DEDICATION OF CHURCH AT WILMINGTON, N.C.
The new meeting-house for the First Congregational Church of Wilmington, in connection with the work of the A. M. A., was dedicated on the evening of March 12th. (See picture on opposite page.) The history of the house and the services of dedication are of sufficient interest to warrant a notice in these pages.
Something like a year ago, a gentleman who signed himself “Howard,” and whose real name was only known at the Boston office, gave $3,000 to build the house. Rev. D. D. Dodge, our Superintendent at Wilmington, was charged with the duty of securing a site, of procuring plans and estimates, and of building the house within the sum appropriated. This work Mr. Dodge duly undertook, intending to build of wood, but, after the foundations were laid and the frame was up, “Howard” signified his wish to have the frame “jacketed” with brick, and for that purpose added $600 more to his donation, thus making the entire coat $3,600.
The house will seat 450 people, is 72 feet in length by 36 in width, and measures 22 feet in the clear. It has a corner tower rising 100 feet from the street below, and is the highest object in the city, and the first seen on approaching the city from the Sound.
The brick is of a deep red, and, though not pressed, looks as if it were. The proportions of the building could not well be more perfect or more pleasing to the eye. Both the local press and the people speak of it as an ornament to the city, and express surprise that it could have been built for a sum less than eight or ten thousand dollars. It should be said, however, that all the parties on the ground of whom the material was bought, sold at the lowest rates; those furnishing the lumber, sashes, doors and iron, throwing off the entire local profit; and Mr. Barstow, of Providence, R.I., 65 per cent. from the two furnaces to heat the house. Mr. Dodge, also, gave his time to the work; and Mr. Weston, of Nashua, N.H., who laid the brick, a part of his. This will account in part for so fine a building at so moderate an outlay of money. A large, dry and light cellar extends under the whole building, which will furnish needed room for storing coal, wood, &c., for the mission.
The services of dedication occurred in the following order: 1. Anthem, by the Choir. 2. Prayer, by Rev. Mr. Dodge. 3. Reading of the Scriptures, by Rev. Dr. Taylor, of the First Baptist (white) Church of the city. 4. Singing. 5. Sermon, by Rev. C. L. Woodworth, from Luke xiv. 23. 6. Dedicatory Prayer, by Rev. Dr. Wilson, of the First Presbyterian Church (white).
After the dedication proper, “Howard”—who turns out to be the Hon. James J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass.—was introduced as the giver of the house. In an address full of feeling and of good sense he offered the salutations and the fellowship of the Northern Congregational Churches. Drs. Wilson and Taylor followed with words of kindly greeting, and assurances of sympathy and co-operation from their respective churches: the former slyly saying that the only thing he wished different was that the church was Presbyterian, and the latter responding that the thing he wished different was that the church was Baptist. Two others, laymen, spoke from the floor in a similar strain. The addresses were, in every sense, genial and hearty.
The house was entirely filled, and among the audience were forty or fifty of the best white citizens of the city, all of whom showed interest and some of whom expressed warm sympathy.