Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church

The Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 740 Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, was built in 1862 from a design by architect Hammatt Billings.[1] In the late 1960s it became the New Hope Baptist Church.[2]

Tremont St. Church, 19th century

History

Prior to 1862, the Methodist Episcopal congregation had occupied the Hedding Church on Pelham Street in Boston for some 20 years.[3] The congregation's new church building, located at 740 Tremont Street, "is a large, Gothic, natural-quarry stone building, with two spires, respectively 150 feet and 100 feet high."[1]

In 1869, several members of the Tremont Street Church congregation established the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The group of eight founders consisted of Mrs. Lewis Flanders; Mrs. Thomas Kingsbury; Mrs. William B. Merrill; Lois Lee Parker; Mrs. Thomas A. Rich; Mrs. H.J. Stoddard; and Mrs. P.T. Taylor.[4] The society grew quickly across the country, and by 1876 included "eight associated branches" in New England; New York and New Jersey; Pennsylvania and Delaware; Maryland, District of Columbia, and Eastern Virginia; Ohio, Western Virginia and Kentucky; Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin; Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Colorado; and Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.[5] By 1909, it was "the largest woman's foreign missionary society in the world."[6]

Through the years, pastors of Tremont Church included John E. Cookman (c. 1874); William E. Huntington (c. 1881); C.E. Davis (c. 1901); Charles K. Jenness (c. 1914); and others.[1][7][8][9]

The building changed owners in the 1960s, and the last congregation to worship there was the New Hope Baptist Church.[10] The building was sold to a developer in 2011 and has since been converted to private housing.[11][12]

History of the Windows

In 1940, after the church was renovated, a large number of stained glass windows were installed throughout the church, many of which honored the early founders, leaders, and missionaries of the WFMS. There were 11 windows placed in the sanctuary, each one of which was purchased by one of the then existing branches of the WFMS: New England, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Topeka, Pacific, and Columbia River. In addition, there were two windows dedicated to the New England Deaconess Association, and a number of windows dedicated to former pastors and early members and leaders of the Tremont Street MEC.[13]

There were also windows dedicated to former pastors, some of whom originated from other parts of the country than New England: Dr. Henry White Warren (later elected Bishop); Dr. William E. Huntington (later second President of Boston University), Dr. William Nast Brodbeck, Dr. henry L. Wriston, Dr. Leopold a. Nies, Dr. John D. Pickles, and Rev. Azariah Reimer. [14]

References
  1. King's handbook of Boston. 1881; p.162.
  2. New Hope Baptist Church. About us Archived 2012-07-12 at archive.today. Retrieved 2012-04-09
  3. Syracuse University. "Bromfield Street, Tremont Street, and People's Temple Methodist Church Records (Boston, Mass)".
  4. Frances J Baker. The story of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1869-1895 rev. ed. Cincinnati: Cranston & Curts, 1898.
  5. The Heathen Woman's Friend, v.8. Printed by Alfred Mudge and Son, for the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1876; p.286.
  6. Founded 40 years; Notable Work of Society of Methodist Women. Has Raised Nearly $10,000,000 for Foreign Mission Cause. Boston Daily Globe, Apr 15, 1909. p.10.
  7. Tremont Street Methodist; First Sermon by the New Pastor, the Rev. John E. Cookman. Boston Daily Globe, May 4, 1874. p.2.
  8. Dr. Abbott answers critic; Boston Clergyman Accuses Plymouth Pastor of Advocating Saloons. New York Times, Dec 17, 1901. p.1.
  9. Appreciate social hour after service; Nearly 200 Young People Exchange Greetings. Experiment at the Tremont Street Church Proving Popular. Boston Daily Globe, Nov 16, 1914. p.16.
  10. United Methodist Church. "General Commission on Archives & History".
  11. "Meet 740 Tremont, the South End's Old New Hope Church". 18 April 2013.
  12. http://bostonsluxuryproperties.com/listing/71589807/740-tremont-street-boston-ma-02118/
  13. General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church. "Historic stained glass windows available" (PDF).
  14. General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church. "Historic stained glass windows available" (PDF).

Further reading
  • Laura S Bixby. An outline history of the foreign missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Syracuse, N.Y. 1876.
  • Chinese woman present; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the M. E. Church Celebrates. Boston Daily Globe. Mar 23, 1896. p. 3.
  • Annual report of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Issues 32–34. Boston: Miss P.J. Walden, 1901.
  • Site of the Founding of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church[1]

42°20′24.53″N 71°4′43.51″W

  1. General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church. "Site of the Founding of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church".
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