Beneficent
Congregational
Church
Located in
Voices from the Archives
by Harl Ryder
WHY THE BACK WALL OF OUR MEETING HOUSE IS SHAPED LIKE A PROW
When the Beneficent Meeting House was built in 1809, its outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, and remained so for two decades. However, the expansion that had made it necessary to replace the first building continued and thoughts of further enlargement began to arise. As early as 1820, the Beneficent Society received an application "for the liberty of finishing off a room in the North East of the Meeting House for the purpose of holding meetings etc". The request was granted so long as it didn't cost anything to the Society. There is no record of what (if anything) was done about this project.
At about the same time a small group of church members were eager to expand the repertoire of music in worship services using musical instruments (even possibly and organ) and trained singers. At the Society meeting of October 7, 1822, Stephen Wardwell, John Perrin, John Dunwell, Charles Dyer, and Samuel Proud were appointed "a committee to agree with a suitable person to teach a singing school for six months, and also to raise by subscription a sufficient sum to defray the expense". At the next meeting, January 6, 1823, the committee reported that "they have engaged Mr. Luther Ainsworth to teach the singing school and superintend the Gallery for one year at $150".
Meanwhile, some members of the Beneficent Society were paying attention to the buying and selling of land lots in the immediate neighborhood. At the meeting of October 6, 1823, a committee was appointed to see if it was worthwhile to buy "the Lot of Land adjoining the South side of the Meeting House". Another committee was appointed "to superintend the Singing School". At the meeting of January 5, 1824, the first committee reported that the Lot adjoining the south side of the meeting house had been purchased for the Society at $350. The second committee reported "that they have engaged Mr. Ainsworth on the same terms as the preceding year".
With expanding membership and expanding activities, the newly acquired lot might be a source of funds or a place for more activities. Another committee was appointed to consider "the expediency of erecting a dwelling house on the Lot south of the Meeting House and report at the next meeting", but at the next meeting, February 2, 1824, they recommended that nothing be done at present. After three years of doing nothing, the Society agreed at their meeting of April 2, 1827, "that the Sexton be allowed the gratuitous use of Society's Lot at the South end of the Meeting House for a garden".
MUSIC
Meanwhile, the singers were busy raising a subscription of $1,898.50 for an ORGAN (capitalization in the original document) for the Meeting House. The organ was brought down from Boston in two wagons and carefully installed in the rear balcony of the Meeting House. At the formal presentation to the Society on July 3, 1826, a professional organist from Boston gave a concert to display its capabilities. Young Stephen Wardwell volunteered to learn how to play the organ and became the church's first organist.
By 1830, the need for more rooms was becoming quite evident. The "vestry" (in the basement area now occupied by the Parish Room and the Social Room) was being used for quarterly meetings of the Beneficent Society and weekly meetings of the Sabbath School. In July 14, 1830, a special meeting was called to reconsider "the expediency of finishing a room in the Northeast corner of this House for the use of an Infant school connected with the Sabbath school held in this room." That would be in the area now used by the Music Room. At the meeting of October 4, 1830, the Society agreed to allow Mr C Pratt to keep a Singing School during the Winter "mainly with a view to improve the Choir in this House."
Activities were growing and people were beginning to think that there must be a better use for the south property than a garden for the Sexton. At a meeting of October 3, 1831, the Society appointed a committee "to make enquiries in regard to the expediency of erecting a building in the rear of this Meeting House, or finishing a room in the north east corner of this House, for the use of the Sabbath School and other purposes." At a meeting of April 9, 1832, it was voted "to examine the Society's Lot in the rear of this House with a view to ascertain if . . . a building could be erected thereon without detriment to this Meeting House suitable for the use of Sabbath Schools and meetings connected with this Society . . ."
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Things came to a head April 8, 1833, when a committee of the Beneficent Congregational Sunday School Society submitted a petition "requesting the use of the Society's Lot south of the meeting House, with permission to erect a building thereon for the accommodation of the Sabbath School connected with this Congregation, said building to be the property of the Contributors and under their control and direction, but subject to removal at the pleasure of the Society. Some discussion arose on the subject of this petition, the general impression of the members present being unfavourable to the granting of said petition, but admitting the necessity of some immediate measures being taken by the Society to promote the interest of the Sunday School by furnishing ample room for their accommodation to be solely under the control and direction of this Society." At this point the meeting was abruptly interrupted by a storm. A week later the meeting continued. The Society decided not to grant the petition, but rather "resolved that in view of the flourishing condition of the Sabbath School, . . . and the importance of affording suitable encouragement to those interested therein, . . . that this Society will take immediate measures to procure suitable room for the accommodation of said school and other meetings connected with this Society.
Two weeks later on April 29, 1833, the Society presented an immediate course of action. It proposed "a Stone Building, 30 by 40 feet and 11 feet high from sill to plate". Upon further consideration, the Society voted to make alterations in the Meeting House "to connect said new building to the same, together with an entrance into the upper part of the House, to fence in the Lot around the said New building" and to "build a necessary". At the last minute, the Committee thought it best to make "an enlargement on the South side of the [new] building by a swell or projection of seven feet in the center for the purpose of procuring room for the desk". The total cost was $1,199.90, of which $1,180.27 had already been raised when the new building was formally opened October 7, 1833.
At first it was called the "New Building", but soon became known as the "Chapel". This area is now the space occupied by the Church Office and the Krom Room. The desk was located exactly where we now have a stairway up to the Round Top Center. The outer wall still displays the stone wall of the Chapel. You can see the east side from the Abbott Park and the southwest side from the Peace pole near the parking lot door. Inside the foyer, you can see a portion of the old stone wall as you walk through the door to the corridor. The upper story (where we now have the choir loft and Pastor Todd's study) was added much later, and has bricks similar to the ones used for the Meeting House The last minute "swell or projection" is still with us, and its "V" shape is what gives the South Wall the resemblance of a ship's prow.
AN EXERCISE FOR THE KIDS (AND THE YOUNG AT HEART)
You can measure the dimensions of this old section of our church without a yardstick!
The corridors that run North and South from the Meeting House to the Round Top Center, with branches Eastward toward Abbott Park and Westward toward the Parking Lot are paved with square tiles of 12 inches (that's one foot). Just count the tiles from the center of the North-South corridor to the Abbott Park door on the East side and to the Foyer door on the West side. That is 20 feet in either direction, which adds up to Forty feet. Then count the tiles from the door to the basement of the Meeting House to the stairs going up toward the Round Top Center. The first 30 feet cover the original dimension, and another 7 feet will take you up the stairs to the door of the Round Top Center.
Voices from the Archives:
»Women at Beneficent
Beneficent's Story:
A Place for Firsts
