Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/395

 COLUMBIA A N D MONTOUR COUNTIES over a year until Rev. Siinon 1’. Blunt became rector, holding that po.sition until 1899. In that year Rev. Erskin W right became rector and seraxd until 1902. H e w as followed the same year by R ev. Kdw ard Houghton, who served until 19 12, when he w'as succeeded, by Rev. Henry S. Sm art. Mr. Sm art’s m inistry covered less than a year. He w as followed by R ev. W alter C. Clapp, the present rector. CSrist Niemorial Church is a building o f enormous and massive architecture, built ot native limestone o f varied tints, with Ohio stone for the traccric<l windows. T he build­ ing is cruciform in plan and occupies almost the entire plot o f 100 square feet. It contains a nave, aisles, transepts, chanccl and space for clei^y. choristers ami organ. .A massive tower rises from the intersection of the nave and transept, supported on immense piers, and surmounted by a pyram idal spire, at the base of which are the dormers bearing the clock faces. .An octagonal turret gives access by stairways to (he ringing chamber of the chimes. T he total height of the tower is 150 feet. The nave and transepts w ill accommo­ date about 600 persons. The church measures too feet from east to west, and very nearly the same across the transepts from north to south. T he nave and aides are 44 feet in width, the transepts 30 feet, the sanctuary 26 feet. Room is allowed in the choir fo r about forty singers and twelve of (he clergy. The style of the church is English-Gothic of the fourteenth century. T h ere arc no w-ooden w indow frames, the glass being leaded in the stonework of the jamlis. T h e cast win­ dow is o f tracery and contains a representa­ tion of the scene of the crucifixion in the cen­ ter, with the annunciation and the resurrection on either side. T he great rose window on the west end contains a figure of the Lord, surnjunde<l by the four evangelists and the four m.njor prophct.s. T he other windows are of ornamental stained glass. The internal effect of the edifice is solemn and churchly: the exterior forms a picturesque group, massing around the central tower, which gives the keynote to the whole compo­ sition. and from its situation and elevation forms a prominent lan dnurk of the towm. G ro v t Preshyttrian Church When the congregation of the Mahoning Presbyterian Church voted to abandon the old

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church on Bloom street and build on the new site, com er o f .Mahoning and F e rry streets, there was quite a large minority who were opposed to the change, but who respected the views o f (he m ajority and went with them to the new' church. But the congregation had worshipped a little less than a year in the new church w'hen the homesick feeling o f this minority grew so acute that a movement w as nuidc to organize a new church to go back and occupy the old home. C'onst^uentlv, at a meet­ ing of the Presbytery held in I.x)ck H aven on IX't. 2. 1855. the follow ing action w*as tak en; "C ertain papers w ere presented to Presby­ tery* by a committee appointed by a portion of the memliers of the church and congregation o f Mahoning, praying for the organization o f a second Presbyterian church in that place, to be called the English Mahoning P resby­ terian Congretition was granted. Thus the "M ahoning Presbyterian English Congregation. N orth," w as organized. The name w as tn 1864 change<l to the G rove Prcsliytcri.-in Church, and a s such it appears on the church records. .After the formation of the new church the congregation renovated the old building in the grove, which w as rcojicncd fo r divine serv­ ice Ja n. 2. 1856. T h e first jiastor w as Rev. C. J. Collins, who w as ordained and installed Dec. 3 t. 18 5 6 .. M r. Collins w as a rqie scholar and an eloquent preacher. H e ministered dur­ ing a period that tried men's souls— the time when the question o f hunun slavery divided homes and churches; a time when the dark clouds o f civil w ar overshadowed almost every com nnm ity: and loyally to country and to Hag w as the condition by which men were judged. M r. Collins w as patriotic to (he last drop o f blood, and his sermons were charac­ terized hy loyalty and adlierence to the Hag. .As an illustration of the intense feeling at the time, the w riter well remembers, as a boy. listening to a sermon preached in the early sixties in the old brick church in the grove by Rev. Thom as llim l. fam iliarly called " r a p p y " Hunt, a noted Presbyterian minister and great temperance lecturer, who in (he midst o f a sermon on "Predestination'’ exclaim ed: "M y friends. I would sooner go to heaven riding on a rail th.'in stand 'Jim m y' Buchanan's chances o f getting there." M r. Collins resigned in 1865. and w as suc­ ceeded in 1866 by Rev. J . Gordon Cam achan. D. D. Dr. Cam achan w ill long lie remembered for his wonderful ability and his strength as