Churches

Old Meeting House, Monson, Mass

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The old meeting house of the First Church of Monson, seen around 1860-1871. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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The First Church of Monson was established in 1762, and the first photo here shows its second meeting house, which was completed in 1803.  The building stood here on High Street, overlooking downtown Monson, until 1871, when it was moved across Main Street and the present-day church was built.  Its time in use coincided with the lengthy pastorate of Alfred Ely, who served as the pastor of the church for 60 years, from 1806 until 1866.  After the building was moved, it was converted into stores on the first floor and a meeting hall on the upper floor, named Green’s Hall.  It can be seen in the c.1892 photo in this post, but it burned down in 1895.  The church building that replaced it, though, it still standing over 140 years later, and aside from having its steeple replaced twice, it looks essentially the same as it did when it was completed in 1873.

Methodist Church, Monson, Mass (2)

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Another view of the Methodist Church on Main Street in Monson, around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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As explained in the previous post, this church at the corner of Main and Cushman Streets was built in 1850, and it is the oldest of Monson’s four church buildings.  The only major change in the church’s appearance between the two photos is the steeple.  The top of the steeple above the belfry was removed in 1952 because of damage caused by the 1938 hurricane, and it was replaced in 2010.  Aside from that, though, the rest of the historic church is essentially unchanged, and it is an excellent example of mid 19th century New England church architecture.

Methodist Church, Monson, Mass (1)

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The Methodist Church on Main Street in Monson, probably taken around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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The Methodist church in Monson was first established in the 1820s, and in 1827 its first permanent church building was built about a mile south of here, at the corner of Main and Maple Streets.  However, the congregation outgrew that building, and in 1850 they moved to this much larger, more centrally-located church in downtown Monson.  As seen in the two photos, it is still standing today, and it is the oldest active church building in town.

Architecturally, the church strongly resembles the traditional New England churches of the early 1800s, but there are also some elements of Gothic Revival architecture, such as the arched windows and the quatrefoil window on the tower.  Since its completion, there have not been many major changes to its appearance.  Aside from an expansion around 1860, the only major change has been the steeple.  The 1938 hurricane weakened its supports, so in 1952 the spire was removed, and was not replaced until 2010.  Just a year later, a tornado caused severe damage to downtown Monson, and destroyed the steeples of two nearby churches, but this church survived largely unscathed.

Holy Name Catholic Church, Machias, Maine

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The Holy Name Catholic Church in Machias, around 1904. Image from Narrative of the Town of Machias (1904).

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The church in 2015:

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Machias was first settled by English colonists in the 1700s, and although they established a Protestant church relatively quickly, it took some time before there were enough Catholics to sustain a church here. Traveling priests would often visit Machias in the early 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1845 that the town had its own Catholic church.

The original church burned down in 1875, but it was soon rebuilt and is still standing today.  Compared to the town’s Congregational church, this one is relatively simple on the exterior.  It wasn’t originally built with a steeple, but one was later added to the right, as seen in the 2015 photo. Otherwise, it looks essentially the same as it did when the first photo was taken over 100 years ago.

Centre Street Congregational Church, Machias, Maine

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The Centre Street Church in Machias, around 1904. Image from Narrative of the Town of Machias (1904).

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The church in 2015:

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The town of Machias is one of the easternmost places in the United States, so this remote fishing village seems like a strange place to have one of the state’s few examples of early 19th century Gothic Revival architecture.  The Centre Street Congregational Church has stood here overlooking the town since it was completed in 1837, and it was built based on designs by Richard Upjohn, a British-born architect who designed Gothic Revival churches throughout the United States.  Upjohn is better known for works such as Trinity Church at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street in New York and the Church of the Covenant in Boston, but this church in Machias predates both of those.

Since its completion nearly 180 years ago, the church has been remarkably well-preserved.  The only major exterior changes have been a clock in the tower, which was added in 1870, and stained glass windows, which were added in 1899, a few years before the first photo was taken.  The church even has its original bell, which was purchased used in Boston and originally came from Paul Revere’s foundry.  Today, the historic building is still a major focal point in the town, and the 2015 photo shows the setup for the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival, a town-wide festival that is sponsored by the church.

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (2)

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The town of Harpers Ferry, photographed around 1862. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Civil War Collection.

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The view in 2015:

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These two views of Harpers Ferry are remarkably similar, considering how much damage the small town sustained during the Civil War.  The Library of Congress estimates that this photo was taken around 1860, which seems a little too early.  This photo is half of a stereocard from a series called “War Views,” and since the war didn’t start until 1861, it seems unlikely that it was taken before then.  Instead, it was probably taken around 1862; the tents in the foreground were part of a “contraband camp” that the Union army established on the grounds of the former armory in March 1862 to house escaped slaves from the Confederacy.

A number of notable buildings are visible here, with the most prominent being the Armory fire engine house, better known as “John Brown’s Fort,” seen in the center of the photo and explained in more detail in this post.  To the left of the “fort” is the Gerard Bond Wager Building, a three and a half story brick building that was completed in 1838.  Prior to the Civil War it was used as a grocery and dry goods store, and it is still standing today and is operated by the National Park Service as a museum.

Beyond the Gerard Bond Wager Building is St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, which was built in 1833 and is still standing today, although with some extensive alterations.  It survived the Civil War, but it was renovated in 1896 to bring its exterior in line with the then-popular Neo-Gothic architectural style.  The original brick walls were replaced with granite, the steeple was removed, and a new asymmetrical facade was built with a taller steeple on the left side.

Another church in the original scene was St. John’s Episcopal Church, seen on the top of the hill to the right.  It was built in 1852 and sustained damage during the war, eventually being repaired in 1882.  However, it was subsequently abandoned in 1896, and today the picturesque ruins are still there, although they are hidden from view by the trees in the 2015 photo.

The last of the prominent historic buildings in these two photos are the four in a row next to each other, seen just below St. John’s Episcopal Church.  All four are still standing today, and the left-most of these is the Harper House, which is the oldest surviving building in the lower town.  It was completed in 1782 by Robert Harper, the town founder who not coincidentally operated a ferry here.  He died the same year it was completed, and it was later used as a tavern, a private residence, and by the start of the Civil War as a tenement house, accommodating up to four families.  To the right of the Harper House is Marmion Hall, which was completed in 1833, and the last two buildings to the right were built in the 1840s as the Marmion Tenant Houses.  These last two were, prior to the war, rented out to armory workers, who were just a short downhill walk away from their jobs.

Today, railroad tracks cover much of the former armory site, and nearly all traces of the historic site are long gone.  However, the town that grew up here because of the armory is, for the most part, preserved in its pre-1860s appearance.  Much of the lower town is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and is run by the National Park Service.