USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island Episcopalians 1635-1953 > Part 11
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These five parishes and missions of southwest Rhode Island were, in ascending order of size, Jamestown, Wakefield, Wickford, East Green- wich and Westerly, which last parish reported 100 out of the 326 communicants listed. Two other missions, St. Paul's, Tower Hill, and St. Peter's, Kingston, were just closing their brief and not untroubled careers.
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In a century, these 326 communicants were to increase to 5,556, while the Church School enrollment was to rise from 300 to 2,209, and the number of parishes from five to twenty. Church School pupils con- tinued to increase heavily after 1900 and 1925, instead of receding as they did in Providence and northeast and southeast Rhode Island.
In this century Christ Church, Westerly, has kept the lead from the beginning. The 100 communicants of 1850 were, in 1952 nearly 1,000, while its Church School had risen from 100 to 300. The size of the Church School has thus been a large contributing element in parish growth, favored, as this has been, by economic factors. The swift waters of the Pawcatuck river, bounding the town on the north and west, have lent themselves to textile manufacturing of both cottons and woolens. Westerly granite, of fine texture and of three colors, is a noted industry, while the near-by beaches have brought a summer clientele of quality as well as quantity. Watch Hill's colony ranks with that of Newport and Narragansett Pier.
While physical factors have helped in Westerly's rise and in that of its Episcopal Church, its leading citizens have also really led. Of these we need here mention only Rowse and Edwin Babcock. The former, according to Bishop Clark, was a pillar of the prosperity of both town and Episcopal Church, while the latter was a delegate to Diocesan Con- vention for fifty years. Christ Church has also been fortunate in its rectors. A century ago it was Thomas H. Vail, destined to become Bishop of Kansas. A little later it was Darius R. Brewer. At the turn of the century William M. Groton went from Christ Church to be Dean of the Philadelphia Divinity School. A rectorship, lasting nearly thirty years, is the recent one of G. Edgar Tobin. Its present rector, William L. Kite, a business man turned priest, is giving the old parish a new surge of life.
The second largest parish of this area was, in 1850, St. Luke's, East Greenwich. Its communicants have since grown from 60 to 543, its Church School, in a lesser degree, from 90 to 168. St. Luke's has not had any very long rectorships, but Silas A. Crane, three generations ago, and Charles A. Meader and John L. Pickells, more recently, have been leaders in spiritual and material advance.
The mother parish of this area, St. Paul's, Wickford, has not quite kept pace with some of its children. Its 57 communicants of 1850 grew, in a century, to 303 and its Church School from 60 to 196. Twenty-five years ago its rector was Herbert J. Piper, described by one of his leading parishioners as an ideal village pastor. More recently, younger men of shorter stay have, with the help of suburban influx and naval installations, brought the parish greatly ahead, especially in finance and Church School registration. The old Narragansett Church, located not too far from the newer building, still gathers good congregations on August Sunday afternoons from all over the Diocese. A splendid parish house was built in 1952 in the rectorship of Francis H. Belden.
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St. Matthew's, Jamestown, in 1850, had only 12 communicants, and, in 1875, only 14, a number which by 1900, had slowly climbed to 59. Since that date summer visitors and the suburban tide have lifted this old parish on Conanicut Island to a membership of 254 communicants, with 68 in Church School. However, in 1925, near the end of the long rectorship of Charles D. Burrows, the School counted 92 children. Since his day, Albert C. Larned, John Wright, and Herbert J. Dowling have inched the parish up to its present strength.
The youngest of the five parishes of a century ago is the Church of the Ascension, Wakefield, which waxed as St. Paul's, Tower Hill, waned. Its growth has been slow and steady, just about doubling in communicants every twenty-five years. A generation ago it had a longish rectorship under John G. Crawford, another business man turned priest. Still later it prospered under John R. Wyatt, now rector of a large parish on the Pacific Coast, and under its last rector, Carl H. Richardson, a native of Newport and a former Army major, it has erected a fine parish house. Herbert W. Bolles is its new rector and chaplain at Rhode Island University.
Much younger than these five parishes already mentioned, and much smaller, is St. Peter's, Narragansett Pier. Its beautiful and over- large church dates back to the gay Nineties, when Narragansett Pier was a sister to Newport. Its large parish house, erected during the forty- year rectorship of W. H. B. Allen, and now leased to the American Legion, its $50,000 endowment, as well as the church building itself, are the products of summer-visitor generosity. The local congregation and Church School is rather small, communicants being 117 in 1900, 167 in 1925 and 157 in 1950. Jews and Roman Catholics have, to a large extent, displaced Episcopalians as summer visitors. The many carriages of yore have yielded to the fewer automobiles of the present. F. A. Cheever, a former Baptist, is now rector.
At the northerly end of this southwest district, is the city of Cran- ston, now numbering over 50,000 inhabitants, instead of the thin agri- cultural population of 1850. The earliest Church here is St. Bartholo- mew's, Cranston, dating from 1866, and located opposite the Cranston Print Works. This former mill village on the lower reaches of the winding Pawtuxet is now surrounded by a large population, chiefly Italian. A considerable area to the east of the church, however, is rapidly being built up. There, if anywhere, must come the future growth of a mission that has seen better days. Recently, in the vicarate of Albert C. Larned, the church building, much improved without and within, was deeded by the mill to the Diocese. At its peak, St. Bartholomew's had 150 communicants, and, 75 years ago, an equal number in the Church School. In 1950, these numbers were 100 and 20 respectively.
A few years after St. Bartholomew's, in 1885, came Trinity Parish, located not far from where the Pawtuxet makes an abrupt fall into Narragansett Bay. An erstwhile mill village has become a beautiful suburb, and Trinity has grown with its surroundings. The parish has
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had various ups and downs, but grew steadily under the long rectorship of John H. Robinette. Its lovely stone church goes back to 1910, and a splendid basement to it was finished recently in the present rectorship of Frank J. Landolt, a former Congregational minister. Trinity, in 1950, listed 330 communicants and 147 in Church School.
Founded three years after Trinity, Pawtuxet, is the Church of the Ascension, in the Auburn section of Cranston. As a mission it also waxed and waned for many years, prospering especially when Charles A. Meader, then Diocesan missionary, had his headquarters in the rectory. In 1936, James M. Duncan, now rector of St. Agnes Church, Washington, D. C., began a vigorous Anglo-Catholic administration. Under a like- minded successor, Arthur Wood, for many years Secretary of the Diocese, the parish became self-supporting. When it can dispose of its present site and buildings to advantage, the parish plans to move to a better location, already secured, in this populous neighborhood. The Church of the Ascension, in 1950, had 442 communicants and 98 in Church School. This last number has been much larger in the past, passing 200 at various times.
Six years after the Church of the Ascension, in 1894, came the now large parish of the Transfiguration, located near the Bay, a mile north of Trinity, Pawtuxet. It grew for many years under the fostering hand of Levi B. Edwards, diocesan missionary, and later, rector. The church building and the parish house are the result of his work, as well as the increase of the communicant list from 80 to 400. In 1950 it had the largest Church School in the Diocese, numbering 423 youngsters, as well as a splendid boys' choir. For a dozen years Charles H. Temple, a former Universalist minister, Secretary and President of the Board of Examining Chaplains, was rector. Under him and his successors, William C. Berndt and William T. Armitage, the parish list has climbed from 500 to 875 communicants.
The youngest of the Cranston parishes, dating from 1923, is St. David's, Meshanticut Park, in another fast-growing section of this sprawling city. The parish got a good start and an Anglo-Catholic com- plexion under Frederic Maryon and Albert C. Larned. In 1930, Noah G. Vivian, from Newfoundland, was appointed vicar. Later, as the parish grew, he became rector, with the additional care of the Mission of the Holy Nativity in Thornton. St. David's is still small, with only 200 communicants and 56 in Church School, but its ambitions are large. It hopes to erect a new church in a better location, one already secured, sometime in the near future. (The old building is now sold and a new rector called ).
These five parishes in Cranston account for quite a little of the diocesan gains in recent years. In 1900 they had but 181 communicants, while today the number is ten times larger, 1,878. With the addition of the 1,080 communicants in the neighboring city of Warwick, the total would come to 2,958, a number larger than that of many Episcopal dioceses and missionary jurisdictions in our South and West.
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In Warwick, now reputedly the fastest growing city in the country, the oldest parish is All Saints, Pontiac, likewise on the Pawtuxet river. Here the generosity of the Webster Knight family, once owners of the local mill, has provided a good church building and parish house, as well as a $50,000 endowment. Pontiac has been a parish where priest and people seem to have disagreed oftener than not. Recently, however, in the rectorship of Daniel Q. Williams, still another business man turned priest, the parish took a real upward turn. Under his successor, Leonard Redlawn, a former Roman priest, the parish continues to flourish. In 1875 it had 36 communicants and 90 youngsters in Church School. In 1950 the respective figures were 242 and 68. The erstwhile mill-village mission has blossomed into a good suburban parish.
In 1898, St. Barnabas, Apponaug, then also a mill-village mission, was admitted to Union with Convention. Its growth was slow until it felt the tug of the suburban tide. In 1911, the church building burned down, and it was some years before the mission was able to rebuild under the vigorous leadership of Gustav A. Schweitzer, a lay reader from St. Stephen's, Providence. Mr. Schweitzer, shortly before his untimely death, was ordained priest. The unique interior of the church was his design. Under his successors, Arthur Wood, Nelson Mackie, Charles H. Best, and G. Colin Davies, the mission which had 40 communicants in 1900, had grown in 1953, into a self-supporting parish of 330 com- municants and 255 in Church School. Howard C. Olson is its latest rector.
Much later than these two parishes is St. Mary's, Warwick Neck, once a sparsely attended summer chapel (except when Bishop Clark chose to preach there), but now a parish of 328 communicants and 102 in Church School.
Two missions, one old and one quite recent, flourish happily in the eastern section of Warwick. The older mission, dating back a generation, is the Church of the Resurrection, Norwood. Originally this congrega- . tion was a mission of the Church of the Epiphany, three miles away. Early in its career, a roofed-over basement, 63 feet by 30 feet, was built for about $4,000. This remained, with interior improvements, the Chapel and parish house of the congregation for twenty-five years. In 1951, with the help of a $16,000 loan underwritten by the Diocese, a good- looking second-story Church was added to the old structure. The grow- ing neighborhood would seem to justify this large investment.
Latest in Warwick is St. Mark's Mission, Hoxsie, located about three and a half miles from both Norwood and St. Mary's, Warwick Neck, and somewhat farther from St. Barnabas, Apponaug. It has had a meteoric rise since its beginnings late in 1947. Another large loan, underwritten by the Diocese, has procured a rectory and a large basement-church and parish house. St. Mark's now has a full-time priest, an indication of high diocesan hopes and heavy diocesan aid, namely, Edward M. Dart.
South County is the seat of several rural missions, two of them new and two older. St. Elizabeth's, Canonchet, is the only survivor of the
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former rural work, Arcadia, Austin Priory, Roaring Brook Farm and Greene having, over the years, been given up. For some while, in the Twenties, there was a mission in Shannock, served by layreaders, which finally went under. Recently the promotional efforts of Archdeacon Parsh- lay have resulted there in another basement church, erected by diocesan borrowing, and the formation of a vigorous little congregation. The sale of the buildings in Arcadia provided the initial funds for a rectory in near-by Carolina. In 1949 St. Thomas, Alton, came into being in a former community church.
Lastly, we may mention St. John's Church, Saunderstown, located on lower Narragansett Bay. The congregation here is much larger in summer than winter, although an active group of year-round communi- cants, numbering 50, with 30 in Church School, now exists.
Such is the tale of the Church's growth in southwest Rhode Island. In a century, communicants have increased eighteen times, rather more than the diocesan average, from 326 to 5,556, while Church Schools have increased sevenfold, from 300 to 2,209. The western portions of Rhode Island, whether in the north or in the south, would seem to be the areas of largest prospective growth.
THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWESTERN RHODE ISLAND -- 1850-1950
PLACE
DATE
PARISH
COMMUNICANTS
CHURCH SCHOOL PUPILS
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950
Alton
1949
St. Thomas
23
14
Apponaug
1898
St. Barnabas
40
91
196
30
Cranston
1888
Ascension
52
260
442
36
168
98
Cranston
1866
St. Bartholomew
44
28
100
95
135
39
25
20
Cranston
1923
St. David
80
200
40
56
Cranston
1894
Transfiguration
63
444
811
330
65
75
147
E. Greenwich
1834
St. Luke
60
235
325
346
543
90
84
94
120
168
Jamestown
1837
St. Matthew
12
14
59
104
254
51
92
68
Narragansett
1875
St. Peter
117
165
157
80
100
45
Norwood
1923
Resurrection
65
45
Hoxsie
1948
St. Mark
Pontiac
1869
All Saints
36
60
106
242
90
94
67
68
Saunderstown
1910
St. John
24
Shannock
1948
Holy Spirit
37
76
150
195
371
50
60
75
85
101
Warwick
1920
St. Mary
100
235
325
514
882
100
312
247
199
297
Wickford
1707
St. Paul's
57
128
126
231
303
60
100
85
58
196
326
768 1383 3047 5556
300
781
981 1650 2209
63
155
Canonchet
1935
St. Elizabeth
...
85
418
423
Cranston
1885
Trinity
38
265
22
194
120
93
Wakefield
1839
Ascension
50
102
Westerly
1834
Christ
96
328
28
40
25
31
35
30
58
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PLACE
CONTRIBUTIONS 1925
1950
ALTON, ST. THOMAS
$ 808.38
APPONAUG, ST. BARNABAS
$ 1,049.27
$ 1,310.31
7,924.32
CANONCHET, ST. ELIZABETH
740.01
CRANSTON, ASCENSION
1,105.19
3,957.57
8,010.16
CRANSTON, ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S
342.11
1,558.72
2,077.71
CRANSTON, ST. DAVID'S
1,435.07
4,403.49
CRANSTON, TRANSFIGURATION
1,758.19
12,103.67
35,015.55
CRANSTON, TRINITY
685.79
7,217.11
15,790.96
E. GREENWICH, ST. LUKE'S
28,267.61
JAMESTOWN, ST. MATTHEW'S
2,584.09
2,777.99
10,520.50
NARRAGANSETT, ST. PETER'S
4,366.00
4,219.27
6,616.65
NORWOOD, RESURRECTION
977.61
1,979.87
HOXSIE, ST. MARK'S
3,609.33
PONTIAC, ALL SAINTS
1,479.36
3,742.02
7,489.14
SAUNDERSTOWN, ST. JOHN'S
912.37
2,363.27
SHANNOCK, HOLY SPIRIT
1,553.64
WAKEFIELD, ASCENSION
1,521.40
3,638.44
12,814.14
WARWICK, ST. MARY'S
3,832.97
9,164.58
5,492.12
WESTERLY, CHRIST
1,792.84
20,185.66
WICKFORD, ST. PAUL'S
3,029.88
5,185.17
15,062.66
$24,959.19
$68,905.96
$189,725.17
1
IX
THE CHURCH IN SOUTHEAST RHODE ISLAND
In 1850, Newport County, with four parishes, two in Newport and two in Portsmouth, had but 409 communicants. The two parishes in Bristol County, St. Michael's, Bristol, and St. Mark's, Warren, had 440 between them. In a century the Newport County churches were to grow eight times in numbers, from 409 to 3,284, while those in Bristol County were to increase nearly seven-fold, from 440 communicants to 2,906. Much of this last growth was to come through the six new parishes established in once rural Barrington and East Providence, which now account for nearly a third of the present total, in this area, of 6,190. Southeast Rhode Island has nearly as many communicants as the Diocese of Vermont. Its contributions, in 1950, were $60,000 more, and its Church School enrollment 370 more than in that northern diocese.
Trinity, Newport, the original parish of the Diocese, still remains the strongest in this area, although at times it has been eclipsed by near-by Emmanuel. Thus, in 1925, sometime after the fruitful rectorship of Emery H. Porter, Emmanuel had 838 communicants to the 534 of Trinity, while both Church Schools had about 260 children. Since 1925 Emmanuel has receded a little, numerically and financially, and greatly
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1900
in school enrollment, 114 instead of 260. At one time, both parishes had endowments of about a quarter of a million dollars. A recent legacy of $500,000 from the estate of Mrs. Wilks, daughter of Hetty Green, and a still later one of $300,000 from a summer parishioner have made Trinity, probably, the most highly endowed church in New England. Daniel Quimby Williams, once of Pontiac, is now Emmanuel's active rector.
Since the incumbency of Salmon Wheaton, from about 1812 to 1840, Trinity has had only one long and fruitful rectorship, that of Stanley C. Hughes, a former Presbyterian minister, which lasted from 1905 to 1941. In his day Trinity parish recovered its former primacy in the city. A recent, relatively short rectorship, was that of Langdon Lauriston Scaife, now Bishop of Western New York. James R. MacColl III was rector from 1949 to 1953.
The second oldest parish in Newport, St. George's, located in the northerly section of the city, seems to have had its full share of vicissi- tudes, but has always risen again. Originally called Zion Church, it changed its name, with a new church building, nearly a century ago. In 1850 it had 152 communicants and 170 in Church School. In 1950 the communicants were 616 and the School 152. Dr. R. H. Mercer, a former Methodist minister, is the present active rector of this old parish.
The latest of the Newport churches, St. John the Evangelist, is now seventy years old. It has been, for most of this time, one of the outstand- ing Catholic parishes of the Diocese. Its second church building, the Zabriskie Memorial, is one of the most beautiful churches in New Eng- land. The peak period of the parish was in the long rectorship, before and after 1900, of Charles F. Beattie. In spite of the fact that priests of distinction, such as Charles Hutchinson and Julian Hamlin have been its rectors, the parish, numerically and financially, has gone downward. The 478 communicants of 1925 were 244 in 1950. Whether the parish will, at some future time, regain its former strength is a question that cannot, of course, be answered. In a small city like Newport, where one person in six belongs to the Episcopal Church, a larger proportion than in any other American city, almost anything can happen.
The two parishes in Portsmouth, St. Paul's and St. Mary's, are both over a century old. They represent about the only successful planting of the Episcopal Church among Rhode Island rural folk, although now they both may be classed as suburban churches. St. Mary's, in particular, has recently benefited by its proximity to Newport. For fifty years both parishes remained small. Recently, in the rectorship of Arthur F. Roe- buck, later to be Dean of the Cathedral of St. John and rector of St. Paul's, Pawtucket, St. Mary's forged rapidly ahead. In 1850 it had 25 communicants and 50 in the Church School. In 1950 the respective figures were 326 and 105. In the same period, St. Paul's, North Portsmouth, increased from 23 communicants to 167, and its Church School from 25 to 40. Edward Price, a former Methodist, is rector of St. Mary's.
The latest parish in Newport County, Holy Trinity, Tiverton, has had more changes and chances than almost any other congregation in the Diocese. Its happiest days were a generation ago, when John A.
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Gardner, member of an old Rhode Island family, built the present church. In 25 years its communicant list has grown from 118 to 147, its Church School from 34 to 50. It is now an independent parish. Gardner has since served in East Providence, Providence and Oklahoma.
In the towns of Bristol and Warren, where Roman Catholic immi- gration has been very large, growth has been less marked. In Warren, for instance, a baseball thrown from the tower of the Baptist Church could nearly reach the French and Italian Churches to the north, the Polish Church to the east and the Irish Church to the south. A new Portuguese Church, on the Bristol border, would be, of course, more remote. In Bristol itself the Portuguese element predominates.
St. Michael's, Bristol, in a century, has advanced, with periodic recessions, from 300 communicants to 584. For fifty years, from 1850 on, Dr. Locke was the rector. He consistently reported the number of communicants as about 500. In fifty years since then, the numbers have increased but little. Trinity parish, on the contrary, once so flourishing, has declined from 198 to 78 communicants, while the once large Church School is now quite small. Twenty years ago, Trinity sold its church, rectory and parish house to the town for the site of a new high school. For years the little congregation worshipped in a remodeled house. Recently a beautiful new church, located in the growing north end of Bristol, has been built. Whether the new environment will give the parish a permanent new lease of life remains to be seen. For Trinity, even more than St. Michael's, keeps afloat with the help of large endow- ments. Archdeacon Parshley was the able rector of St. Michael's for twenty years. Under the present rector, Daniel K. Davis, there has also been notable progress, particularly in the Church School and in the attendance at the early Communion service. John N. Sinclair is rector of Trinity.
St. Mark's, Warren, has a beautiful colonial church. It early became an important parish. Its lessened importance today, in spite of slow but steady growth, reflects the greater growth of the Diocese in other areas. While its communicants increased, in a century from 140 to 326, its Church School declined from 100 to 62. Its endowments have lately much increased and the suburban influx is still partly non-Roman. Its present rector is Arthur M. Dunstan, an active figure in the Diocese.
St. John's, Barrington, founded in 1869, and for sixty years a relatively static-village parish, has had a great growth in the last twenty years. Thanks in considerable part to the incoming suburban tide, its communi- cant list has grown in twenty-five years from 160 to 491, its Church School from 57 to 215, and contributions from $4,200 to $32,000. The great outward sign of this growth is the large and well-appointed parish house built recently in memory of a former Warden, Russell W. Field. Samuel Brenton Shaw, once a theological student under Bishop Griswold at Bristol, served as the earliest minister. William M. Chapin, the founder of St. Andrew's School, was its beloved rector for forty years. The great gains of the last two decades were in the rectorships of Richard Mortimer- Maddox and Owings Stone.
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William Chapin was the founder not only of St. Andrew's School, but also of the parishes in West Barrington and Riverside. The former, somewhat overshadowed by St. John's, has remained small, its communi- cants, in spite of much neighborhood growth, climbing only from 38 to 1900 to 132 in 1950.
In contrast, St. Mark's, located in the near-by Riverside section of East Providence, has grown enormously, the 99 communicants of 1900 becoming 512 in 1950 and the Church School rising from 51 to 230. St. Mark's, like many other small parishes, was not particularly happy in its ministers, until Ralph Bray took over in the year 1920. His rectorship of 33 years was the longest in recent years in the Diocese. Alexander G. Stewart is now rector.
The newest and fastest-growing parishes in East Providence are the ones in Phillipsdale and Rumford. Grace Memorial Church in Phillipsdale was for a while a Union Church in a mill village, until captured for the Episcopal Church by Levi B. Edwards, then diocesan missionary. Thirty-five years ago a Swedish-speaking congregation also worshipped in the building. Though the growth of the mission was slow for many years, it took a sharp upward turn during the vicarate of William T. Townsend, the rector of near-by St. Martin's, Pawtucket. Some years later Grace Memorial Mission became an independent parish. In 1925 it had 105 communicants and 70 in the Church School. In 1950 the figures were 195 and 87, while its contributions rose from $1,500 to $6,600. Daniel C. Osborn, who is chairman of Examining Chaplains and has served in several places in the Diocese, is the present rector.
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