USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume II > Part 8
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begun as a French mission of the Pleasant Street Baptist Church in 1893, and later became the Oak Hill branch of the Lincoln Square Baptist Church. It took independent status on November 21, 1916. Rev. Arthur St. James was pastor in 1893, and Frank L. Hopkins in 1916. The First Freewill Baptist Church had its inception in the meeting held at the home of Newell Tyler, September 14, 1880. The church was formally organized April 7, 1881, with thirty members, and was incorporated September 1, 1887. The church was disbanded in 1910. Jamesville Baptist Church began as a mission in 1885, fostered by the Main Street Church. It gained church entity in 1920. First mission pastor was Rev. S. T. Livermore, in 1892. The People's Baptist Mission was organized in 1922. In addition there is the Italian Mission of the Lincoln Square Baptist Church ; this was begun in 1911, and Rev. Antonio Sandella became pastor in 1914.
The Baptist City Mission Board, which has been largely instrumental in fostering these missions and developing them into churches, was organized November 6, 1880, in the Main Street Baptist Church. Beacon Street Chapel was the first built by the board ; later came the John Street Chapel for colored people. The board has had a part in the erection of eight or more other churches. The Baptist Social Union was founded in 1893; and there is also another organization, the Conference of Baptist Ministers of Worcester.
Methodist-Although Charles Wesley had preached in King's Chapel, Boston, in the autumn of 1736, and the great Whitefield addressed throngs in Massachusetts, four years later, and started one of the great revivals of the time, it was not until after the Revolutionary War that Methodism made any headway in the land of the Puritan. It was an offshoot of the English Church, and such ministers as it had in this country held to their political allegiance and left for Canada or the British Isles. Bishop Asbury was one of the main exceptions, and to him and Bishop Coke the Methodist denomina- tion in New England owes its early growth. Bishop Asbury visited Worces- ter in 1798, 1805, 1807, 1812, and 1815. Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, of the Church, came for a visit, in 1790. "Rev. John E. Risley preached the first Methodist sermon, in 1823, in the schoolhouse in New Worcester." The first Methodist class in the town was established in 1830 by Rev. Dexter King. On July 8, 1834, the class incorporated as the Methodist Episcopal Religious Society in the town of Worcester. The town had been a place of meeting since 1833, and continued as such until early in 1836, when difficulties over the anti-slavery attitude of the organization's preachers and members, caused the selectmen to refuse them further use of the hall. That same year a church was begun, and dedicated in March, 1837. Rev. James Porter was then the minister, and the church, now known as Trinity Methodist Church, grew rapidly.
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Of the daughters and their offspring of the mother church there are: Grace Street Branch of Trinity, was organized in 1845, but under another name, and worshipped on Thomas Street until 1849, when a new edifice on Laurel Street was dedicated, the organization then becoming Laurel Street Methodist Episcopal Church, changing to its present style, Grace Street Branch of Trinity Church, in 1916. Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 1867, with Rev. J. O. Peck as pastor, and building a meetinghouse in 1871 on Walnut Street, the church name then changing to Grace Church. Trowbridge Memorial, which was the Third Methodist Church, founded in 1860, worshipped in Union Hall until 1871, when a meetinghouse at Webster Square was dedicated, the name then becoming Webster Square Church, holding that until 1904, when it became Trowbridge Memorial Church. Bethel Church was founded in 1867; the First Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church, formed in the schoolhouse at Quinsigamond, in 1875, the class being fully organized as a church in 1880, Rev. Albert Erics- son becoming first pastor. The first meetinghouse erected by Swedish Metho- dists in New England was built at Quinsigamond in 1880. The Second Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by members of the First, April 9, 1885, with Rev. D. S. Sorlin as pastor, a chapel on Thomas Street being purchased from the Church of Christ, and dedicated on Sep- tember 27, 1885. Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1891, with a meetinghouse on Park Avenue, near May Street; Covenant Methodist Episcopal Church, which is a consolidation of several organiza- tions, began in a Sunday school organized October 19, 1884, a meetinghouse being erected on Houghton Street in 1885, the Church of the Covenant being then formed with three branches, Houghton Street, South Worcester, and Lake View, and being received into fellowship in the Worcester Central Con- ference in 1889. The church was incorporated under its present name in 1889, no other change occurring until 1912, when Coral Street Methodist Episcopal Church was merged with the Church of the Covenant, under the name of the latter, a new meetinghouse being built on Hamilton Street in 1917. (Coral Street Church had its beginning in the Union Hill Circle, a ladies' aid society, in 1871, developing into Union Hill Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873, when a meetinghouse was dedicated, the name being changed to Coral Street Methodist Episcopal Church in 1876.) The African Metho- dist Zion Church was organized in 1846; African Methodist Episcopal Bethel Church was founded in 1867. Methodist societies include the Methodist Episcopal City Mission and Church Extension Society, the Methodist Min- isters' Meeting of Worcester, and the Epworth League. The last-named society had its beginning in Worcester in organizations formed at Trinity and Grace churches in October, 1889, other Methodist Episcopal churches taking action shortly after.
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Protestant Episcopal-It was unfortunate that although the Episco- pal form of worship was introduced in the Colonies in the later 1600's, it should have had its inception in a show of force by so unpopular a Crown Governor as Andros. The feud begun then between Puritan and English churches held back the development of the Episcopacy until almost the nine- teenth century, and for a third of a century its advance was slow. The first Episcopal Church society formed in Worcester seems to have been the cor- poration created in 1836 as the "Proprietors of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Worcester." Thomas H. Vaill, Ira M. Barton, and Edward F. Dixie, were named in the act. Mr. Vaill began to preach in December, 1835, but at the end of six months left the town, discouraged. He eventually became Bishop of Kansas. Episcopal services do not seem to have been resumed in Worcester until 1842; on Christmas Day of that year a Protestant Episcopal service was held in Central Church chapel on Thomas Street, Rev. Fernando C. Putnam being in charge. In 1846 an Episcopal parish was established with Rev. George H. Clark as the first settled rector and a church was built on Pearl Street. In 1874 it was destroyed by fire and a new edifice was consecrated by Bishop Paddock on January 4, 1877. Among the other Episcopal churches are the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the outcome of Dr. Huntington's idea of forming four Episcopal missions in the city. St. Matthew's Church was the first attempted by All Saints' parish. A chapel was erected in the summer of 1871, under the supervision of the Rev. Dr. W. R. Huntington. The parish was organized May 5, 1874, and Rev. Henry Mackay, first rector, took charge. St. John's Church was the second to be established, beginning as a Sunday school on March II, 1883. First church services were held on January 6, 1884, and a church was erected on Lincoln Street in the same year, the Christmas Day services of 1884 being the first held in it. Parish was organized September 18, 1884, with Rev. Edward S. Cross as first rector. In 1884 Mrs. Abbie A. Bigelow gave Dr. Huntington money to hold until the time was opportune to establish St. Mark's. The mission was organized on September 5, 1887, and the first service was held in the South Baptist Church on October 16. In 1888 Rev. Langdon C. Stew- ardson became the first rector of St. Mark's, and on February 7, 1889, the first service was held in the building erected upon the lot acquired with Mrs. Bigelow's donation and other funds. St. Luke's Church, the fourth and last of the organizations planned by Dr. Huntington, was established in 1908, the church being soon afterwards built. Until 1913 curates from All Saints' Church were in charge, but in that year Rev. Frederick H. Danker became rector. The Episcopal Church Club, a strong organization, was formed in 1889, and for ten years was active. For fifteen years, 1899-1914, it was dormant, but was revived again in 1914 by Alfred T. Howarth, and has since grown rapidly.
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Universalist-John Murray, "Father of Universalism," became pastor of the first church of this order, in about 1785, at Boston. He is reputed to have visited Worcester. So far as local records go, Rev. Lucius R. Paige was the first to preach the faith in Worcester (1834), but not until 1841 was a Universalist society formed, of which Rev. Stephen Preston Landers was minister. This congregation organized formally as the First Universalist Church of Worcester, on November 21, 1843, and its meeting place was dedicated on the following day. In 1871 another church edifice was erected during the ministry of Dr. St. John. All Souls' Universalist Church was established in 1884 and a small chapel built and dedicated January 27, 1885. Church organization was completed in June, Rev. M. H. Harris, pastor. The first settled pastor, however, was Rev. Frederick W. Bailey, who was called in 1885. The present church was dedicated November 20, 1891. The minis- terial society, the Central Massachusetts Universalist Ministers' Association, was organized at Worcester on January 6, 1903; meetings of ministers are held monthly.
Presbyterian-An almost forgotten page in history is the migration in great numbers in the first half of the eighteenth century, of comparatively large numbers of "Covenanters," Scotch who had settled in the north of Ireland. Driven from their homes because of the Presbyterian faith, they sought refuge from the English Church and the Prelacy in the New World. Many settled in Worcester County, and in the county seat attempted to set up a church of their own in 1718. To quote Aldrich :
"While the building was in the process of erection, a mob of citizens assembled at night and completely demolished the structure. These people (Presbyterians) were otherwise persecuted and annoyed to such an extent that many of them left town and settled in the town of Pelham, in Hampshire County. And thus Worcester, by intolerance and bigotry, drove from her borders many who would have been among the most valuable of her early inhabitants. But the unfair treatment of Presbyterian immigrants was not peculiar to Worcester. Wherever they settled they were subjected to outrage and persecution."
It is to be suspected that the ill-treatment of this sect and people were due mainly to the objection of the citizens to paying taxes for another church when one was costing them too much, and the prejudice against anyone who came from Ireland, no matter how Scotch his ancestry and religion might be, was another great factor in the persecution. Some of the Scotch-Irish Presby- terians remained in Worcester, as members of the Congregational Church, and Nutt states that at the end of the Revolution approximately one-half of the population of the town was of this people and faith. It was not, how-
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ever, until a century and a half later that the Presbyterians organized a church in Worcester. On February 25, 1886, a number of them met in the Young Men's Christian Association to listen to Rev. Joseph W. Sanderson, missionary of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The result of this meet- ing was the organization on May 27, 1886, of a church of fifty-seven mem- bers, with Rev. J. H. Ralston, minister. Meetings were held in various halls until September 27, 1891, when the former church building of All Souls' Universalist Church was acquired and occupied. In 1901 the meetings were held in the more centrally placed Malta Temple on Main Street. Finally they purchased the building formerly occupied by the Main Street Baptist Church ; where the Presbyterians have since worshipped.
The first United Presbyterian Church was organized on January 29, 1895, with Rev. S. B. Haslett, Ph. D., pastor of Wilkinsville, caring for the Worcester organization until they could appoint a minister. Rev. Robert Hughes, of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, came as "supply" in 1895, and was confirmed as pastor in 1896. In 1903 the church property at No. 63 Wellington Street was purchased, and at this time the name of the organiza- tion changed to the Westminster United Presbyterian Church, being incor- porated as such.
Various Denominations-The Society of Friends was represented almost coeval with the Congregationalists. Although people of the faith lived in Worcester relatively early, it was not until 1846 that they built a meetinghouse. Another was erected on Oxford Street in 1908, through the gifts of D. Wheeler Swift. An Advent Christian Church built its first house of worship in 1866, although represented in Worcester since 1843. The Worcester Seventh Day Advent Church was founded in 1885, and the Scan- danavian Seventh Day Adventists organized in 1903. The First Church of Christ (Disciples), was organized on August 5, 1860. A little chapel on Thomas Street was their place of worship. This was enlarged in 1867, and in 1868 the church was incorporated. A new edifice was dedicated on Sep- tember 12, 1886. The second church of that sect is known as the Highland Street Church of Christ. It began at No. 54 North Ashland Street in 1902, as a mission of First Church. The meetinghouse at the corner of West and Highland streets was occupied in 1905. The Lutheran churches have all come into establishment during the last half-century. The first of that denomina- tion in Worcester was the First Lutheran Church, which was founded in 1881. The other Lutheran organizations, in chronological order of establish- ment are : The First German Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1888; the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, organized in 1894; the Swedish- Evangelical Church, in 1896; the Swedish-Finnish Lutheran, in 1900; the Greendale Lutheran, in 1914; and the Norwegian Lutheran.
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The First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Worcester, was founded in 1913. Meetings were held earlier at the Women's Club House, but in 1913 the society entered into possession of its meetinghouse on Main Street near Oberlin Street. The readers in 1913 were Burt L. Knowles and Mrs. Nellie B. Bush. Another church was organized in 1914, holding its meetings in Dean Hall, Women's Club, No. 43 Salisbury Street. And a reading room was opened about the same time at No. 718 Slater Building, removing in 1917 to the Park Building. The First Spiritual Church has functioned since 1879, although it has had no meetinghouse of its own. Worcester's large Armenian population has found religious expression in the Church of Our Saviour, which was established in 1890. The meetinghouse is at No. 63 Laurel Street. The Church of the Martyrs, on Ormond Street, was founded in 1892. Among other religious organizations of Worcester are the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Plymouth Brethren, the First Nazarene Church, Hellenic Orthodox Church (Greek Catholic), St. George's Orthodox Church (Greek Catholic), St. Mary's Albanian Orthodox Church, Spiritual Unity Church, Syrian Antiochan Orthodox Church, Valley Falls Church, Worcester New Thought Center, Christadelphian Society.
Jewish Synagogues-The first Jewish Synagogue established in Worcester was the Sons of Israel, on Providence Street. It was founded in 1877, the first rabbi, M. Meltzner, coming in 1880. Originally, the member- ship consisted largely of Polish Jews. In 1888 the synagogue at No. 79 Green Street was erected, but in 1896 the Swedish Church on Providence Street was bought and remodelled. The other synagogues are: Sons of Abraham, incorporated in 1886, by former members of the older synagogue, and at first occupying a brick synagogue at No. 10 Plymouth Street, whence they moved in 1913 to No. 23 Coral Street; the Tower of Truth Syna- gogue, a branch of Sons of Abraham, No. 16 Gold Street; Good Brothers' Synagogue, at No. 6 Pond Street ; Shaarai Thorah Synagogue, No. 32 Provi- dence Street ; Congregation Chemach Chedach, at No. 10 Plymouth Street ; Congregation Ieferris Israel, at No. 42 Harrison Street; and Congregation Agudas Israel Anshe Serard, at No. 66 Harrison Street. The Jewish reli- gious organizations of directly charitable purpose include the Hebrew Chil- dren's Friend Society, which was organized in 1908; and the Worcester Lodge, No. 600, of the Independent Order B'nai B'rith, which was formed in 1904 and has a strong membership.
The Catholic Church-In the first paragraphs of the chapter atten- tion was called to the interesting development that the once strongholds of Puritanism have become the homes of very strong Catholic congregations.
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This revolutionary change was not brought about without difficulties. "At first a chasm seemed to separate the Catholic and Puritan, New England and 'New Ireland.' On the effects of this cleavage, political and social, much of Massachusetts history in the past century turns. Naturally, there has been not a little friction, tension, conflict, legal discrimination, political battles, at times physical violence, and a social estrangement that is even yet not com- pletely obliterated. With such sharply contrasted and contrary social ele- ments, what else could have been expected? Perhaps the remarkable thing is rather that serious struggles have been so rare, and that so much progress towards reconciliation and mutual understanding has been made." (Rev. R. H. Lord, Ph. D.)
Worcester came early into this drama, not, as in most places in Massa- chusetts, because of Irish Catholic immigrants, but in 1755, when two thou- sand exiled Acadians landed in Boston, some of whom were sent to settle- ments in Worcester County, particularly the county seat. Robbed of home and nearly all that they most loved, they were denied even the solaces of religion because, as Hutchinson writes, "the people would upon no terms have consented to the public exercise of religious worship by Roman Catholic priests." The few that were left of the Acadians were returned to their Canadian homes a dozen years later, and there is little evidence of religious worship, of the Catholic order, carried on in Worcester until just a century ago. Of 1834 it is a matter of record that James Fitton visited Worcester on April 4, having been appointed to such service. He is reputed to have been "greeted with blessings of eighty glad people." The period of from 1830 to 1860 has been called "The Age of the Pioneer Priests," in Massachusetts. Father Fitton, one of the most zealous of these priests, organized a parish in Worcester, and on July 7, 1834, laid the first church in the diocese of Spring- field, on the site of St. John's Church. "It was erected," say old records, "by the Irish laborers employed on the railroad." Not until May, 1836, did the parish have a resident pastor, when Father Fitton removed there from Hartford, Connecticut, and remained until 1843. He ministered to many towns in the county, including Blackstone, Grafton, Webster, Westboro, Millbury and Northbridge, and later to North Brookfield, Warren, Barre, Southbridge and Northboro. He must also be credited with the founding of Holy Cross College.
The first Catholic church in Worcester was known as Christ's Church, which in 1845 was changed to St. John's. A new edifice was dedicated on June 24, 1845, and "Thus came into satisfactory permanence the first Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Springfield." It will be remembered that the potato famine in Ireland of 1847 sent so large a number of the Irish to New England, that Worcester Catholics like those of many other industrial
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towns, had great difficulty in attending to the large accessions to their num- bers. In 1849 the Worcester church was attending to twelve missions in the county : Fitchburg, Millbury, Webster, Clinton, Barre, Milford, Uxbridge, Southbridge, Templeton, West Boylston, Hopkinton, and Winchendon. The Catholic church expanded widely after the Civil War, possibly because its members were so outstanding in their patriotism and a post-war trend toward liberalism. At any rate for nearly a quarter of a century thereafter religious animosities in Worcester were largely forgotten. The present century has been one of consolidation by churches already organized and the creation of many new parishes.
St. Anne's Church was the second founded in Worcester, under the direc- tion of Father M. W. Gibson of beloved memory, in 1855, on Shrewsbury Street. The building was not dedicated until Christmas Day, 1856, and was used until 1885.
St. Paul's, 1866, was the third parish organized in the city. Father Fitton preached the first sermon of its church on July 4, 1869, when the corner- stone was laid. It was dedicated in 1874 by the Rt. Rev. Bishop O'Reilly.
The first French Catholic Church established in Worcester was Notre Dame des Canadiens. This was founded in 1869, following several unsuc- cessful attempts to form the French-Canadian Catholics of Worcester into a separate congregation. The French residents succeeded in forming a society, St. Jean Baptiste, in 1853. In 1869 the Notre Dame des Canadiens congre- gation was formed, and Rev. J. B. Primeau became pastor in the same year. The first Mass was celebrated in Horticultural Hall, September 12, 1869, by him. The first Mass in the old brick church was said on June 1, 1870. In 1902 the edifice in Salem Square was purchased from the First Baptist Society.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception was organized by Rev. Robert Walsh, former curate of St. John's. The cornerstone was laid in June, 1874, by Bishop O'Reilly, and the church was dedicated December 8, 1878. In 1876 the adjoining lot was purchased, and the house upon it became the parochial residence. Father Walsh developed missions also at Holden and Rutland.
The Church of the Sacred Heart was founded in 1880, the parish being taken from St. John's on January 24 of that year, Rev. Timothy Thomas J. Conaty, a curate of St. John's being appointed rector. The church was com- pleted in the spring of 1881, Father Conaty saying Mass in it on Easter Sunday. In March he took also charge of the mission at Stoneville, and held the charge until it was transferred to Oxford parish in 1885.
The Church of the Sacred Heart was dedicated by Bishop O'Reilly on September 21, 1884. Monsignor Thomas J. Conaty, first pastor, was destined
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to advance far in the church. He remained in charge of Sacred Heart until 1897, when he became president of the Catholic University in Washington. Eventually he became Bishop of Los Angeles.
St. Peter's Church was organized May 15, 1884, by Rev. D. H. O'Neill. On Christmas Day, 1884, Mass was celebrated in the basement of the church ; on June 18, 1893, the church was dedicated by Bishop Beaven. St. Peter's Church stands opposite Clark University.
St. Stephen's Parish is another offspring of St. John's, being taken from that parish in January, 1887. Rev. R. S. J. Burke was appointed its pastor January 27, 1887. The church was dedicated September 4, 1887, by the Vicar General, Very Rev. John J. Power. Father Burke was pastor until 1895, when Rev. Daniel McGillicuddy, a native of Worcester, succeeded him. He died in 1908, and was succeeded by Father Thomas H. McLaughlin.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church was founded in 1892, and is another of the French churches, it being set apart from Notre Dame in March, 1891. The brick church of St. Joseph's was in process of erection in 1892, when Father Graton was appointed. He completed it, and in the next year built a parochial residence. The church was dedicated June 20, 1892. When the parish was set apart from Notre Dame, there were about 1,923 French-Canadians living within its bounds.
The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus is a French church, and also set apart from Notre Dame. In 1893 Rev. J. Ed. Perrault was sent to establish the parish. In 1893 he acquired a church site, and by 1898 the church base- ment was occupied. Later the structure was completed, and the edifice dedicated.
St. Casimir's Parish, which was organized in 1894 is the Lithuanian church. Rev. Joseph Jakcztys came in that year to work among the Poles and Lithuanians, and said the first Mass to these church people on October 21, 1894, in Sacred Heart Church. In the following spring a little wooden church was raised for them at the head of Ledge Street. A new church was built in 1895, at the corner of Providence Street and Waverly Street. It still serves both Polish and Lithuanian Catholics.
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