Restoring a piece of Stoneham history
Published on March 31st, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - Longtime Stoneham resident and town employee Elsie Wallace has been a member at the First Congregational Church since her family moved to Stoneham when she was a sprightly third-grader. The landmark church fittingly residing at 1 Church Street was always there for her through the good and bad, supporting her with its strong wooden beams and proud spire.
"We moved to Stoneham in, I think, 1948 or 1949," said Wallace the church's diocinate. "I got married there, had my children married there...I am very close to that church."
Well, now the 164-year-old structure that has served so many townspeople is in need of the help and support. According to Wallace, a former Chairman and member of the Church's board of trustees, approximately $95,000 is needed to repair a steeple ravaged by age and inclement weather.
"Nearly twenty years ago, we had a steeplejack come in because of problems we were having up there," said Wallace, who has vowed to stay involved with the steeple repair despite an absence from the board of trustees due to term limits. "We addressed the problems back then, but now the louvers have begun to give us some problems."
Wallace then contacted Bob Levesque at the American Steeple Company, a Salem-based company, and had a work estimate created last spring.
"He went up into the steeple and took all kinds of pictures, and I asked for an estimate of all the work that needs to be done up at the steeple," said Wallace of a company that worked on the Congregational Church in Wakefield, among others. "I don't think the band-aid effect is really going to work with a building that old. Why not find out what the worst scenario is?"
Inadequate work previously done on the steeple has also exacerbated the deterioration, and Wallace warns that "without these repairs sometime in the future, the church will face the choice of completely rebuilding the steeple or removing it entirely."
"Things have been taken apart and the wood is rotting, so the entire steeple is going to be refurbished," said Wallace, who also added the historic spire will be painted and the weather vane gilded. "The steeple also does lean, and they were also going to try to wedge it so it stands upright again. Once this work is done, that steeple will be ready to stand for a long, long time."
Wallace estimates that the work will take approximately two months once the weather warms up a bit.
Certainly not an option for longtime Stoneham residents who see the First Congregational Church as a beacon of history and majesty nestled snug amid Stoneham square, the Stoneham Town Common, the police and fire stations and Town Hall.
According to Wallace, Levesque came in with an estimate of $95,000, and is urging the town's help for a church that is celebrating its 275th year of existence in the town of Stoneham.
"At that time, the town and the church were one entity, leading the political, social and religious life of its 300 citizens," wrote church member Susan Chanley in a press release about the church's anniversary, and the funds needed to ensure the longevity of the elegant steeple and music carillon. "Through the years, the First Congregational Church has served countless Stoneham families through their life events, from the great joys of weddings, christenings and socials to the great sadness of funerals, sickness and wartime."
Wallace pointed out that the original First Congregational Church was built in 1726 in the area of the four-way intersection at Summer Street and Pleasant Street and served as a meetinghouse for the 300 residents of Stoneham.
The first church was formally established three years later with 13 male members, and lasted until 1803 when a larger meetinghouse was constructed on Spring Street.
"The Town of Stoneham wouldn't have been incorporated without a church, and that was the first church in town," said Wallace.
The Spring Street meetinghouse was ravaged by a fire in 1840, and the current First Congregational Church was constructed as its replacement.
In addition to its role as a emotional center of religious belief and faith for its parishioners, the church houses a popular nursery school that has taught many of Stoneham's sons and daughters, services against family violence, assistance to a group home for troubled boys, and a host of other community-based programs.
The First Congregational Church, along with the other members of the Stoneham Interfaith Association, hosts and supports weekly community dinners that serves free, nutritious meals to individuals and families in need on Tuesday evenings.
The community dinner program is in its ninth year, and feeds an average of 50 people per week, and the church's Fellowship Hall is also available as a meeting location for local groups and organizations.
"For nearly three centuries, the First Congregational Church has reached out to serve the people of Stoneham and the hope is that the entire community will rally around this effort to repair and preserve the steeple," said Wallace.
There haven't been many fundraiser discussions over the winter, according to Wallace, but "there may be some ideas that will take place in the spring."
Donations or ideas to raise funds can be sent to:
The First Congregational Church
Steeple Fund
Church St.
Stoneham, Ma. 02180
For more information, Elsie Wallace requests that you contact her at the church office, 781-438-0097.
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