USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 1937 > Part 8
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4. The South Congregational Church
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3
5
5. The First Congregational Church at St. Johnsbury Center, the "mother church" of the town, constructed in 1804 as a combina- tion town hall and house of worship.
The town is typically New England in this respect and the number of its churches, in percentage of population, is among the highest of the country. All are in a sound financial condition.
7. St. Aloysius Catholic Church
9. St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
8. First Church of Christ, Scientist
12. Church of the Messiah, Universalist
8
7
9
IT
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10. The East St. Johnsbury Congrega- tional Church
11. Union Baptist Church
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JOHNSBURY,AL
One Hundred
of Progress
1937" Fifty Years
tory to rush through plans for the raising of the building. This finally was accomplished in 1804.
The building was fitted out with 76 pews, 51 below and 25 in the gal- lery. The pews were sold at auction. The purchasers were of different de- nominations and with the ownership of the pew went a lien on the use of the house, as opportunity might occur, for preaching of the purchaser's favorite sort. It turned out, however, that the preaching was more frequently that of the standing order. No person might enter the pulpit on town meet- ing occasions but by vote of the meeting. The house was to be swept twice a year at the town's expense. Five persons, of whom three bore military titles, were appointed to keep it clear of dogs on Sundays. This strange ar- rangement marked the beginning of church history in St. Johnsbury.
After such a long and difficult battle, the influence of the Mother Church was short lived. With later years came the increasing importance of the Plain in St. Johnsbury village, considerably neglected after the founding of the town in 1786. It must be remembered that Center Village was the hub of things at the time the church was established. An inn, the first in the town soon went up there, and almost every settlement within the town limits had progressed more than the Plain.
In a very few years came increased population on the Plain and new- comers to the town seemed naturally to settle there. It was not long before the Plain section outgrew all of the other little hamlets in the vicinity and with the coming of industry and schools it drew many people from other parts of the town.
In 1825, nineteen members formed the Second Congregational Society and started a church on St. Johnsbury Plain. For a few years this society held its worship services in a store which was reconstructed into a small church. It moved from time to time into larger quarters until the organiza- tion became large enough and wealthy enough to build a real church. This edifice went up in 1847 as the first meeting house on the Plain, at the site where the present North Congregational Church now stands.
In the early days St. Johnsbury people seemed to delight in moving their buildings all over the village. This practice also applied to church property, so the Congregational Church was moved down Main street to a plot adjacent to the Court House. Then the society built another church twenty years after the first one. This was moved across Church street to be converted into Music Hall and to make way for the construction of the third and final structure of stone which was dedicated February 24, 1881.
Architecturally the present North Congregational Church is not sur- passed by any in the state. Its Mediaeval Gothic style is dominated by an unusual Norman tower. It is constructed of Isle La Motte stone with orna- mental pillars of red granite. The interior woodwork is of native cherry. The organ is an instrument of great compass and range of expression, having 1789 pipes. The founders of the scale industry were among its earlier mem- bers and gave strong impulse to its spiritual life and liberal benevolences.
A Universalist Society was formed in 1813 by citizens residing along the Plain. While it was years before they had a church of their own, they
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were an influence toward defeating irreligion and held services alternately with the Second Congregational Society in the first church on the Plain. In 1843 the Universalist Society erected a fine church at Center Village but this was destroyed by fire in 1876. Before the edifice was burned regular services had been suspended. The Universalists did not rebuild at the Center and since then the remnant of the original society living there has been under the parishional care of the Church of the Messiah in St. Johnsbury Village.
The third church in St. Johnsbury Center Village was erected by the Methodists in 1841. Prior to that time a small dwelling house fixed over for the purpose was used by this church society. For some eighty years the Methodists held regular services in this church. Twentieth century ideas and modes of travel made it easier for the villagers to get down to St. Johnsbury Village where they felt they could find bigger and better services, and the Center Methodist Church could no longer support itself. The structure was turned over to Green Mountain Grange, No. 1, the first Grange order in New England, for a community hall and lodge room.
Among the sons of the Center Methodist Church was one whose name has given it distinction, the Rev. Edwin W. Parker, a St. Johnsbury native. Mr. Parker went to India in 1859, and after many years of conspicuous service was made Bishop of the Methodist Church in that country.
The community at East St. Johnsbury was rapidly growing about 1840 and the residents there felt it was time for that village to have a church of its own. Twenty members organized a society and raised a church which was dedicated on November 25, 1840. Twelve years later the building was en- larged and the Rev. Mr. Gurney started a school on the lower floor. The villagers were justly proud of their edifice and from time to time made elabor- ate repairs to the structure. In 1870 it was extensively repaired and re- furnished, and in 1902 some $2500 was spent in remodeling and redecorating. At this time the church was re-dedicated.
The East Village Church was of the Congregationalist denomination and it remains as such today. About the same time that this society got under way a Methodist society moved in on the village. They bought a little meet- ing house in Waterford Hollow and moved it to East Village where it was planted directly across the street from the Congregational Church. It had 58 members and its existence was threatened almost from the time the society was organized. Money was scarce and the church fell into disrepair. By 1896 the building had become so delapidated that it was torn down and the society discontinued its services.
The scale industry which began to boom after 1830. brought an influx of settlers to the town. When the railroad reached here in 1850 the popula- tion had increased to such an extent that there were not seats enough in the churches to accommodate all of the worshippers.
Therefore another Congregational Society on the Plain was formed, the fourth within the town and second on the Plain. This new society found- ed the South Congregational Church in 1851. As no other denomination ap- peared inclined to enter the village it was voted to divide the original Con- gregational society on the Plain into two parts.
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"937" of Progress Hundred Fifty Years of
Sixty-five members were set off to constitute the new colony. This was only about one-fourth the resident membership. On October 23, 1851 they were organized under the name of the South Congregational Church. The house of worship, adjoining the Academy, was built by the whole society, to be owned and occupied by the colony, and was dedicated on January 14, 1852
In its early days the South Church employed whale oil lamps for light- ing purposes. Back of the flame were gigantic reflectors which threw the flickering light around the church interior the best they could. These were considered a luxury in their day.
In 1879 the South Church broadcast a complete service. This perhaps was the first broadcast the world ever knew. The press of the whole nation featured the event. It was just the time that telephones were being intro- duced and the enterprising pastor of the day set up a telephone transmitter on the pulpit and had the wires strung to the parsonage on Park street. There the receiver was mounted and a small group gathered around to hear the entire service relayed to them like a message from another world.
This conveyance of a church service over telephone wires attracted wide attention. It was not like the broadcasts we know today but it un- doubtedly was the first time that anything approximating a broadcast ever was made. The country was "telephone-minded" at that time and the event gave to St. Johnsbury apparent priority in this particular application of the wonderful new invention.
Grace Methodist Church was the next religious organization to be formed. With a membership of thirty-four, it was organized on December 3, 1856, in the old Union Hall, where it held its services for the next two years. In the early part of 1859 a structure on Central street was completed and dedicated. A few years later a parsonage was built on the lot adjoining it.
The church enjoyed the prosperity brought about by the increasing population of the village. Seating capacity was insufficient and in 1884 the building was greatly enlarged. In 1908 the edifice was seriously damaged by fire but the church membership raised sufficient funds to redecorate and re- model the building.
Seven years later the church was swept by a fire which damaged it be- yond repair. The present stone structure was then constructed and was dedicated on May 28, 1916. The church now has a membership of more than one thousand.
Catholic church history in St. Johnsbury dates back to 1858 when the Rev. S. Danielou came here to minister to those of the faith. Fr. Danielou held his pastorate 16 years. During that time he built a brick church on Cherry street with the first rectory, and began the school for boys.
In 1874, the Rev. J. A. Boissonnault began his long and efficient minis- try at Notre Dame des Victoires parish. At that time there were 221 families in the parish which included thirteen other towns. Fr. Boissonnault com- pleted the parochial school for boys, now in charge of the Sisters of Providence, and built the convent Mount St. Joseph for girls in 1882, which is in charge. of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
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In 1886 foundations were laid for the granite church edifice, built at an expense of $37.000 and dedicated on January 6, 1889. This building is 140 feet by 60 feet with a tower and spire 198 feet high. In 1894 was erected the St. Johnsbury Hospital, the first in the town. The group of substantial build- ings secured for the Notre Dame parish during the pastorate of Fr. Boisson- nault stand as a permanent visible monument of his work.
For 35 years the clergyman served Notre Dame parish. His death was mourned by the entire community and places of business were closed during the funeral services. His successor was the Rev. E. C. Drouhin who took the rectorship in August 1911.
Before Notre Dame parish was established, St. Johnsbury Catholics had the privilege of only occasional visits of Catholic missionaries from Bos- ton and Canada. The first missionary priest was Fr. Drolet of Montpelier who came here frequently and celebrated the mass in a hall where all Catho- lics of the community gathered when they heard of his coming.
The English speaking Catholics who had hitherto been connected with Notre Dame were organized into a parish of their own on July 24, 1896. At first the parish was known as St. Rose, with the Rev. M. J. Carmody as priest. The good people of the parish of St. Rose bought the historic old property on Main street which formerly was the old Willard Carleton tavern, but occupied by the Cross Bakery at the time of purchase.
The building was torn down to make way for the second Catholic church in the town. When the church was completed the parish name was changed to St. Aloysius and the church was dedicated as such on October 26, 1898. The Rev. John A. Lynch became the pastor. He built the parish house adjoining the church. In 1904 Fr. Lynch was succeeded by the Rev. T. J. Leonard who after ten years' ministry was succeeded by the Rev. John W. Dwyer. Fr. Dwyer is still pastor of the church and is nearing a quarter of a century of service to St. Aloysius parish.
The Knights of Columbus was organized in this parish in 1896. The organization had an early membership of 200, nearly all of whom belonged to the Young Men's Temperance Society, and the Holy Name Society, pledged against profanity.
The Universalist, Church of the Messiah Society, was formed in 1868. Services were held mostly at the Town Hall. In 1871 the Rev. B. M. Tillotson accepted a call as permanent pastor and under his leadership the present house of worship on Eastern avenue was constructed and dedicated on Janu- ary 23, 1873.
A Free Will Baptist Church was organized by seventeen members in 1869 and for a number of years services were held in public halls. A house of worship was constructed at the corner of Main and Prospect streets in 1875 but six years later it was reduced to ashes in a disastous fire. A generous public response to a plea for financial aid made it possible to erect a new build- ing within a year. The second building, which was an exact replica of the first, was completed and opened for worship on December 3. 1882. The Free
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1937" red Fifty Years
Will Baptist Church society eventually gradually vanished and passed out of existence. Their church was taken over by the First Church of Christ, Scientist.
The First Baptist Church was organized by William Bacon in 1874 with thirteen members. The house of worship was erected on Railroad street the following year. To the rear of this was attached in 1904 a convenient and commodious Chapel. The parsonage adjoins the church and in more recent years Fellowship Hall has been added. This hall is a combination gymnasium and auditorium with a fine stage. All kinds of indoor games are played on the court.
The next church to be organized in the town was St. Andrew's Episcopal in 1876. Services of the Episcopal order were first held in 1856 in the old Union Hall and occasionally in other places prior to November, 1876, at which time the parish was formally organized with articles of association signed by twenty men. The house of worship was dedicated on August 3, 1881 and N. F. Putnam was the first rector. The pipe organ was presented some few years later by Capt. E. F. Griswold.
In 1875 about forty persons were organized into the Advent Church Society by the Rev. M. A. Potter. The next year the church, seating 400, was erected on Pleasant street, and shortly thereafter a bell was hung, the gift of Col. Frederick Fletcher.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized on July 29, 1879 by a commission from the New York Presbytery. There were 31 members and the next year William R. Laird was ordained and installed as pastor. It was without a regular place of worship until 1883 when the church edifice on Eastern avenue, at the corner of Prospect street, was completed. By 1895 Presbyterian services in St. Johnsbury ceased and the church building was made over into a business block and apartment building.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was organized on January 26, 1898, and established with by-laws revised by the Mother Church in Boston on October 26, 1900. As places of worship the organization used at different times Odd Fellows Hall and rooms in Pythian Hall. In more recent years the Christian Scientists have taken over the former Free Will Baptist Church on Main street. They now occupy this pleasant edifice and maintain a fine reading room on the lower floor.
Church Bells
The first bell to peal out its soul satisfying chime throughout St. Johns- bury was an 800-pound metallic vessel which was hung in the old North Church tower on November 14, 1833. It took nearly two weeks to get the bell here from Boston. The slow-going teams finally dragged it into town on Sunday, an untoward circumstance.
The first bell hung in its tower doing good service until 1847 when the meeting house under it moved down the street to near where the court house now stands. At that time the bell was given to the Methodist Church in North Concord where it continued ringing until its career as a bell was terminated
EIGHTY-TWO
in a striking manner while proclaiming the news of Lee's surrender at Appo- mattox. Its jubilant peals on that occasion proved too much for its metal, and thereafter it hung, a disabled bell, on its pivots until 1896 when it was moved to the Fairbanks foundry, and there converted into scale beams.
The dean of bells seems to be the one hung in the East Village Church in 1842. No other in the town has rung for so many years.
The South Church bell, which calls worshippers to service and tolls out the hours of the day is in reality "half a bell." When the second North Church building was erected in 1847, a bell weighing 2500 pounds was installed. It shook the place unreasonably. In fact it damaged itself by its own vibra- tions.
In 1852, the South Church being then in process of erection. it was de- termined to divide the bell, now that the congregation had been divided. Ac- cordingly it was sent to a foundry with enough more metal added to make two new bells. One of these twin bells, 1500 pounds, Key of G, was mounted in the South Church belfry where it still rings the stated appointments and tolls the hours of the village clock which was installed in 1853. The other twin bell, 1300 pounds, Key of A, was mounted in the belfry of the North Church until its conversion into Music Hall 29 years later.
The bell on the original Methodist Church was also used to sound the fire alarm. The fire signals in those days went out over the air in the Key of F. Previously the Methodist bell was in the Key of E but it was so out of harmony with other bells in the village that public spirited citizens got to- gether and saw to it and a more "on key" resonance was made available.
Notre Dame has one of the finest set of bells in the state. The church had the first Catholic cluster of three bells in the state. It is of interest to know that one of this cluster is inscribed "Georgius W. (Washington)" and was accepted by the church as a gift from non-Catholic residents of the town.
When the present North Church was completed in 1880. a bell of 3004 pounds, Key of E flat, was mounted on October 14 of that year. It is the heaviest church bell in this part of the state.
The Academy bell, so familiar to the daily lives of everyone within ear distance, and to those who have crossed Academy portals. was hung in the fall of 1872. Many of the local schools have similar bells which they employ to start and close the sessions of the day.
In 1895 the Village Trustees placed the heavy fire alarm bell in the tower of the Court House.
The old First Church at Center Village, which by seniority rights should have had the first bell, so it seems, waited 51 years before it had any means of calling the faithful to worship. The old church was in new surround- ings down in the heart of the village before it got its bell. It was hung in the summer of 1855 and such was the interest in the occasion that the village school was allowed an intermission for the privilege of seeing the bell lifted into place.
EIGHTY-THREE
Congratulations To A Good Town THIS YEAR
St. Johnsbury Will Celebrate One Hundred
Fifty Years of Progress
NEXT YEAR
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ST. JOHNSBURY VT. PRUCE
Compliments of MRS. A. L. STEVENS
Main Street
St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Compliments of MRS. BERTHA D. MOORE TOURIST HOME
90 Main Street St. Johnsbury, Vermont
LURCHIN & LURCHIN JEWELERS, SILVERSMITHS, WATCHMAKERS AND ENGRAVERS St. Johnsbury, Vermont The Largest and Best Equipped Repair Department in the State
Distributor - Blue SUNOCO Tel. 1042
C. A. PADHAM NORGE PRODUCTS Refrigerators, Washers, Radios, Stoves, Light Plants 17 Passumpsic Street St. Johnsbury, Vt.
H. P. HOOD & SONS, INC.
Manufacturers of
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They are Delicious and
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ST. JOHNSBURY, VT.
J. D. SULLIVAN FURNITURE - FLOOR COVERINGS 113 Railroad St., Tel. 973 St. Johnsbury, Vermont
DIONNE'S WELDING SHOP WE WELD ANYTHING Electric Arc and Acetylene Welding-Also Boiler Repairing We have a portable outfit, we can be at your service Anywhere and Anytime 34 Portland Street Phone 1158-W St. Johnsbury. Vt.
THE MENUT & PARKS CO.
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8 Portland Street Phone 23 St. Johnsbury,
CONCORD CANDY KITCHEN HOME MADE ICE CREAM AND HIGH GRADE CANDIES 89 Railroad Street
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Compliments of L. E. LECLERC & SON MEATS, FRUIT, GROCERIES, VEGETABLES
Boy Scout Booth during Celebration Soft Drinks and Ice Cream 117 Railroad Street St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Compliments of
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Visitors are cordially invited to our showrooms any time during the celebration.
Compliments
of the
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Lyndonville
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Veterinarian Remedy Mfg.
Homes
HOMES BEAUTIFUL
Its homes, beautiful and distinctive, make St. Johnsbury an ideal place to live in. Roomy, broad terraced, and with spa- cious grounds, the beauty of the residential districts has not declined with the growth of the town and the attendant in- crease in population and building.
The home of Jonathan Arnold - 1787
The Arnold home was the first frame dwelling in St. Johnsbury. The first town meeting was held there and the town was organized and named within its quaint walls in 1790.
Typical New England homes at their best. Many St. Johnsbury dwellings distinctive in their classes.
THE COWLES PRESS, INC.
printers in St. Johnsbury for 28 years. succeed- ed the L. W. Rowell printing plant, which had been in the business for over 40 years before that. In the 28 years under the present man- agement it has grown from a one man shop and equipment to one of the best in the state, em- ploying from 8 to 10 men in the printing plant, which is equipped with linotype and Ludlow typesetting machines, automatic and cylinder presses and all the equipment which goes to make up an up-to-date job printing plant. They do a great deal of commercial printing and are specially equipped to handle color work and the higher class of artistic printing, which has come to be a necessity in modern advertising.
In addition to their printing plant, they have an outstanding Gift Shop that is known throughout this section of New England.
Incidentally, The Cowles Press printed this book.
Artwork, Designing and Photo-Engravings in this book are by the
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Engraving Company, Inc.
Designers and Photo-Engravers of Catalog, Magazine and Direct by Mail Advertising. Counter Displays Posters, Cartons, Packages, Labels, Etc.
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Brantview, former home of Col. William P. Fairbanks, now the girls' dormitory of St. Johns- bury Academy.
A view of the interior.
A typical modern St. Johnsbury home fol- lows the trend of the times.
JOHNSBURY,3
One Hundred
Pr
1937 *** Fifty Years of
(Continued from page 25)
The daily output this spring has been between 260 and 275 chairs every day. This production will naturally increase as the plant is put into complete operation. The big demand for its products throughout its first year of activi- ty has made it impossible to complete its intended construction program any earlier but the work is going ahead all the time that production continues to send an endless line of fine, sturdy beech, birch and maple chairs over the country.
Tempered Maple Corporation
The coming of the Tempered Maple Corporation to St. Johnsbury in the spring of 1936 gave the town the distinction of having the largest bowling pin factory in the world. In the last few years bowling has grown to become one of the ranking sports and the business demands made upon the Tempered Maple Corporation forced it into larger quarters.
It was a natural thing that such a large and progressive company should reestablish itself in St. Johnsbury with its exceptional rail communications. The company took over four acres of land which is practically covered with buildings, kilns and logs.
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