United Methodist Church
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History Epworth Methodist Episcopal
Church
Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church was originally
organized as North Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in 1868 with a membership
of thirty. The old "Holmes Chapel" was bought, prepared for
the new congregation, and dedicated on June 3, 1868. Ironically, the chapel
was actually bought by the trustees of the Harvard Street Methodist Episcopal
for the use of the emerging Methodist congregation in "Old Cambridge,"
thus beginning a connection between the two congregation that would eventually
lead to a merger of the two a half century later. In 1892 the chapel was
demolished and a new church erected in its place, being dedicated on February
22, 1893. This is the current home of the Harvard-Epworth congregation.
The initial encouragement for the building of a grander church building came through a gift of $10,000 from George Bird, a leading Cambridge resident and member of the congregation. However, it was through the interest and generosity of Federick H. Rindge that the congregation was able to construct a building that would stand as a landmark on the edge of the Harvard College campus. Rindge, whose generosity also enabled the city of Cambridge to build its city hall, library, and technical training school during the same years, apparently never saw the finished building, being confined to southern California at the order of his doctors. Of the $73,000 necessary to build and furnish the church building, Rindge contributed a total of $53,500.
The cornerstone of the building was laid on October 3, 1891 and the church was dedicated on February 22, 1893, a day referred to in later reports to the Annual Conference as being the day of "the storm." With the construction of the church finished, the board voted to change the name to the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church.
Harvard Street Methodist
Episcopal Church
A class of seven people, mostly members of Trinity
Church in Cambridge, was organized in Cambridgeport in 1838. This formed
the core of the Harvard Street Church, which was formed in 1839. The congregation
improvised preachers and venues for its earliest years. A small room was
arranged for worship in the upper part of Fisk's Block, Main Street, in
1840. The congregation grew so quickly that within a few months a new
location was needed. The first preacher appointed to serve the congregation
by the New England Conference began his work in 1841. It took up location
in the town hall, then located at the corner of Harvard and Norfolk Streets.
A small wooden building was built on Harvard Street and occupied in 1843.
Expanded once, the church burned on the night of November 26, 1857. Overcoming
the difficulties of the financial panic of that year, the congregation
rebuilt a new wooden building on the same site in 1858. After being occupied
less than 3 years, this church also burned to the ground on March 15,
1861. The cornerstone for another church building on this site was laid
on October 19, 1862. This building served the Harvard Street congregation
until 1943, when Harvard Street merged with Epworth to become the Harvard-Epworth
Methodist Church. St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church now worships in this
building.
The church building
The building in which Harvard-Epworth worships was
designed by A.P. Cutting of Worcester and constructed by Cutting and Bishop.
The cornerstone was laid on October 3, 1891 and the church was dedicated
on February 22, 1893. The structure is built of Southville red granite,
with East Longmeadow sandstone trimming. The style is Richardson Romanesque;
the tower is 110 feet. The interior is finished in excellent woodworking.
At the front of the church is the vestry, which originally functioned
as a chapel. Above the vestry is a three-sided gallery which originally
served as seating for the chapel and as Sunday School classrooms. Separating
the vestry from the sanctuary are large, wide glass doors --- reputedly
the largest glass doors in the Boston area. The sanctuary was originally
organized in the form of an ampitheatre, in the egalitarian style of the
day. In the 1940s, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the church
building, the congregation remodeled the sanctuary, moving the pulpit
to the short wall of the auditorium, creating a center-aisle naive. At
the time a ceiling was dropped down, obscuring much of the stained glass
that was once behind the altar. In the early 1990s, during the congregation's
centennial celebration, the ceiling was removed and the glass exposed
once again. (The most prominent stained glass window in the auditorium
commemorates Miss Mary A. Reed, a step-daughter of George Bird.)
Also on the main floor of the building is the church's parlor, originally used by the Oxford Club, a student organization. Finally, just off the sanctuary is a small room that now functions as a handicapped-accessible bathroom, but originally served as the pastor's study.
In addition to the chapel gallery, the second floor of the building houses a second parlor that now serves as a youth Sunday School classroom, but which was originally the "ladies' parlor." Next to that is the small room that originally housed the Sunday School library.
The basement was originally equipped with a kitchen as a banquet room. The remainder of the basement, originally unfinished, now houses the church's office, Sunday School and nursery space, the choir room, and other office space.
The organ was built by George S. Hutchings of Boston and inaugurated in a concert in May 1893.
The sanctuary experienced a major renovation in the 1940s, as part of the 50th anniversary of the structure, and another renovation as part of the centennial celebration of the building.
Pastors
In the Methodist tradition, pastors are appointed
to local churches by bishops, and not "called" by congregations,
as is the norm in many Protestant churches. Since the uniting of the Harvard
Street and Epworth congregations in 1941, Harvard-Epworth has been served
by 15 pastors.
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Pastor |
Service |
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Hamilton M. Gifford |
1941-42 |
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Fred Winslow Adams |
1941 |
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Hobard F. Goeway |
1942-45 |
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Earl H. Furgeson |
1945-48 |
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Jackson Burns |
1948-54 |
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Charles W. Havice |
1954 |
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W. Edge Dixon |
1954-58 |
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Daniel C. Whitsett |
1958-63 |
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James S. Pemberton |
1963 |
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R. Jerrold Gibson |
1963-65 |
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John A. Russell, Jr. |
1963-65 |
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Rene O. Bideaux |
1965-68 |
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Guy H. Wayne (Minister of Visitation) |
1964-74 |
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Edward L. Mark |
1964-96 |
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Scott Campbell |
1996- |
Note: This page is under construction and will certain grow and evolve in the future. The text on this page was adapted from the historical description of Harvard-Epworth contained in the catalogue entry for Harvard-Epworth's historical records, which are housed with the Boston University School of Theology Library., in addition to William Albert Thurston's Souvenir History of the New England Conference, self-published in 1896.)
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URL:http://www.gbgm-umc.org/harepumc/history.html
Date: June 22, 2000