Millbury Federated Church

The History of the Millbury Federated Church

by Brian Ashmankas

Most Millbury residents are aware of a white church on Main Street situated between the Millbury National Bank and nearby Church Street which is named for it. Many are even aware of its status as a church for two distinct denominations and its many service projects, most notably the Lord’s Builders who annually help to rebuild churches destroyed by vandalism. But few are aware of the rich details of its history

The Millbury Federated Church has gone by many names in its 182-year history. In 1828 it was founded as the First Presbyterian Society Meeting House, when 40 members of the First Congregational Church, led by Asa Waters II, split from that church amidst tensions between masons and antimasons. This new parish’s charter prevented new members from joining without affirmation from a majority of its current members, insulating it from outside influence. Interestingly enough, the church remained Congregational in practice, despite its name, and would be renamed the Second Congregational Church in 1835.

The church was originally a very simple building. It had no stain glass windows and was essentially one story, although it did have a small basement level that was rarely utilized by the congregation. Its most unique feature was perhaps that the pews faced the entrance, rather than the conventional rear of the church. An organ was secretly transported and installed in the winter of 1843. Soon afterward in 1851, a conference room was added to the basement for Sunday school and prayer meetings. In 1862, the pews were reversed at the urging of Asa H. Waters, despite significant resistance from pew owners.

In 1884 the basement was enlarged to include a kitchen and a room whose name would come to stick as the “ladies’ parlor,” despite several attempts by parishioners to rename it to better describe its purpose. The first major renovation would occur in 1893. It was likely during this renovation that the stain glass windows were added to memorialize important members of the congregation. Then around the turn of the century a further extension was added to the northern section of the basement. It was also around this time that William Howard Taft repeatedly visited Millbury and attended the church with his mother and aunt, Louisa Torrey and Delia Torrey respectively.

In 1919, the Federated Church was officially formed when the Methodist Episcopal Church joined the Second Congregational Church under the latter’s roof. Despite the joining of the two congregations, each group maintained separate membership rolls and each elected three of the six members of the board of management, an arrangement still in place today.

A further series of changes occurred in 1947, when the congregation hired an architectural firm to redesign the vestry, add a kitchen, and replace the boiler; a project that was completed and dedicated the following year. Then in 1951, the Church was bequeathed a house and a large monetary legacy by late member Harold Buck Proctor. The church now had the resources to consider further growth options, including the purchase of the Howard house to the east for use as Sunday school classrooms and the Harrington house, which would be razed to provide parking. A new parish house would also be completed in 1965. The most recent changes include the removal of the steeple in 2006 for safety reasons and the renovation of the aforementioned ladies’ parlor in 2009, almost entirely through volunteer work.

Just fifteen years after Millbury split from Sutton, the church that would one day become the Millbury Federated Church came into being. Today it is a fixture in the center of town and from Asa Waters II to William Howard Taft it has been intertwined with the rich history of Millbury which we will be celebrating with its bicentennial in 2013.