Category: Churches

First Church of Danvers (1980)

by Dan//Churches, Danvers, Postmodern

The First Church of Danvers was established in 1672, when the area was still a part of Salem and was known as Salem Village. Instead of traveling every Sunday to Salem, the people of Salem Village wanted their own meeting house, which was built over several years at what is now the intersection of Forest and Hobart Streets. This building was the site of most of the examinations at the start of the 1692 Salem withcraft hysteria. The original meeting house was abandoned in 1701 and new one was built on the site of the current First Church of Danvers. This second meeting house stood until 1785, and a new and larger one was then built on the same spot the following year. This building lasted twenty years, until it burned down in 1805. Its replacement, built in 1806, was constructed of brick. Concerns about some cracking and settling of the brick walls led to its being replaced in 1839 by yet another new structure. Remodeled in 1869 and again in 1889, this fifth building burned to the ground in 1890. The next church building was dedicated in 1891 and the seventh and current building opened in 1980.

Center Meetinghouse, Old Sturbridge Village (1832)

by Dan//Churches, Greek Revival, Sturbridge

The Baptist Church in Sturbridge was organized about 1750 and early on met in a school house, enlarged and converted into a house of worship. A new meetinghouse was erected in 1784. These first two structures were located on Fiske Hill. As described in An Historical Sketch of Sturbridge, Mass. (1838), by Joseph S. Clark, by 1832:

Their first Meetinghouse, by this time was going to decay; and as it stood at an inconvenient distance from many of the Society, in 1832 they erected a new and far more commodious one, in the centre village, on a corner of the old Burying-ground. It was dedicated Jan. 8, 1833, […] The Baptist Society have just completed [1838] the removal of their Meetinghouse to Fiskdale village, about 2 miles from its former location. As this arrangement brings the Sanctuary to the doors of many who have hitherto found it inconvenient to attend Church statedly it is presumed that they will hereafter avail themselves of that privilege.

As mentioned in the 1844 book, History of the Baptist Churches Composing the Sturbridge Association,

During the present year, (1842,) the house, having been struck with lightning, and injured to a considerable extent, has undergone a thorough repair, at an expense of about $300.

In 1947, when the Sturbridge Baptist Society was joining with another denomination, it agreed to give the meetinghouse to Old Sturbridge Village in exchange for an organ in their new church. The 1832 structure was then moved to the Village, where it is referred to as the Center Meetinghouse.

First Congregational Church of Amherst (1868)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Gothic

The Congregational Church in Amherst dates back to 1739, when the future town was still a part of Hadley. There have been four successive meeting houses for the church. The original meeting house, built around 1740, stood on the hill where the Amherst College Octagon would later be built. It was replaced, on the same site, by a more elaborate building, completed in 1788. The third meeting house was built across South Pleasant Street in 1829; since remodeled, it is now owned by Amherst College and is known as College Hall. The current First Congregational Church was built of Monson granite in 1867-1868. The architect was George Hathorne of Springfield and the local contractor was C.W. Lessey, who lived nearby; neighbor William Austin Dickinson supervised the construction. The same team would then begin construction of Walker Hall at Amherst College in 1868. Since its construction, the church has been much altered over the years, both inside and out.

Southwick Congregational Church (1824)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Greek Revival, Southwick

The original meeting house in Southwick of 1773, located in Southwick‘s central village, burned in August 1823 and was replaced with the current meeting house, built in 1824-1825. A Federal/Greek Revival structure, the Southwick Congregational Church is considered to be one of the finest works of its architect, Isaac Damon of Northampton. According to George C. Gardener, writing in The American Architect and Building News (Vol. XLVII, No. 996, Jan. 26, 1895):

Capt. Isaac Damon appears to have been the leading architect of Western Massachusetts from 1812 to 1840, his influence on public and ecclesiastical work being even greater than [Asher] Benjamin’s on domestic. He designed and built at least thirteen churches in this region and nearly all the town-halls and court-houses; his specialty, however, was bridges, and there are several of his drawings still preserved

As the church neared completion, on November 6, 1824, two letters signed by the men working on the church were placed in a box inside one of the columns. These were rediscovered during a restoration in 1950 (see pdf article) and reveal that the workers came, not from Southwick, but from many other towns in the region.

Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst (1865)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Gothic

As related in The History of the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts (1896):

Sept. 20, 1864, a number of men residing in Amherst met at the residence of Mrs. Mary H. Jones, to consider the practicability of forming in Amherst a parish of the Protestant Episcopal church. […] Rev. Frederick D. Huntington, at that time rector of the Emanuel church in Boston, was present at the meeting: it was largely owing to his efforts that the parish was formed. Being invited to give a name to the parish, he selected that of “Grace church.”

At a meeting on May 26, 1865,

it was voted that the parish build a stone church, a committee of five being appointed to have charge of the work. Work on the building was begun that year, and was carried on so rapidly that the parish held a meeting in the basement of the church, April 2, 1866. The building was consecrated by the Bishop of the diocese, July 17. It was designed by Henry Dudley of New York, the type of architecture being 13th century English. It was built of a gray gneiss, quarried in Leverett.

The tower, part of Dudley’s riginal plan, was added to Grace Episcopal Church in 1868.

Wesley Methodist Church, Amherst (1878)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Gothic

In 1972, architect Tullio Inglese and his wife Judith rescued the old Wesley Chapel, at 592 Main Street in Amherst, and converted it into their home and studio. Today, the former church houses the offices of TIA Architects and the Nacul Center for Ecological Architecture. According to The History of the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts (1896):

The Methodist church at Amherst center was organized in 1868 as a branch of the church at North Amherst. It was composed, in part, of members of the latter organization, together with a few members from the church in Pelham. It was organized as a separate society in August, 1875, when the first quarterly conference was held.

A church was soon constructed:

The cornerstone of the church was laid. Oct. 17. 1878, and the work progressed so rapidly that services were held in the vestry, Jan. 26, 1879. In 1880, a committee was appointed to superintend the building of sheds on the church lot. In 1886, the grounds about the church were graded and improved. A bell was procured in 1887.

The United Methodist Church serving Amherst is now located at 98 North Maple in Hadley.