Church St. from Miller St.

Church St. from Miller St.

Album: View of Church street at the corner of Miller Street. In this view one can see (from left to right) the William Avery house (partial view), the old high school and the First Church. WILLIAM AVERY HOUSE The William Avery house was built in 1821 and is of Federal style with a fan window over the front door, a low hip roof, identical façade on two sides, and an ell connecting the house to its barn. William Avery was a shipmaster and merchant. When it was built, this was the last house on Church Street, which ended at the town common. THE HIGH SCHOOL The original high school seen here at the corner of Church Street and Spring Street was built in 1824, originally as a courthouse. It was dimly lit without ventilation and incredibly overcrowded. A hundred students were registered for the high school in 1900, but only 90 seats could fit into the rooms. The Belfast school committee, since its founding in 1895, had expressed, each year, more forcefully, the need for a new high school. Yet, sadly, nothing was done. At this time a profound change was taking place across the nation. In 1890 less than seven percent of the nation's population aged 14 - 17 were in school and secondary schools were generally viewed as college preparatory schools for society's ablest few, those with the brains or wealth to go on to college. In 1899 philosopher and educational theorist, John Dewey began asking what education should be like in a democracy. He outlined how the transformation of society required the transformation of the schools. Dewey and like-minded reformers wanted to make secondary schools relevant to everyday life and available for all. By 1920, the high school, a particularly American institution, had been invented, and the numbers of students in secondary schools, had mushroomed to 33 percent. As early as 1902, Belfast School Superintendent John Dunton expressed the change when he said: "The High School is not simply a fitting school for the benefit of those who are able to go to college, but its courses of study are designed to give first and chiefest consideration to the needs of those whose school life ends here." By 1904 the number of students had risen to 116 at the high school, including 21 seniors. Each year the school committee begged for money from the city council to build a new school. The pleas were rejected for financial reasons as the city had essentially reached its debt ceiling due in great part to money spent on the railroad. In March 1907 the Building Inspector recommended the building be condemned as it was askew and structurally unsound. In addition, there was great danger to children on the second and third floors in the event of fire. The report sparked panic. In August the Secretary of the State Board of Health declared the building and its polluted atmosphere was deleterious to the health of the children attending classes. Upon the death of her father, trader and shipbuilder, David Peirce, Emma Lena Peirce inherited the valuable Hayford Block. She married Charles Frederick in 1889 but died in 1890, at the age of 27, of kidney failure. In her will, she directed that the Hayford Block be sold on her husband's 55th birthday and the proceeds put toward a new school. This would not happen until 1913, so the city had no choice but to wait. Financial planning for a new high school collapsed due to a higher than expected price to build the new high school, a lower than expected return was realized on the Hayford Block and Charles Frederick put the money toward a new elementary school (the Peirce School 1915) to replace the badly deteriorated South Primary School. The move toward a more practical curriculum in the high school resulted in the addition of typewriting, household chemistry and garment drafting in 1914. Some of the classes met in the Hayford Block because of both crowding and the noise of the new typing machines. A parent-teacher the Home and School Association was established in 1913; the school had 135 pupils in a space that was crowded with 100. By 1917, there were 160. There was little hope for a new high school; it seemed, without outside intervention. In 1919, the outside intervention arrived. Anne Crosby, the wealthy granddaughter of judge and former governor William G. Crosby, announced that year that she would contribute $40, 000.00 to build a new high school named for her grandfather if the city would raise a like amount. The timing was excellent as the state was about to build a new bridge across the harbor as a vital link in the Atlantic Highway that would soon become Route 1. The bridge, completed in 1921 recognized Belfast's status as an important transportation hub and promised a growing economy. Anne Crosby's generosity meant the city could build a new school without taxing its citizens into penury. In 1921 the existing school had grown to 180 students. The high school had grown to 266 students in 1923, requiring the use of the council chambers and the municipal courtroom in the city building as classrooms. In 1922 the trustees went out for bid for a new high school with a fund containing $130,000.00. Former Belfast resident and successful Boston contractor, Claude Roberts agreed to build the school on a cost-plus basis, waiving his normal profit. He estimated the final price tag at $175,000.00 At the time the mayor, Clement Wescott was in favor of delaying construction of the new high school to benefit from dropping construction costs. Orlando Frost was inclined to pare down the costs and go ahead with construction immediately which was the course chosen when he handily defeated Wescott to become the new Mayor. The new school was accepted by Mayor Frost the following year, 1923 at a final cost of just over $185,000.00. with land donated by the community. THE FIRST CHURCH By the statute of 1811, great and important changes in relation to religious freedom, and the liability of individuals for the maintenance of public worship, were made. Voluntary associations for religious purposes were thereby for the first time invested with many of the rights, powers, and privileges of corporations. They were authorized to choose necessary officers, and under certain restrictions to control their own affairs. This statute also enabled any number of individuals to procure an exemption from taxation for ministerial affairs, by forming themselves into a religious society; and that, too, whether they were of a different or of the same denomination with the parish in which they resided. When towns became sufficiently populous, they were divided into two or more parishes by territorial limits. Under the new law, the members of the voluntary societies had the same right to have their taxes paid over to their own minister, as if such societies were incorporated ; and the members were exempted from taxation in any parish or other religious society. But this exemption continued only so long as their membership continued. When that ceased, they again became liable to taxation in the parish of their residence. Under the above-mentioned statute, a parish was organized, which by law and ipso facto became the First Parish, a name which is retained to the present day. Its records commence with a meeting held in the west meeting-house, April 22, 1811, "at the request of William Crosby, Thomas Cunningham, Benjamin Poor, Thomas Cunningham, Jr., Samuel Houston, Jr., George Watson, William West, Bohan P. Field, John Haraden, and Samuel Jackson, ten persons belonging to the First Congregational Society." William Moody was chosen the First Parish clerk. Mr. Johnson continued as minister, but proposed "to release so much of his salary of seven hundred dollars as the property of the congregation was in proportion to the valuation of the town," which offer was accepted. The next year, after the war with England commenced, he relinquished it entirely, as appears by the following letter addressed to the parish : BELFAST, Oct. 19, 1812. TO THE CONGREGATIONAL PARISH IN BELFAST: Your embarrassments, occasioned by the absconding of a collector for the first half part of my time with you, having been increasing ever since by the pressure of public and private calamities, which have of late fallen upon this place in a greater measure, perhaps, than upon any other of equal ability to bear them; and my salary, too generous, perhaps, at first, and a source of disaffection to many in the most prosperous times, remaining unpaid in a great part, I have from time to time reduced it, and since the commencement of the war relinquished the whole during the continuance of hostilities, and am now willing to dissolve a contract for the future, which prejudices a service for which I early forsook all other prospects. With such impressions, I release to the Parish all claim for salary for services to be done as their minister, from and after the date of the acceptance of this instrument. ALFRED JOHNSON. This offer was also accepted; and on the 2d of October, 1813, Mr. Johnson received a dismissal. From the time of Mr. Johnson's resignation to the year 1818, there was no regular preaching maintained by the Congregationalists; and no money seems to have been raised for the purpose, except in 1815, after the declaration of peace, when the parish voted "to hire the Rev. Asa Piper1 to preach two months, and that they return their most respectful acknowledgments to Mr. Piper for his very acceptable labors of love with them in virtue of his engagement with the Missionary Society for Propagating the Gospel." In 1816, the Rev. William Frothingham preached on one Sabbath in the Academy, to the great satisfaction of the people. During the following year, he became preceptor of the Academy, and in November was employed to preach for a term of six months, "at the rate of $300 per year till the end of his first quarter's school-keeping, and at the rate of $600 for six months afterwards." Under the good influence of Mr. Frothingham, " the attendance of the people at religious exercises had become an agreeable performance of duty. All were desirous to become interested in the erection of a building that should afford them a suitable accommodation." Accordingly, on the second day of February, 1818, the parish voted to build a meeting-house, "provided the sale of pews on paper shall amount to a sufficient sum." John Angier, William Crosby, Reuben Kimball, William White, George Watson, Ralph C. Johnson, John T. Poor, John Haraden, William Moody, Thomas Bartlett, Thomas Cunningham, Jr., John S. Kimball, Benjamin Whittier, Samuel French, James Poor, Robert Patterson, 2d, Andrew Derby, Robert Miller, and Salathiel Nickerson were chosen a committee to determine upon a plan and location. They subsequently submitted a plan for a church, sixty seven feet long by fifty in width, containing sixty-four pews. The estimated cost of the edifice was $6,000, of which $5,490 had been provided for by an obligatory subscription for sixty-one of said pews, at ninety dollars each, subject to a parish auction for the choice of them. The land owned by Robert Miller was recommended as the most eligible location . In the chapter upon Municipal History, the action of the town in exchanging the land where the custom-house stands, which had been obtained by a levy against Miller for his other lot, under certain obligations to be assumed by the parish, has been fully set forth. The parish voted, Feb. 16, 1818, to accept the Miller lot upon the terms stipulated by the town ; to erect the meeting-house at once, and to appropriate one fourth part of the galleries for the use of the town on the Sabbath ; to permit the erection of a town-house and other public buildings on said lot ; and to lay open the residue of said lot for a town common forever. A deed was then given by Miller, without any reservation or restriction, of one hundred and twenty-six rods of land, having a frontage of nine rods on Church Street and a side length of fourteen rods. The pews were sold at auction prior to commencing the proposed edifice, for the prices and to the persons named in the following plan. Thomas Cunningham, Jr., acted as auctioneer. Pew numbered sixty-two brought the highest price, being purchased by Charles K. Tilden, for $201. None of the original proprietors are now living. The last survivor was Hon. Ralph C. Johnson. Thus originated "the new meeting-house," or, as it is now called, the Unitarian Church. The frame of the edifice was raised June 13, 1818. Men from the neighboring towns, accustomed to handle heavy timber, came to assist. A barrel of punch was provided by the parish committee, and Judge Crosby made a brief address on the occasion. Samuel French was the master-builder, and William Frederick was a workman. The plan, somewhat modified, was taken from that of the church of Rev. Dr. Tappan, in Augusta. On the 15th of November the house was dedicated. No account of the exercises has been preserved. The bell, which for nearly sixty years has resounded from the belfry, was hung in the latter part of April, or early in May, 1819. It was the first bell here. The contract stipulated that its weight should be at least twelve hundred pounds. Although a little lighter, the parish voted its acceptance. Mr. Frothingham received a formal call from both church and parish, in the spring of 1818. Owing to his absence and the ill-health of his wife, the invitation was not definitely accepted until the following December. The following is a copy of his letter of acceptance: CONCORD, 14th Dec., 1818. TO THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN BELFAST: MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, It is now several months since you gave me a formal invitation to settle among you as your gospel minister. The ardor and unanimity with which you then acted reflected honor upon yourselves, and strongly inclined me to believe that it was a call from God as well as from man. , It commanded my most solemn attention. With earnestness and importunity, I sought the divine direction. It is difficult perhaps, in all cases, to determine what is the will of Heaven. Though when I left you the last spring I was fully persuaded that Providence had destined me to Belfast, yet when I reached home the case seemed to me to be far less clear. I found my wife in a miserable state of health, and it was soon evident that her disorder was consumption. I was certain hat, even if it were practicable, it was by no means duty to think of removing her in her then situation to any distant place. Conceiving, therefore, that I had misconstrued the aspects of Providence in regard to my destination to Belfast, I communicated to you what might have been considered as a full negative to your call, stating very particularly my reasons for so doing. But you seemed to be unwilling wholly to relinquish the idea of my returning to you, and wished that my decision might be for the present suspended. To this I assented, and the matter has rested in suspense ever since. It is now, however, absolutely necessary that I come to a decision ; because, if I continue my labors any longer in the place where I have for months past been preaching, it must be with a view to immediate settlement. If I know my own heart, I have no wish but to go where duty leads, and to submit events to Heaven. That duty points me to you seems to be indicated by the general desire for my return, which prevails among you. I am sensible that much depends on the decision which I am now to make, much as it respects myself, and much as it respects you. But when I contrast the broken and deplorable state with regard to religious society in which you had for a long time been, with the firmness and zeal for the house and worship of God which you now exhibit, and consider the order and harmony with which you proceeded in your call to me, and the unabated warmth with which you still persist in wishing for my return, I can no longer hesitate what is duty. I accede, therefore, to the proposals which you made me, and heartily accept your call, trusting and believing that in thus doing I am acting agreeably to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great head of the Church. I deeply lament the afflictive Providence which prevents my immediate return to you. But I comfort myself with the steadfast persuasion that the ways of God are all directed by infinite wisdom and goodness. You may rest assured that my absence from you will be no longer than shall be absolutely necessary. My Christian brethren and friends, solemn and arduous is the work to which you have called me. It will require all my time and the utmost exertion of my talents; and if by these I can render myself useful to your immortal souls, I shall deem them well bestowed. Yet these will be of no avail without the blessing of God. Even Paul may plant, and Apollos water ; but, if God give not the increase, there will be none. To him then let each of us look, and let each of us pray for himself and for each other. I feel, sensibly feel, my own insufficiency. Brethren, pray for me, that I may be more and more fitted for the work in which I am engaged. I shall always bear you on my heart before God, beseeching him through the divine and glorious Mediator to guide and prosper you, and to bestow upon you all sorts of needful blessings both for time and for eternity. The attention and kindness which I received from you while I was with you demand my warm acknowledgments of gratitude. It shall be my endeavor to merit and preserve the same. I rejoice in that general concord which prevails among you, and I pray God that no root of bitterness may spring up to disturb it; but that you may continue to grow in love and harmony till you shall all be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. In the connection which is forming between us, I hope that we shall for a long time taste how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. God grant that I may so preach and practice, and that you may so hear me and profit under my ministration, that when I shall be called to give up an account of my stewardship, and you to answer individually for ourselves, I may present you to the great Bishop of souls without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Amen. Your servant in the Lord, WILLIAM FROTHINGHAM. Mr. Frothingham was publicly installed July 21, 1819. The Sermon on the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Ezra Ripley, D.D., of Concord, Mass.; the Charge by the Rev. John Allyn, D.D., of Duxbury, Mass. ; the Address to the People by the Rev. Hezekiah Packard, D.D., of Wiscasset; and the Right Hand of Fellowship by the Rev. Silas Warren, of Jackson. REV. WILLIAM FROTHINGHAM. William Frothingham, a son of William and Mary (Leathers) Frothingham, was born in Cambridge, Mass., March 14, 1777. His parents died when he was quite young, and he passed his early years chiefly under the care of his paternal grandparents, who lived in his native place. He entered Harvard College in 1795, and graduated in 1799, being contemporary with Channing, Buckminster, Tuckerman, Nichols, and other distinguished Unitarian clergymen. During his college life he cultivated the muses, and on two occasions was called to deliver poems in public. After graduating, he kept school successively at Lexington, Watertown, and Hingham, Mass., and at Blue Hill and Belfast. After prosecuting his theological studies, probably in part, at least, under Dr. Tappan, then Professor of Divinity, he was licensed to preach by "The Association of Ministers in and about Cambridge," June 9, 1801. In 1804, he was married to Lois Barrett, of Concord, and on the 26th of September of the same year was ordained pastor of the church in Saugus, Mass. In that place he struggled with the difficulties of an incompetent support for more than twelve years, when he felt constrained to resign his pastoral charge. His first acquaintance with Belfast was made as a missionary in the neighborhood, under the auspices of the Evangelical Missionary Society. On the 12th of August following the installation of Mr. Frothingham, a new church was gathered in the parish, consisting of eight members, including its pastor, to whom were afterwards added, during the twenty-seven years of his ministry, ninety-four; making in all a hundred and two who became members during that period. He had a peaceful and successful ministry. After his pastoral connection with the society was dissolved in 1846, in consequence of the state of his health, as hereafter stated, he continued to supply the pulpit, as far as he was able, till the following spring. His last sermon was preached April 4, 1847. He prepared a discourse for the Fast day which occurred during the ensuing week, but was too feeble to deliver it ; and was never able, during the remaining years of his life, to take part in the public exercises of religion. The faculties of his mind, however, remained unimpaired; and he took constant pleasure in his favorite occupation of reading. The enjoyment he derived from this source, together with his Christian equanimity and patience, gave to the retirement of his last days a serene and tranquil aspect. He died on the 24th of June, 1852, aged seventy-five years. Funeral services took place on the following Sabbath at the church, which was decorated with emblems of mourning. An impressive discourse was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Cazneau Palfrey. By his first marriage, Mr. Frothingham had four children, one son and three daughters, of whom one daughter only is now living. In 1821, he was married to Lydia, daughter of Rev. Caleb Prentiss, of Reading, Mass. By this marriage there were two sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters alone survive. The tendency of Mr. Frothingham's mind was to historical and literary rather than to philosophical studies. He loved to talk of facts and of books better than to discuss principles, and preferred to select from his extensive reading such opinions as seemed to him most rational and well founded, instead of advancing new or startling theories. Yet he was no mere conservative. He did not fear to quote from Goethe, in his best discourses. The size of his library, large compared with his means, was a proof of his love of books. The carefulness with which its selection had been made showed his catholic taste. His conversation indicated the diligence with which he had read, and the faithfulness with which his memory had retained the results of his reading. In the days of his activity, he was a man of great industry, methodical in all his arrangements, and conscientious in the application of all his energies to the work before him. A constitutional diffidence kept him aloof from social intercourse, more than his people sometimes desired; but they knew that it proceeded from no deficiency of feeling or want of interest in them. Neither, on his part, did it check the sallies of a genial humor, of which a pleasant remembrance is still preserved; nor on theirs did it prevent the formation of a solid attachment. The sermons of Mr. Frothingham were practical. He sought to strengthen the religious faith of his hearers, and not to suggest doubts. In a clear and elevated style, formed after the models of those excellent masters of English composition which were constantly in his hand, he aimed to explain and illustrate the comfortable truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His sermons, though not set forth with imposing oratory, attracted and rewarded attention. They were characterized by great variety, both in the selection of subjects and in the methods by which they were illustrated. They were listened to with interest, and faithfully remembered. He did not confine his efforts to the limits of his own parish and the immediate duties of his ministerial office. He was ever ready to do good, as opportunity offered, in the community in which he dwelt. At the period when ministers in this region were few and wide apart, he cheerfully answered the calls that were frequently made upon him, to go to a distance from home to render ministerial services, assuming a duty, which could be claimed of him only on the general ground of obligation to do good to all men as the opportunity offered. He was prompt to encourage and assist all enterprises for promoting the moral, social, and intellectual improvement of the town. When popular lectures were, many years ago, introduced here, he was among the first to engage in that service. Belabored long and assiduously in that humble but really important sphere of usefulness, the school committee, and freely gave his time and efforts and thoughts to the duties of that sphere, when those labors were purely labors of love, unrequited by any other compensation than the consciousness of having done good. And he bequeathed to his people the legacy of his example, the influence of his long, consistent, blameless life. During his settlement, he saw the little village grow up around him into a large town, and a whole generation came and passed away. The breath even of polemical censure has never touched his character: one uniform testimony is borne to the purity and excellence of his life. His memory is universally cherished with respect and love. In stature, Mr. Frothingham was somewhat below the average height. His complexion was light, and his eyes of a clear blue. In his latter years, especially, his appearance was in the highest degree venerable and impressive. Still, at times, the gracious countenance gave indication of that quiet sense of humor which was native to him, and in which he occasionally indulged. The heliotype given herewith is reduced from a portrait, painted about 1830. A lithograph, taken in 1842 from a drawing, was not regarded as a good likeness. Soon after his settlement here, he purchased a portion of the James Miller farm, extending from High Street to the shore, then beyond the outskirts of the village. This he diligently cultivated for many years, and lived to see it come into demand for building lots, as the town increased. The house which he so long occupied, and with it the larger share of his library, were destroyed in the great fire of 1873. An engraving of this house, as it appeared in his lifetime, is given in another chapter. In the early part of the present century, many of the Orthodox Congregational Churches of New England began to be indoctrinated with Unitarian sentiments, although controversy upon the subject was seldom introduced into the pulpit. Many, having ceased to hear the doctrine of a Triune God maintained, embraced that of the Unity, often without any distinct consciousness of the fact. At the time of Mr. Frothingham's installation, a sharp and distinct line between the two parties was beginning to be drawn, and the question came up of the rights of churches and parishes in the settlement of a minister. Although the Church had joined in extending a call to Mr. Frothingham, most of its members were not satisfied with his views upon the Trinity, and separated from the Parish, taking no part in the exercises of installation. The seceders formed a new religious society, under the name of "The Congregational Society associated with the First Church in Belfast." A new church in connection with the old or first parish was organized Sept. 19, 1819. Notwithstanding the withdrawal of many persons from the first parish, it maintained a vigorous growth. Mr. Frothingham's salary, originally six hundred dollars, was subsequently increased. He adhered closely to the old Congregational polity and forms of worship. For several years after his settlement, the "Thursday lecture"2 was regularly maintained by him. In 1822, a committee was appointed by the parish, "to ascertain the expense of a sounding-board, by which to aid the speaker." No report appears to have been made. A bass-viol, or violoncello, was the first musical instrument used, being played upon by William Moody, and from 1822 to 1835 by William Quimby. In May, 1835, an organ was contracted for in Newburyport, but was lost on the passage.5 A second one was purchased of Henry Urban, of Boston, at an expense of seven hundred and ten dollars, raised by subscription, and was first used in July of the same year. In 1848, it gave place to the present one, which was made by George Stevens, of Boston, and cost thirteen hundred dollars, the old instrument selling for four hundred dollars. Watts's Selection was the first hymn-book used in the new meeting-house. "Sacred Poetry, selected by the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, D.D.," was introduced in 1821. It was superseded in 1840 by the Cambridge Selection of Hymns and Psalms, compiled by the Rev. J. P. Dabney. This gave place in 1848 to "Christian hymns." The book now used succeeded it in 1868. Vocal music was afforded by select choirs until 1864, since which congregational singing has been substituted. In 1836, the parish gave permission to place a town clock in the steeple. The church was heated with coal in 1837. As the use of that article of fuel had not become common, a quantity was procured specially for the purpose, and brought from Boston in the packet "Comet." For a few years after the church was occupied, no means of warming it existed; and old residents remember that in the winter Mr. Frothingham frequently preached in mittens. A vote of the parish, in 1843, authorized the use of the land in the rear of the church for a vestry, by anyone who would erect it ; and Oakes Angier at his own expense built the edifice, which in 1859 was removed to Bridge Street, and has since been occupied as a school-house. For several months after its completion, Sunday evening services, which were maintained during the revival season of 1843, in private houses, were held there. During the same year, the church was for the first time carpeted, and the pews painted. After a ministry of twenty-seven years, age and increasing infirmities compelled the Rev. Mr. Frothingham to ask his dismissal. In acceding to this request, on the fifth day of June, 1846, the Parish adopted the following resolves: Whereas, the Rev. William Frothingham having signified a desire that his ministerial relation to this Parish should be dissolved Resolved, That his long- continued and laborious services in our behalf require at our hands a prompt and ready compliance with his request, and that therefore the relation existing between us at this time shall terminate at the close of the present parochial year. Resolved, That the untiring fidelity with which he has for so long a time discharged his duty as our spiritual adviser and guide merits and receives our unfeigned gratitude and thanks; and that, although the relation between us of Pastor and flock may terminate, we are happy to tender to him the assurance that he still retains our undiminished friendship and esteem. Resolved, That it is our united prayer to that Being whom he has so long taught us to love and obey, through Jesus Christ whose faithful minister he has so long been to us, that the evening of his life may be as calm, peaceful, and happy as in the providence of God ever follows " a life well spent."