Episcopal Chapel, Belfast, Me. 110c

Episcopal Chapel, Belfast, Me. 110c

"Episcopal Chapel, Belfast, Me. 110c" St. Margarets, Street Scene, Buildings, Episcopal Church, Bell Tower "St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Court and Elm Streets, [built in] 1915-16, Russell Porter, architect." --Earle Shettleworth, 2011 St. Margaret’s Church owes its existence to the perseverance and inspired leadership of Maud Gammans (1866-1928) and a small group of friends, both local and “from away”, who undertook the task of bringing an Episcopal church to Belfast. Ms. Gammans was a Belfast native who traveled extensively and had a deep interest in the arts. Her interests and generosity were not restricted to the church as her will included “public bequests” in support of the Waldo County Hospital and a variety of programs designed to support those in need as well as a reading room in the public library. The effort to bring Episcopal services to Belfast and to build a church began in earnest during the first decade of the 20th century. For several years, services were held in the North Congregational Church, now the American Legion hall, but by1915, sufficient funds had been acquired through gifts and hands-on fund-raisers to undertake a building program. Ground was broken in May of that year and the first Sunday service was held in September, although the church was still unfinished and not completely furnished. The building was consecrated in 1916, but St. Margaret’s did not become an official parish of the Diocese of Maine until 1930 and offered summer services only until 1931. St. Margaret’s is the only church that the architect, Vermont native and occasional Maine resident, Russell W. Porter designed. He is, in fact, best known for his work as both an architect and an engineer on the Palomar telescope project in California. Porter chose the medieval English parish church as the model for St. Margaret’s but, in keeping with Maine tradition, he built in the “shingle style” with Arts and Crafts touches. The rather simple interior serves as an understated background for several spectacular stained glass windows, most made in London by the firm of James Powell & Sons (Whitefriars), Ltd. Ms. Gammans was actively involved in the design of all windows installed during her lifetime. The earliest (1922) is the three-panel transept window depicting scenes from the life of St. Margaret of Antioch, the church’s patroness. In 1908, well before the parish was officially established or the church built, a naming gift was made by Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Cross Johnson to honor the memory of their late daughter, Margaret. Although the Johnsons lived in Washington, DC, Mr. Johnson was a native of Belfast, the son of the city’s first mayor and grandson of its second Congregational minister. Margaret of Antioch was an early Christian martyr but there is considerable question as to whether she existed as an historical figure. The Crusades brought her story to Western Europe from the East and she was very popular during the middle ages. Quite obviously, Margaret of Antioch is a quintessential female saint as she is the patroness of women in childbirth. Why she was chosen over the more accessible and clearly historical St. Margaret of Scotland remains a mystery.