Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/252

240 Christadelphians meet at the Temperance Hall, Temple Street.

Church of the Saviour, Edward Street.—Built for George Dawson on his leaving the Baptists, the first turf being turned on the site July 14, 1846, and the opening taking place Aug. 8, 1847.

Congregational.—How the Independents sprang from the Presbyterians, and the Congregationalists from them, is hardly matter of local history, though Carr's Lane Chapel has sheltered them all in rotation. The first building was put up in 1747-48, and, with occasional repairs lasted full fifty years, being rebuilt in 1802, when the congregation numbered nearly 900. Soon after the advent of the Rev. John Angell James, it became necessary to provide accommodation for at least 2,000, and in 1819 the chapel was again rebuilt in the form so well known to the present generation. The rapidity with which this was accomplished was so startling that the record inscribed on the last slate affixed to the roof is worth quoting, as well on account of its being somewhat of a novel innovation upon the usual custom of foundation-stone memorial stone, and first-stone laying and fixing:—

In 1875-76 the chapel was enlarged, refronted, and in many ways strengthened and improved, at a cost of nearly £5,000, and it now has seats for 2,250 persons.—Ebenezer Chapel, Steelhouse Lane, which will seat 1,200, was opened Dec. 9, 1818. Its first pastor, the Rev. Jebeida Brewer, was the first to be buried there.—The first stone of Highbury Chapel, which seats 1,300, was laid May 1, 1844, and it was opened by Dr. Raffles in the following October.—Palmer Street Chapel was erected in 1845.—The first stone of the Congregational Church in Francis Road was laid Sept. 11, 1855, the opening taking place Oct. 8, 1856.—The first stone of the Moseley Road building was laid July 30, 1861, and of that in the Lozells, March 17, 1862.—The chapel at Small Heath was commenced Sept. 19, 1867, and opened June 21, 1868; that at Saltley was began June 30, 1868, and opened Jan. 26, 1869.—The chapel in Park Road, Aston, was began Oct. 7, 1873; the church on Soho Hill, which cost £15,000, was commenced April 9, 1878, and opened July 16, 1879.—The memorial-stones of the church at Sutton Coldfield, which cost £5,500, and will seat 640, were laid July 14, 1879, the opening taking place April 5, 1880; the Westminster Road (Birchfield) Church was commenced Oct. 21, 1878, was opened Sept. 23, 1879, cost £5,500, and will seat 900; both of these buildings have spires 100ft. high.—The foundation-stone of a chapel at Solihull, to accommodate 420, was laid May 23, 1883.—Besides the above, there is the Tabernacle Chapel, Parade, chapels in Bordesley Street, Gooch Street, and St. Andrew's Road, and others at Acock's Green, Erdington, Handsworth, Olton, Yardley, &c.

Disciples of Christ erected a chapel in Charles Henry Street in 1864; in Gooch Street in 1865; in Great Francis Street in 1873.

Free Christian Church, Fazeley Street—Schoolrooms were opened here in 1865 by the Birmingham Free Christian Society, which were enlarged in 1868 at a cost of about £800. Funds to build a church were gathered in succeeding years and the present edifice was opened April 1, 1877, the cost being £1,300.

Jews.—The Hebrew Synagogue in Blucher Street was erected in 1856, at a cost of £10,000.

Methodists.—The Primitive Methodists for some time after their first