USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume II > Part 7
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Westboro's town records of 1718 note the plan to build a meetinghouse and to invite Rev. Daniel Elmer to "continue to Be our minister." Uxbridge, taken from Mendon in 1727, immediately started a meetinghouse and offered a Mr. Ferry twenty shillings a Sunday to preach for them, an offer which was accepted. The meetinghouse stood on the site of the present First Con- gregational Church. The first settled minister was Rev. Nathan Webb who from 1731 served for more than four decades. Southboro, dating from 1727, erected a church the next year which stood for at least seventy-nine years. Rev. Nathan Stone, installed in 1730, was its pastor for more than half a century. Shrewsbury's proprietors built a place of meeting in 1720, on Rocky Pine Plain, in which the first sermon was preached by the Rev. Robert Breck, of Marlborough, on June 15, 1720. The rude church was used for forty-five years; the earliest of the settled pastors was Rev. Job Cushing, who remained at his work from 1723 to 1760. Lunenburg, with a church started in 1728 that was without a pulpit and sufficient seats three years later, called its first regular minister on May 15, 1828, when the reli- gious organization was perfected.
The above paragraphs dealing with ecclesiastical "firsts" in the original towns of Worcester County can perform but a slight useful purpose other than the enumeration of the religious organizations which were the founda- tion of religious life and history of the county. The original towns were depleted of large areas in the making of the great number erected after 1731, and whatever the development of the "later towns" religiously, their annals must start with the divisions mentioned. It requires little imagination to out- line the picture of the founding of the pioneer church organizations, the rais- ing of meetinghouses and the installation of ministers, all in accord with charter agreements which required them. It is evident that the edifices were crude affairs and their completion long drawn out. The pastors were often callow youths, of slight education sometimes, but thoroughly orthodox in the ancient Congregational theology and polity. Rum was no unusual feature of the meetinghouse "raising," and it was often used as an inspiration by the preacher and was the means of keeping his listeners warm in the chilly atmos- phere of the house. Conditions were such as are to be expected of a religion linked with the town government and taxation, and of pioneers struggling to gain a livelihood under immense difficulties and imminent dangers. And there was logic in the contention which grew up as old Congregationalism began to wane, that if one did not support the first church in the town, then he must support another.
"The Great Awakening," begun in 1734 by Jonathan Edwards and given tremendous impetus by John Wesley's co-worker, Whitefield, stirred the peo-
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ple to a renewed battle against sin now that the battle against nature for sustenance was being won. Religious beliefs began to burst their Puritan shells. The infiltration of other faiths weakened Congregationalism, but its greatest schism came from within in the guise of the Unitarianism, although the change came only in a new century. The difficulties growing out of the agitation which led to the Revolutionary War, found many leaders of Puritan Congregationalism accused of Toryism. A number of the Worcester County ministers were dismissed in the 1770's, directly or indirectly, because they were suspected Royalists, as for example Rogers of Leominster, Fuller of Princeton, Morse of Boylston, Mellen of Sterling and the famous Dr. Goss of Bolton. Others held their places, although under suspicion, "by uniting the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove." A stunning blow to Puritan, or Trinitarian, Congregationalism was dealt in 1825 by the secession or succession, of the Unitarians. The increase in immigration and population during the second quarter of the century made uniformity in the Christian religions impossible. One finds in Worcester County history rec- ords of an unusually large number of Methodist and Baptist churches founded between 1830 and 1860. The growth of the Episcopal Church was slower, and the Presbyterian polity was so similar to that of Congregational- ism as to encourage separate churches in the smaller places. Prior to the Civil War the Roman Catholics established chapels and churches in the Worcester region. The aftermath of the Rebellion was laxity in religious faith, diver- sities in denominationalism and a brief intensification of sectarian prejudices. It is strange that the section so thoroughly grounded in Puritanism should be, in the last century, so prolific in novel religions, or pseudo-faiths of heter- odoxy and agnosticism.
The two decades from 1870 to 1890, more than any other twenty years in the ecclesiastical annals of Worcester County, were marked by a vast expan- sion of church building, the organization of new religious societies, and the proportionate increase of communicants. Then the pendulum swung the other way. Some of the fine fervor of evangelism had departed. The stir- ring revivals that swept the cities and villages of the county in the 1880's seemed to have lost effectiveness at the turn of the century. Where church membership had been growing more than fifty per cent. faster than the popu- lation, a religious census of 1906 showed that this growth had been slowed down about two-thirds, and in the rural sections of the county was almost at a standstill. Checked, but not defeated, the churches girded themselves for another advance but along different lines. The Protestants caught the mod- ern spirit of systematic organization; machinery was created to meet every need and crisis as it arose. Home and foreign mission work was taken up as never before. Methods of caring for the foreigner, the ignorant and
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vicious, the poor and forgotten, were originated and applied-more espe- cially, of course, in the industrial cities such as Worcester, Fitchburg, Gard- ner and Leominster, the towns of Webster, Dudley and others. Never before were religious bodies more practically interested in humanitarianism, reform- atory and educational activities. For all ages and classes in the churches something was found for them to do, and we had the Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Unions, and the like. Although the affiliations of Sunday schools in the city, county and State, started shortly after the end of the Civil War, their potentialities were not realized, or utilized to so great advantage, as in the first decade of the present century. The advantages of this coopera- tion reacted upon the churches, and inestimable good was done in the way of creating a better understanding between denominations. An eminent divine remarked that the Protestant churches were "a lot of split P's." But a trend was established toward cooperation and union, although organic union of denominations, or of branches within denominations made little headway. The Federation of Churches appeared on the horizon but that was all.
When the United States became involved in the World War, new and imperative demands were made upon the religious societies of Worcester ; there were many and great duties to be performed under conditions most unfavorable. Fortunately the religious bodies of the city and county had both the spirit and the organization to meet all tests; their very practice of looking at life from the missionary and humanitarian point of view was a preparation for altruistic effort and sacrifice. They promptly pledged their hearty and whole-souled loyalty to the President and the authorities of Massachusetts, and agreed to do everything in their power to assist the government in every possible way. And the churches did as they promised in ways that would surprise, or perhaps horrify our forefathers. Religious edifices and equipment were sometimes used for the most utilitarian purposes. The clergy and the church member led in the various "drives" for funds, and as "four-minute speakers," propagandists for the production and conserva- tion of food, securing men for war service, encouraging the forming of home guards. Although the singular reticence of the military authorities regarding the camps in which the soldiers from any given place were stationed made direct service of the men difficult, yet the churches were very successful in keeping in touch with their young men and women in military and naval service. No denomination of size but had some of its ministers serving at home or abroad as chaplains, Young Men's Christian Association workers, or performing some definite religious or welfare work. All this was at a time when the churches were feeling severely the continuous drain upon
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their membership of men called into war service. In many places the fewness of pastors, or the absence of ministers, made it almost impossible to continue regular religious services. Many of these churches combined forces without regard to sectarian lines. The federation of forces worked to ultimate good by increasing better acquaintance with the membership and faith of differing denominations, and a mutual understanding. The "Inter-Church movement" which started shortly after the war, was enlightened in its purposes, how- ever much it failed of its objective.
Outstanding changes in the modes of religious activity in the county of the modern period are: New conceptions on the part of Christians as to denominationalism, and the duties of the church to the community and itself ; the greater prominence given to the young people's societies and the Sunday school ; and a trend toward consolidation of churches and work. Sectarian- ism still lifts its head, but there is an increasing readiness of all kinds of churches to combine for the better acquaintance and the performing of duties and pleasures. In some towns where there have been struggling churches, amicable federations have reduced the number to one or two, and the influ- ence of Christians has been thereby greatly enlarged. The work for, and with, and by the youth of the churches is one of the encouraging features of Worcester County religious life. Perhaps the future of the church lies in the spirit of devotion, with little recognition of sectarian lines, which char- acterizes youth. How far the improvement of transportation, the increasing use of the automobile, or even the radio, have affected the rural churches of the county is a matter of perturbed conjecture. It is very easy to go to the larger villages and cities to attend divine worship, and still easier to turn on the radio. It has become increasingly difficult to either secure or pay suitable men to fill the pulpits of the smaller churches. It seems quite likely that in the future, like the present, annual reports from the churches will record fewer edifices and larger ones ; fewer congregations but these of larger num- bers. Certainly the modern church edifice has greatly changed from its some- what barren and unheated single-audience room of a century ago to a build- ing with its auditorium well heated; with church parlors, kitchen and Sunday school room adjoining, or sometimes all contained in a modern parish house.
Turning from the general to the particular, the churches of the city of Worcester merit more detailed comment upon the organization of its numer- ous religious bodies. If excuses for singling out the ecclesiastical annals of the county seat are in order, then let them be: Because it is the county seat, by far the largest city, and by the very variety of its peoples and churches most representative of the urban aspects of religion in the county. When the site of the city was known as Quinsigamond, 1674-84, it had too few inhabitants to have a meetinghouse, and was ordered to "celebrate the wor-
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ship of God in the best manner they can." It would seem that they have done so ever since. Church attendance was then compulsory, but the mem- bers of the "plantation" were thus excused from traveling twenty miles each Sunday to comply with the law. It was still a plantation by 1731 but had a population of nearly five hundred souls. Organized religious services had been held since 1716, and a meetinghouse had been erected on the site of the present city hall, in 1719. Some authorities have it that 1717 is a better date and the place elsewhere in the settlement. The pioneer religious organiza- tion, known for many years as the First Congregational Church, and later as the Old South Church, called as its first minister, Rev. Andrew Gardner. This church was, of course, a town institution, maintained by the public purse to which all citizens must contribute, but some of whom refused to. The little hamlet also had its sectarian difficulties, for even as its first meet- inghouse was being built, so-called Scotch-Irish Presbyterians settled there even as they did in Leicester, Grafton, Rutland and possibly other towns. These newcomers had their own religious polity which called for a separate church and school. Worcester began its religious career with a persecution of the Scotch-Irish, and the first of a number of racial problems to solve. But of this later.
All the older historians of Worcester have devoted great space in their writings to the churches, each successively with fewer pages, probably because of the technical difficulties of doing justice to the constantly enlarged records of the older organizations and the growing increase in the numbers and kinds of religious societies. The writer here, with permission, further condenses the briefly summarized stories of the churches in the city as published in Crane's History of Worcester.
Congregational-The most numerous of the Protestant churches in the city, in the chronological order of their establishment are: The Calvinist Church, now known as Central Church, which had its origin in the Trini- tarian-Unitarian differences of a century ago, Calvinists withdrawing from the Old South Church in 1820, and worshipping in Conference Hall, near where the Post Office Building now stands, until 1822, when the County Courthouse became available for their use, whence the Calvinist Church was moved, in October, 1823, into the meetinghouse, erected for it at a cost of $14,000, adjoining the store of Daniel Waldo, on Main Street, north of George Street. The church was built by Daniel Waldo, and Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadley was the first pastor. Union Church, incorporated March II, 1835, (dedicated on July 6) the brick meetinghouse on Front Street, opposite the Common, its first pastor was Rev. Jonathan S. Woodbridge, installed Novem- ber 24, 1836. Deacon Ichabod Washburn was the principal founder of this
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church, which in 1896 absorbed Salem Street Church, which had been in existence since 1848. Memorial Congregational Church was founded by Ichabod Washburn by a bequest, in 1854. Memorial Church was part of Mr. Washburn's life work, growing out of a Sunday school which he had organized in Pine Meadows soon after coming to Worcester. Plymouth Con- gregational Church was started by fourteen young men, who were members of the Young Men's Christian Association in the first years of that splendid organization. These young men met in Mechanics Hall on April 15, 1869, and pledged themselves to raise ways and means, which they did, with the result that the first services were held in the same hall on May 9, 1869, Rev. Dr. Webb being the preacher. On May 13, the church was organized as the Sixth Congregational Church, the present name being adopted a month later. Rev. George W. Phillips, in October, 1871, accepted the call as pastor, and the meetinghouse was dedicated on April 19, 1874. Piedmont Congregational Church was the result of missionary effort by members of Plymouth Church, Francis B. Knowles calling a meeting on April 25, 1872, to consider the organization of a church in the rapidly growing southern section of the city. The response was so satisfactory that a site for the new church was chosen on July Ist, and plans at once were made for the erection of a meetinghouse at the foot of the hill upon which Oread Castle stood. This gave the name Piedmont-foot of the hill-to the church and street, although the church was at first known as the Seventh Congregational. The Baptist Church on Main Street was used for the Congregational services until April 12, 1874, when the Piedmont Church was ready for use. The first permanent pastor was Rev. David O. Mears, who was installed July 3, 1877. The first of the Swedish Congregational churches of Worcester had its origin in the Free Church movement begun in Sweden in 1869. The First Swedish Evangelical Congregational Church was organized in 1880 by Swedes living at Quinsiga- mond, the church being formed in September, and first pastor, Rev. George Wiberg, of Iowa, being called in October. The local body was the second Swedish Congregational Church to be organized in the United States. A meetinghouse was dedicated on January 25, 1885. Pilgrim Congregational Church history dates from 1883. On January 24, 1885, the members first worshipped in its own meetinghouse, a wooden building, which gave way to the permanent structure dedicated on July 1, 1888. Rev. Charles M. South- gate was first pastor. Park Congregational Church began in a Sunday school formed, in 1884, by Lydia A. Giddings. In 1886 a chapel was erected at Elm and Russell streets, and the church was formally organized on February 24, 1887, when Rev. George S. Pelton was installed as pastor. Hope Congrega- tional Church was the culmination of efforts begun as far back as 1856, when Anson Bangs opened a Sunday school in the schoolhouse on Cambridge
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Street. In 1875 it was known as the Union Sunday school. In 1882 the present chapel was dedicated. In 1891 a new church was erected, and Rev. Ellsworth W. Phillips was installed as pastor. Lakeview Congregational Church was organized on February 23, 1890, although it had had earlier existence, as a branch of the Church of the Covenant, organized as such on December 22, 1885; and as a Sunday school it had been functioning since 1879. A church building was erected in 1880, and dedicated January 30, 1881. In the first years the congregation was served by Rev. Albert Bryant, superintendent of city missions. Bethany Congregational Church was formed in 1891, Rev. Joseph Walker becoming pastor in the same year. The chapel at No. 1189 Main Street was erected in 1892. The Second Swedish Con- gregational Church was founded in 1894, when a meetinghouse was erected on Greenwood Street. Rev. John R. Armstrong, first pastor, came in 1895. The Swedish-Finnish Congregational Church was not fully organized until 1916, but for twenty-five prior years it had functioned, meetings being held in homes and halls, and in Union Chapel. A meetinghouse was erected in 1916. The Finnish Congregational Church at No. 10 Linwood Street was founded in 1915. Tatnuck Congregational Church, organized in 1908, was the outcome of many years of Sunday school work by several city churches. In 1914 the church building was erected. Rev. H. E. Lombard, the first regular pastor, was installed in 1911. Hadwen Park Congregational Church was organized in 1916, after a dozen or more years of Sunday school main- tenance at Trowbridgeville, the building erected being known as Trowbridge- ville Chapel. The Greendale People's Church, or the Greendale Independent Congregational Church was organized at Greendale in 1895, Rev. J. Charles Villers coming as pastor in 1896. The Worcester Congregational Club dur- ing the fifty years of its existence has developed a strong organization ; at the time it was formed, in 1874, there were only three other like clubs in Massa- chusetts-the Congregational clubs of Boston, Essex County, and Taunton. The initiative in Worcester was taken by Rev. E. Cutler, D. D., of Union Church.
The First Unitarian Church naturally was associated with the history of the Congregational organizations, for in Worcester as in Boston its early members were of the larger body. It was established as the Second Parish Church of Worcester, in 1785, and was known as the Second Congregational Church. This parish was incorporated on November 13, 1787, as a "poll" parish in distinction from a territorial parish, the first of its kind in Massa- chusetts. The first meetinghouse, which stood at the northern end of Sum- mer Street was dedicated January 1, 1792, the land being given to the parish by Charles and Samuel Chandler, and the building, a frame structure, being erected by Ignatius Goulding and Elias Blake. A brick meetinghouse was
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erected in 1829. Ten years later Dr. Bancroft died; for forty-one years he had been sole pastor, and for a further twelve years was senior pastor, Dr. Alonzo Hill being his junior, and continuing as pastor for a further thirty- one years after the death of Dr. Bancroft.
The First Unitarian Church is the only one of that denomination now in the city, the Church of the Unity, and the South Unitarian Memorial, having both been merged in the pioneer church. The Church of the Unity developed out of a movement begun in June, 1844, by members of the First Unitarian Church. A church site on Elm Street was acquired, and the erection of build- ing soon begun. The church was dedicated April 25, 1846, Rev. Edward Everett Hale being installed as pastor the next day. The Second Unitarian Society of Worcester was organized November 27, 1845, the name becoming Church of the Unity in the next year. The South Unitarian Memorial Church was founded in 1890 to serve Unitarians in the southern part of the city. It was known as the Third Unitarian Church (Congregational Unitarian). The first settled minister was Rev. George W. Kent, who was installed in 1892, and served until 1900.
Baptist-While the Baptist is one of the oldest denominations in New England, second only to the Puritan, it was late in becoming numerically strong. It was held in check by the adverse legislation and popular opposition to its principles. The first Baptists in Worcester are said to have been "brought by constables of neighboring towns to be held in jail for the non-payment of ministerial rates" to the Puritan Church. One James Wilson, of England, came to the village as a freeman in 1795, and his house was the scene of the meetings held by itinerant Baptist preachers thereafter. The Baptist Church, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, held mission services in Worcester in May, 1812, and on December 9, of that same year a congregation of twenty-eight was formally organized of which the Rev. William Bentley was made pastor. The first meetinghouse on Salem Square was dedicated on December 23, 1813. Since that time sixteen other Baptist organizations have been founded in Worcester. Pleasant Street Baptist Church was the outcome of a meeting held on November 23, 1841, twenty-five members of the First Baptist Church attending. On December 28, the Second Baptist Church was formally recog- nized, with ninety-eight members. Rev. John Jennings was the first pastor, January 1, 1842. The church on Pleasant Street was occupied January 4, 1844, and it was probably at that time that the name of the organization changed to Pleasant Street Baptist Church. Another daughter of the First Baptist Church was born February 26, 1853, and named the Third Baptist Society of Worcester. Services were held in a new chapel for the first time on the first Sunday of 1854. Rev. H. L. Wayland, the first pastor, was
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ordained November 1, 1854. The church building was occupied in January, 1856. In 1864 the society adopted the name "Main Street Baptist Church." Dewey Street Baptist Church had its beginnings in a Sunday school organized in August, 1867, in the Mason Street schoolhouse. Francis H. Dewey, Sr., and Joseph Mason gave the site and chapel, the latter being dedicated on Feb- ruary 8, 1872. First pastor was L. M. Sargent, a layman, the main founder of the Sunday school and deemed the founder of the church. From 1873 Rev. D. F. Lamson was pastor for nine years. Park Avenue Church was built in 1886-87, being dedicated January 13, 1887. Lincoln Street Baptist Church, organized April 4, 1881, was an offshoot of the Pleasant Street Society. Rev. Judson J. Miller, first pastor, came in October, 1881. On June 10, 1884, the church on Highland Street, near Main, was dedicated. The First Swedish Baptist Church was organized November 17, 1880, in the home of A. C. Fagerstrom, No. 115 Ward Street, with nine members; Rev. Axel Tjernlund was first pastor. On May 30, 1884, their church at Mulberry Street and Eastern Avenue was dedicated. The present church was dedi- cated in 1907. Newton Square Baptist Church was organized on April 7, 188I, as the First Free Baptist Church of Worcester. Its brick church on Wellington Street was used in March, 1892. On March 30, 1905, the Bap- tists took possession of a new frame edifice. In 19II the church was recog- nized as a regular Baptist organization, and the name then changed to the "Newton Square Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts." John Street Baptist Church was founded in 1885. The South Baptist Church was organ- ized October 28, 1886, in the Canterbury Street chapel, by former members of Main Street Church, fifty-seven being dismissed for that purpose. Rev. Henry A. Rogers was first pastor. Its first church was demolished in 1896, and a larger edifice took its place. The Adams Square Baptist Church was founded in 1889; Rev. Daniel W. Hoyt was pastor from 1889 to 1897. The French Baptist Missionary Church was organized, or reorganized in 1890, the original body having been formed, it is said, in 1873. Harlem Street Baptist Church (Swedish) was organized in 1896, and Greendale Baptist Church in the next year. The latter was the development of a missionary effort begun, as a Sunday school, in 1884. Rev. Joseph Ellison was pastor in 1893, and Rev. Guy F. Wheeler had charge of the church from 1897 until 1901. The First Swedish-Finnish Baptist Church was founded in 1900, as the First Finnish Church. Rev. Matts Esselbrom was pastor until 1910. The Quin- sigamond Baptist Church was organized in 1901, growing out of a mission of the First Baptist Church, organized in 1885 in Quinsigamond village. Rev. Guy F. Wheeler was pastor in 1892, Howard H. Roach having charge of the mission in 1896, Rev. John H. Bourne in 1898; and in 1901, the first year of the church, Rev. C. W. Turner was pastor. Oak Hill Baptist Church was
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