecture- room between the first and second windows, carrying in the second window, to the large stove ; followed the pipe to the chimney at the west end of the house ; descended until it met the stove-pipe in the lower room ; thence followed the pipe north to the stove in the northi - west lower room, where it tore its way through the floor, and passed out through the underpinning : leaving a visible trace of its irresistible course in the earth outside, and at the north-west corner of the build- ing. Although several were severely injured, yet God's great goodness and mercy were signally manifested in the preservation of the life of every one present.
Efforts were made, from time to time, for the erection of a new lecture-room, or as it was styled in the propositions, sessions- room; but nothing was done effectually until the year 1844-5. The old Union Church was leased for one evening in the week for a religious lecture, while for the others it was used for secular purposes ; some of which, in Dr. Todd's view, illy accorded with joint occupancy for religious worship. This feeling on his part was, in the fall of 1844, roused to its fullest extent, when the room was engaged by a traveling dramatic company, for the per-
-
424
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
formance of the play entitled " The Reformed Drunkard." This engagement covered the whole week, except the Wednesday evening reserved for the immemorial religious lecture. But when that evening came, with the preacher's desk surrounded by theatri- cal paraphernalia, Dr. Todd directed the sexton not to ring the bell; and on the next Sunday declared to his people that he would never again enter that room to hold religious service.
Upon this, vigorous measures were taken for building a lecture- room. The town granted a site adjoining the north-east corner of the meeting-house. Jason Clapp, Elijah Peck, Daniel P. Mer- riam, Curtis T. Fenn and Amos Barnes, were appointed a com- mittee to erect the building as soon as the necessary funds, which were estimated at fifteen hundred dollars, were procured. It was built in the summer of 1845, at a cost of fourteen hundred dollars. The lecture-room thus erected, was a neat building, fifty-one feet by thirty-six in external dimensions, including an open piazza, seven feet deep, supported by heavy dorie pillars. The audience-room was forty-two feet by thirty-four. It fairly served the purpose for which it was designed for nearly twenty- five years ; after which it was leased for two years for a district court-room. It was then sold to the town, which removed it to School street, and converted it into a store-house for the fire- department.
At half-past eight o'clock, on the morning of January 9, 1851, fire was discovered in the church, and before it was extinguished considerable damage was done to the interior, including the de- struction of the organ ; but the bell and town-clock were uninjured, and the latter struck the hour of nine while the flames were still blazing beneath it. There was an insurance of one thousand dol- lars upon the organ, and of five thousand upon the church.
The injury to the church could have been repaired for twenty- five hundred dollars, which was awarded on the insurance ; but a strong desire prevailed in the parish for an edifice of better material, and architecture, and of more ample size ; and such it was determined to build. The old meeting-house was therefore placed upon heavy timbers, and raised from its foundation at an expense of four hundred dollars. While it stood thus, a proposi- tion was made that the town should buy it at a price merely nomi- nal, remove it to School street, and remodel it for a town-hall; but an unexpected opposition developed itself. Fears were excited
425
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
that, if placed upon the proposed site, it would, from its large size and combustible material, endanger the Baptist and Methodist Churches, between which it would stand; and, for this reason, and others of less easy explanation, so strong a feeling was raised, that it was considered useless to call a town-meeting on the sub- ject. The building was then sold at auction to Levi Goodrich for two hundred and seventy dollars; so that the parish was abso- lutely one hundred and twenty dollars worse off than it would have been had it abandoned the wreck, as the fire left it, to who- ever would take it away; and two thousand seven hundred and twenty dollars poorer than it would have been had the building been entirely consumed.
Mr. Goodrich sold his purchase for five hundred dollars to Rev. Wellington H. Tyler, the proprietor of the Pittsfield Young Ladies' Institute, who made some effort to unite the town with him in remodeling it for their joint use. But the location pro- posed-that now occupied by St. Joseph's Church-was incon- venient for both parties; and that project too was abandoned.
All the town-hall schemes thus failing, and the parish rejecting, by a large vote, a renewed proposal to repair the house for its old purpose, Mr. Tyler removed his prize to the Institute-grounds and converted it into a gymnasium.
The old meeting-house being thus disposed of, Messrs. George W. Campbell, and John C. West, with other gentlemen, whose names we cannot now learn, were appointed to ascertain what amount of money could be raised for a new edifice. The plan adopted was that familiarly known as " dooming," a method of raising money for public purposes then common in Pittsfield. In accordance with it, the committee assessed upon each man of property in the parish, a sort of semi-voluntary tax, proportioned not exactly to what they supposed his resources to be; but based partly upon that, and in part upon his interest in the proposed object, his reputed liberality, and his sense of duty in such mat- ters. In short, they assigned to each individual that measure of contribution which they believed he would voluntarily assume, were he as well-informed in the premises as themselves. Of course the acquiescence of the parties doomed was entirely optional, except in so far as a regard for moral obligation, or respect for public opinion, enforced compliance. In the present case, the members of the parish were divided into classes ; the first being
51
426
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
asked to contribute six hundred dollars each, the second five hun- dred dollars, the third four hundred, and so down to one hundred. No assessment was laid upon those who were not considered able and willing to pay the latter sum; but they were left to their own judgment, and many of them contributed very liberally. The result of this plan was a subscription of sixteen thousand and seven hundred dollars.
Before this result was ascertained, Thomas F. Plunkett, Julius Rockwell, Ensign H. Kellogg, John C. West, Gordon Mckay, Levi Goodrich, and Moses H. Baldwin, were appointed a com- mittec to superintend the erection of the new church, according to plans and specifications which were to be proposed by them and accepted by the parish before they were acted upon.
Mr. Goodrich soon resigned in order to compete for the con- tract for building ; and Mr. Baldwin, owing to the pressure of his private affairs, took part only in the earliest meetings of the com- mittee. When it organized for business, Mr. Rockwell was in Washington, attending to his duties as representative in con- gress ; Mr. Kellogg was in Boston, as a member of the state-legis- lature ; and Mr. Plunkett was traveling in Europe. Messrs. McKay and West were delegated to examine churches, which had been commended to the committee, in various cities. From these they selected a church in New London, as most nearly approach- ing their ideal.
Mr. Eidlitz, a New York architect of high reputation, had aided in their tour of observation, and was employed to make plans as nearly resembling the church selected, as the means of the Pittsfield parish would admit. These were submitted to the full committee, from whom they met general and warm approval. But they were still beyond the resources which could then be commanded; and Mr. Eidlitz made yet further modifications, the principal of which were the omission of a tower on the south- west corner, and of a spire which in the first plans surmounted that on the south-east corner ; a reduction of the height of the side- walls; the substitution of less costly windows and less elaborate ornamentation. The auditorium was also made shorter in propor- tion to its width than the architect, in obedience to the rules of Gothic art, had designed it in his first draft; but this was for acoustic, and not economic reasons. Still the subscription of sixteen thousand seven hundred dollars, with the aid of two thou-
427
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
sand five hundred dollars received from insurance, was not suffi- cient to carry out the reduced plans ; and the questions, what was to be done and how to do it, dragged on from committee-meeting to committee-meeting.
A proposition to restore the old house was renewed before the parish, and rejected, receiving but three votes. A plan for a new wooden church was rejected almost as emphatically. Stone the church must be ; and the question recurred, how to get it. At this point the committee, in the month of May, 1851, advertised for proposals for building the church, according to Mr. Eidlitz's last specifications ; the price not to exceed twenty thousand dollars, which the committee, having already nineteen thousand five hun- dred in their hands, thought they might safely venture. No bids were tendered ; but Messrs. John C. Hoadley and Levi Goodrich offered to take the contract at twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars.
The committee hesitated, but each member added one hundred dollars to his previous subscription ; and Mr. J. C. West, who had become deeply interested in the project, in one day obtained addi- tional subscriptions for the greater part of the deficiency, and the guarantee of responsible gentlemen that the remainder should be paid without loading the parish with debt.
The contract with Messrs. Goodrich and Hoadley was there- upon signed, and work under it was commenced on the 4th of August. During the progress of the building, additions to the plan were made at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars, so that the total sum paid to the contractors was twenty-three thousand dol- lars. Messrs. Goodrich and Hoadley, finding they were losers by their bargain, a subscription of something over six hundred dol- lars was raised for the relief of Mr. Goodrich. A tax was assessed for the payment of the deficiency in the original subscription which had been guaranteed, and of the fifteen hundred dollars subsequently added to the cost.
The carpets and the upholstery of the pews were provided by the ladies ; who obtained a handsome sum from a fair, which being invested for them in Reading railroad bonds, by George W. Camp- bell, who insured them against loss by the decline of those securi- ties in the market, was increased by their rise to fifteen hundred dollars. Still further sums were obtained by the efforts of the ladies. Mr. and Mrs. Jason Clapp, presented a handsome carved
428
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
sofa and chairs, for the pulpit, which were made from oaken beams taken from the second meeting-house. St. Stephen's Parish (P. E.) presented a costly Bible, in recognition of the courtesy of the First Parish in granting them the use of their lecture-room for divine service while their church was remodeling in 1851. The organ was purchased for three thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, and paid for by subscription. Estimating the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Clapp at two hundred dollars, the entire cost of the edifice, com- pletely fitted for divine service, was a little over twenty-eight thon- sand dollars, exclusive of the bell, which cost about one thousand dollars, and the clock, which cost six hundred dollars; both of which escaped the fire, and were transferred from the old building to the new.
The corner stone of the church was laid on the 28th of May, 1852, by Rev. Dr. Todd, who made an appropriate address. There were other ceremonies, such as are usual on similar occasions ; but perhaps the most interesting feature of the day was the presence, seated on the platform, of respected and venerable citizens who had worshiped in the first humble sanctuary of the parish, and had also aided, sixty-one years before the present ceremonies, in raising the frame of the second meeting-house. They were Butler Goodrich, John Dickinson, Oren Goodrich, Elijah Robbins, and Enoch White.
The church was dedicated July 6, 1853; Rev. Dr. Todd preach- ing the sermon from the text, Ezra 5: 9. "Then asked we those elders, and said : who commanded you to build this house and to make up these walls ? "
The church is of the gray limestone of Pittsfield, laid in broken ashlar, trimmed with square blocks of rock-faced Great Barring- ton blue-stone. The style is Elizabethan, with low walls and a very high roof. The interior is finished in chestnut in the Gothic style, and is opened to the roof. It will seat an audience of eleven hundred.
As the parish continued to increase in numbers and wealth, a desire arose for a chapel, better suited for the use of its Sunday- school and for religious meetings other than the regular Sabbath services. This feeling was cherished by the pastor, and the people gradually grew to adopt his ideal of what such a chapel should be. Finally, in April, 1868, a committee consisting of George N. Dut- ton, Henry Colt, and Jabez L. Peck, was appointed to report upon
F
13_1
M141140
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
429
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
the expediency of building a new chapel, or enlarging and repair- ing the old lecture-room ; with some definite plan, including loca- tion and probable cost.
At the annual meeting the committee reported that the old lecture-room could not in any way be put in a suitable condition to meet the pressing needs of the parish. They therefore submit- ted plans which they had procured from Mr. Charles T. Rathbun, for a chapel of the same style and material as the church, to be placed upon the land in its rear, owned by the parish. The cost, they estimated at eleven thousand nine hundred and fifty-one dol- lars and eighty cents.
The report was accepted, and Messrs. Thomas Colt, Theodore Pomeroy and Robert W. Adam, were appointed a committee, with instructions to erect the chapel at a cost not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars.
At a meeting on the 31st of May, Mr. Colt, in behalf of the committee, recommended that the building should be somewhat larger than was first proposed, and the appropriation was raised to nineteen thousand dollars. And, in November, it was still fur- ther increased to twenty-one thousand and two hundred dollars.
The chapel was first occupied in 1870. Its style is Gothic, and the material is the blue limestone of Pittsfield. The interior is finished simply and massively. The workmanship throughout is remarkable for faithfulness and scrupulous care in all its parts. The entire charge of the erection of the chapel and the conside- ration and advocacy of various important improvements upon the original plans, suggested by the progress of the work, devolved upon Mr. Colt, the chairman of the building-committee, who gave all the details the most constant and assiduous personal supervision, and left as few defects as possible to be discovered by experience.
SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND PARISH.
We have recorded two instances in which the First Congrega- tional Parish was divided inharmoniously, and in a manner to be regretted; but the time finally came when the growth of the town, and with it that of the Congregational denomination, required more ample accommodations than could be found in the ancient fold. This necessity was anticipated as early as 1844,
430
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
and led to some measures for gradually extinguishing the parish debt.
In 1847, the proper moment seemed to have come. Several members of the church and parish expressed their willingness to colonize ; and Rev. Dr. Humphrey, bound as he was by many tender associations to the old organization, was impelled by a sense of duty to join the movement, and did so with the utmost zeal and cordiality ; his labors in its behalf becoming more devoted as their necessity became more and more apparent.
There was not, indeed, perfect unanimity in the belief that abso- lute separation was the best mode of relief ; and Lemuel Pomeroy, constitutionally averse to radical changes except upon extreme need, advocated the employment by the undivided parish of two clergymen, one of whom should preach in the old lecture-room, which he offered to give, and which he thought would prove suf- ficiently large if an addition of fifteen or twenty feet were made to the length. The proposition was supported by Dr. H. H. Childs, but received few votes in parish-meeting.
In 1848, therefore, some of the gentlemen who had determined to join in the colonization took the initiative by organizing them- selves as the South Congregational Parish; not disconnecting themselves, however, at that time from the First Parish, but carrying forward their plans harmoniously within it. Their names were : William M. Ward, Curtis T. Fenn, Charles Hulbert, Wel- come S. Howard, Ebenezer Dunham, Henry G. Davis, Charles Montague, Oliver S. Root, Theodore Hinsdale, Avery Carey, Wil- liam M. Walker, Lewis Stoddard, Wellington H. Tyler, William S. Wells, Merrick Ross, and James H. Dunham.
These were the legal members of the parish-corporation; but the following gentlemen advised with them, and it was understood would formally become connected with the organization when the church was ready for occupancy. They did so in 1850 : Heman Humphrey, William L. Peck, Jason Parsons, Josiah Carter, Avery Williams, Bernice Granger, Aaron Clough, Edward Good- rich, Calvin Martin, Amos Barnes, James Dunham, N. J. Wilson, Noah Pixley, William Hubbard, Nelson Tracy, Solomon Wilson, Bradford B. Page, P. L. Page, A. K. Parsons, Charles B. Golden, T. M. Roberts, William Robinson.
The society was organized on the 8th of May, 1844, under a warrant from Calvin Martin, as the South Congregational Parish :
431
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.