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SNIPPETS from the Pulpit
January 6, 2008
On May 4, 1958, St. Paul’s Methodist Church celebrated its One
Hundredth Anniversary and in the same month broke ground for the new chapel
and education unit on the Romeo Road site. These were completed in 1959 and
dedicated on December 13, 1959. The 450-seat chapel included the current
parlor and Rickard Chapel.
January 13, 2008
In 1959, construction of the main sanctuary (now known as Hickey
Hall) was deferred for over a decade. The growing congregation of 983
members then sold the Walnut Street church building that had served the
church membership since 1913. The building currently remains as the Masonic
Temple in Rochester.
January 20, 2008
In 1965, the debt of the original 1959 building, here on Romeo
Street, was retired. The ministerial staff at this time was lead by the
Reverend J. Douglas Parker, who completed his tenth year as senior pastor.
He was joined by Assistant Pastor Horace L. James and Minister of
Visitation, Rev. A. P. Rickard.
January 27, 2008
1967 was a year of worldwide controversy, confusion and despair over
war, race relations, politics and declining morality. Locally, there were
riots in Detroit. During this time, the Good Shepard Program was instituted
at St. Paul’s as a way for members and the Pastor to meet in small groups
and share overall concerns.
February 3, 2008
In 1968 the United Methodist Church was formally born out of the previous
year’s Conference of Unification of the Evangelical United Brethren and the
Methodist Churches. Locally, St. Paul’s extended its ministry into three
major areas outside the church walls - to include Neighborhood House,
providing services to all people in need of counsel and help; Pilot House in
the middle of riot-torn Detroit, and in India where we supported a
missionary couple.
February 10, 2008
In February 1971, with the congregation having reached 1543 members,
St. Paul’s broke ground for expansion, including a new sanctuary with
seating capacity of 480-550. This adjoined the original building on the east
end, and when completed, included twenty-four classrooms, fellowship and
resource centers, choir rooms, a library, conference room with offices,
workrooms and ample storage space. This expansion was consecrated eleven
months later on January 9, 1972.
February 17, 2008
In the 1973 Annual Conference, Dr. Timothy Roy Hickey was appointed
Senior Minister, beginning what was to become twenty-seven years of service
as St. Paul’s devoted pastor. Dr. Hickey’s tenure affected a dramatic
impression on the path and influence of St. Paul’s in the Rochester
Community.
February 24, 2008
One of Dr. Hickey’s first commitments to St. Paul’s congregation was
given through his State of the Church report. He proposed four areas of
concern: to deal more creatively in making St. Paul’s a trust community; to
use more insistent communication within the membership; to expand growth in
spirituality through scripture; and coordination of missions in more global
ministries.
March 2, 2008
By the year 1858, a number of Methodists had migrated to Avon
Township, with requests to extend the Oakland Circuit to include several
preaching points in the nearby vicinity. It took some time to fill the
requests due to the size of the circuit. In June 1858, Rev. Sylvester
Calkins, presiding elder of the Romeo District of the Detroit Conference,
employed Rev. Daniel Birney from Canada West as preacher for the new
Methodist Episcopal mission known as Rochester and Stony Creek. This marked
the birth of our congregation.
March 9, 2008
In October 1858, salary and expenses for ministerial support were fixed at
$376 per year. Of this, the Rev. Daniel Birney received $274.35. He
continued to serve as missionary from Canada West until the fall 1859
Detroit Annual Conference, when the Rochester and Stony Creek Circuit was
formally organized, and Rev. Lewis T. Mitchell was appointed pastor. The new
name for the circuit became officially known as the Stony Creek Circuit
during the 1860 Annual Conference when Rev. Mitchell was reappointed.
March 16, 2008
In 1862, at the Annual Conference, the Utica and Stony Creek circuits were
combined for one year. When that was dissolved at the fourth quarterly
Annual Conference meeting of 1863, the circuit returned to the name of Stony
Creek. At this time the village of
Rochester was made an appointment on the circuit under the charge of Rev. William
J. Johnson.
March 23, 2008
(Easter Sunday)
1866-67, Rev. William Taylor was Presiding Elder, and Rev. James E.
Armstrong was the Pastor of the Stony Creek & Rochester Circuit. On April
28, 1866 a fire destroyed the Stony Creek parsonage and most of its
contents, the barn, horse and carriage. Various congregation members took
in Rev. Armstrong, his wife, and six children temporarily, until a house was
rented for them. Several months later at the July 7, 1866 quarterly
meeting, sale and liquidation of the associated debt was authorized, in
great part due to the parsonage fire. Although the fire may have
contributed to the decision to move the congregation to Rochester, the
primary reason was that a greater number of members, whose financial support
could not be ignored, were living in Rochester.
March 30, 2008
In July of 1866, the circuit name was changed to Rochester, and the First
Methodist Episcopal Church of Rochester (That’s US!) was formally organized
in an unpretentious twenty-year-old red frame school house at 225 Pine
Street, on the west side between Second and Third Streets. Rev. Richard
McConnell was the first pastor to serve the new Rochester Circuit. Some
accounts mark this move to Rochester as the beginning of our congregation,
rather than the founding of Stony Creek in 1858-59.
April 6, 2008
The red frame school building served the Rochester Methodist members for a
decade. At the 1867 Conference, Rev. Joseph Bradley Varnum was appointed to
serve the charge for two years. During his term, in 1868 a site on the east
side of Walnut Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, was purchased, and
the old frame school building was moved from Pine St. to this new location.
Services were conducted in this frame building until 1876 when it was moved
once again to the west side of Main Street, and a new brick chapel was constructed on the
Walnut Street site.
April 13, 2008
The new Walnut Street brick chapel, built in 1876, served the church
membership of 135, a Sunday school enrollment of 110, and included a library
of 150 books. The chapel seated 250 to 300 persons, and was designed with
the hope and expectation of expanding the building to serve an ever-growing
membership. Growth proved to be rather slow with economic conditions of the
country at that time, so it was many years before more building was needed.
This chapel served the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Rochester between
1876 and 1913.
April 20, 2008
In 1912, the Rev. Fred I. Walker set into motion a proposition for a new and
larger church building in Rochester to serve the growing
congregation of 175 members. This resulted in a final service on the last
Sunday of September in the old building, with solicitation from Board
members securing pledges for the building fund so the new church building
could be secured. On the following Monday morning, work of razing the old
building was started and church services were taken to the Township Hall,
until the building, seating 350, was completed by mid June 1913. The new
Methodist Episcopal Church of Rochester was dedicated for service at a cost
of over $45,000 and a remaining debt of $25,000. That building still stands
and is the Masonic Temple today.
April 27, 2008
The Walnut Street church continued to grow and thrive following the 1913
dedication. In 1938, three Methodist denominations, which had been separate
since the Civil War, took action to unite again. The result was the Uniting
Conference in Kansas City. The Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist
Protestant Church, and the
Methodist Episcopal South Church joined together to form The Methodist
Church. It was also then that our Rochester church became St. Paul’s
Methodist Church. As Rev. Collycott said, “We’ve changed from a number to a saint.”
May 4, 2008
St. Paul’s Methodist Church continued to grow after the 1938
Uniting Conference that rejoined three Methodist denominations split by the
American Civil War. Rev. William Hill Collycott, who had come to serve the
congregation in 1915, led the church until his retirement in 1942. Reverend
Collycott's near-27-year leadership proved to be one of the longest on
record for Methodist pastorates in Michigan.
May 11, 2008
Because of Rev. Collycott's influence, the village of
Rochester grew. In 1920, with a new order from the US government, the
Rochester Western Knitting Mill needed more workers to supply gloves for
soldiers. Collycott wrote to his former pastorate in the Upper Peninsula
where Welch mining families were out of work. As a result, approximately
200 women from that area found jobs in the mill. Many of these families
also joined St. Paul’s. So St. Paul’s grew with the village. To be
continued …
May 18, 2008
By 1921, under Reverend William Hill Collycott, the debt on the church
building was gradually liquidated until the mortgage balance equaled $4500.
This was then re-mortgaged through the Rochester Savings Bank with the help
of Mr. D. W. Butts. By the time it was reduced to $2500, the mortgage was
burned and a note was held by his wife, Julia Butts until it was paid in
full in 1936 and the church was debt free.
May 25, 2008
In 1928 a complete remodeling of the 1913 church chancel began, resulting
from a donation of Mrs. Arthur Dillman that began the long list of memorials
in our church. Henry Axford designed the Altar, given by the Rev, and Mrs.
Collycott. Also at this time, two rows of pews were removed from the front
of the church to extend and enlarge the platform for the growing chancel
choir.
To be continued . . .
June 1, 2008
In 1942, Reverend Collycott retired from St. Paul’s, but served another
seven years as the Goodison Methodist Church pastor. The next minister to
serve an extended term was the Reverend Athanasius P. Rickard, who achieved
new goals for our congregation from 1942-1949. During this time, the
Methodist Youth Fellowship for those aged 12-23 years old and the Christian
Forum for young adults were organized. (Rev. Rickard settled in Rochester
upon retirement and was soon involved at St. Paul’s again, first
unofficially, then as Minister Emeritus from 1963 until his death in 1975.)
Rickard Chapel was named in his honor. To be continued …
June 8, 2008
For a long
time, the house next door to the 1913 church on Walnut Street was the
parsonage. But with the growth of the congregation, there was a desperate
need for more church space. After World War II, in 1946, another house was
purchased, for $800, at 316 West Third Street, to be used as the parsonage.
Thus began a thirteen-year expansion effort, when the former parsonage
became known as the Church House and was used for other Church functions,
including Church offices, Jr. Laymen activities, and more Sunday school
rooms.
June 15, 2008
In June 1949 Reverend Kenneth W. Burgess began seven years of service in
Rochester, succeeding Reverend Rickard. At this time, the postponed
expansion of 1946 could no longer be ignored. This was the beginning of
debates in how to use the building fund that had been in existence for some
time. Would the congregation be moved completely from the business district
to a different location yet once again? Or should there be an expansion
planned for the Walnut Street site? To be continued …
June 22, 2008
During the mid-1950’s many new members came to St. Paul’s as a result of a
boom in the Rochester Community’s post-World War II growth. When St. Paul’s
membership had risen to over seven hundred, extremely crowded conditions of
the church and church school made a new building mandatory. An initial
fund-raising campaign was instituted, resulting in pledges of $70,000 to be
paid in a two-year period from 1954-56. To be continued …
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