The Chapel

The First Church of Christ of Longmeadow is a truly historic town landmark. At one time there was an associated structure that stood for more than 75 years and has almost been forgotten, the Longmeadow Chapel. But look closely at old photographs of the church and you will likely notice the smaller, gothic revival era structure just next door.

In early New England, the building where worshipers gathered was called the meetinghouse. Longmeadow’s first meetinghouse was constructed in 1716. According to the First Church of Longmeadow’s website, “The building, which was relatively small (only 32 feet by 38 feet), was located where the flagpole is now standing on the Green. The nearly square unpainted building had a pyramidal roof with a central bell tower. In 1764 so many repairs were needed that it was voted to build a second Meeting House which was built in 1767-68. The old Meeting House was torn down on June 12, 1769. The second Meeting House was located on the Green, just north of the first Meeting House”.

For nearly a century, First Church stood directly on the green. A brick schoolhouse next door burned down in 1852. In addition to functioning as a town school, it was also used for prayer meetings and religious classes. When the new school was built further down the street, it was found necessary to build a chapel to continue to house some of those functions. On March 7, 1853, the Town granted the land west of the Burying Ground and north of Levi Taylor’s home to the First Church. The Chapel was constructed in 1853 just east of the church on the southern corner of the “lane to East Longmeadow,” now known as Williams Street. The minister's parsonage stood on the corner of Williams and Longmeadow Streets.

Location of First Church, Chapel and Parsonage 1870

The Chapel became a gathering place for community meetings and social events. In 1869 members of the congregation wanted to raise money for a new piano for the chapel. Apparently, they were tired of oyster suppers and ice cream festivals, common at the time, and residents of the town, Captain and Mrs. W. H. Seamans, came up with the idea of the Longmeadow May Breakfast. This was hosted at the Chapel and became a popular annual tradition in this town.

Interior of the Chapel, 1907

(image from the Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society)

Springfield Republican, May 3, 1869

In 1873, the Parish voted to move the church off the green to its current location and renovate it. The Chapel had to be moved south to accommodate this. The church renovations gave it a fashionable Gothic Revival appearance at that time.

First Church, post-1874 renovation

First Church, Chapel, Parker House, 1916

(image from the Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society)

Another change to the layout of the area around the green would come in 1921 when it was decided to build the Community House on the site of the Parsonage. This set off a series of moving structures within the small area at the corner of Williams Street and Longmeadow Street. The parsonage (today home to the Montessori School), moved to its present location next door to the church on the south side. The Chapel and the home adjacent to it were moved to new locations nearby on Williams Street.

The Parsonage, 1907

Today this building is the home of the Longmeadow Montessori School

(image from the Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society)

This required moving the Parsonage south to the site of the Captain Simon B. Parker House at 777 Longmeadow Street. It is incredible to conceive of moving these structures which at the time apparently was not uncommon.

Captain Simon B. Parker House

(image from the Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society)

(image from the Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society)

In 1930 the new town hall was constructed. This required demolition of the Chapel. A venerable structure within the community served its purpose and was no longer needed. Nothing remains of its existence today. This is an important part of town history that should be remembered.

-Contributed by Lenny Shaker, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published November 17, 2022

Sources

1. https://www.firstchurchlongmeadow.org/

2. Springfield Republican

3. Longmeadow Historical Society

Paying for the Great War

"Over the Top for You" by Sidney H. Riesenberg, 1918.

How do you pay for a war? Waging war is expensive and when the United States unexpectedly entered the First World War in 1917, the costs to pay for it were not included in the federal budget. To raise money to pay for something such as a war, the government had several options: create new currency (i.e., print money), increase revenue by raising taxes, or take out a loan by issuing public bonds. In 1917, the U.S. Treasury chose the latter two options – a combination of new taxes and borrowing through war bonds.

The Great War was unpopular in many parts of the country. Large populations of recent immigrants had strong ties to Axis partners Germany and Austria-Hungary; other immigrants, such as the Irish, had an unpleasant history with our ally Britain. Isolationist sentiment reigned and Woodrow Wilson had just been elected to his second term on his promise to keep the U.S. out of the war in Europe.

Once Congress declared war, the federal government needed to convince citizens that military action against the Axis powers was justified and that they needed to make sacrifices to support it. Soldiers were needed to fight in the trenches, money was needed to pay them, and home front activities (such as Victory Gardens and rationing) were critical to making sure that the soldiers had the tools that they needed to win.

All war promotional efforts, including the sale of war bonds, were under the purview of a new U.S. agency – the Committee on Public Information. Headed by journalist George Creel, the Committee was a propaganda machine tasked with molding public opinion to favor the war. The massive promotional effort was highly successful and, as it did it's work, the Committee pioneered many of the techniques which are still used in modern advertising and political speech. Using insights from the new field of psychology, language and images were used to manipulate public opinion about the war, evoking feelings of patriotism, guilt, revenge, solidarity, and fear to motivate the country.

As part of this effort, prominent illustrators were engaged to design posters that encouraged activities such as recruitment, home canning, and Liberty Loan bond sales. The Longmeadow Historical Society is fortunate to have six of the Liberty Loan bond posters in our collection. Five of our posters are from the Third Liberty Loan subscription. Most of the posters promote patriotism through positive images and ideals, such as the U.S. Flag, Abraham Lincoln, and democracy.

"Fight or Buy Bonds" by Howard Chandler Christy, 1917.

"Buy Liberty Bonds", 1917.

One poster in our collection appears to be directed towards first-generation immigrants, reminding them to unite with their new country under the symbol of liberty, the U.S. Flag.

"Remember! The Flag of Liberty Support It!", 1918.

Other posters in the collection strike a darker tone. "Halt the Hun!" demonizes the enemy by using a derogatory slur ("Hun") and by showing a German soldier preying on a woman and child. Another poster by Herbert Paus implies that the world will not be a decent place to live in until the Central Powers are defeated.

"Halt the Hun" by Henry Raleigh, 1918.

"To Make the World A Decent Place to Live" by Herbert Paus, 1917

There were five Liberty Loans bond drives. All were fully subscribed and they raised a total of $17 billion (which is roughly $38.5 billion in today's money). People who bought a Liberty Bond were literally investing in their country. Purchasing a Liberty Bond boosted one’s morale and allowed one to feel that s/he was doing their bit to help the war effort. Like many of its citizens, the Town of Longmeadow supported the war by purchasing bonds. The 1919 Annual Town Report shows that the Sinking Fund included investments from four of the bond sales.

-Contributed by Beth Hoff, Board Member of the Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published November 10, 2022

Resources:

Collections of the Longmeadow Historical Society

1919 Longmeadow Annual Town Report

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/liberty-bonds

The Trolley Crash of 1905

From the Connecticut Trolley Museum

The trolley, or the electric railway, came to Longmeadow in 1896. The Springfield Street Railway Company installed single rail lines from Springfield to Enfield along Longmeadow Street (Main Street). This was instrumental in converting Longmeadow from primarily a farming town to a suburban community.

On November 18, 1905, there was a terrible head-on trolley crash just south of the Longmeadow Green, approximately in the area of Mill Road and Crescent Road. There appeared to be confusion in regard to the switching signal system for the single-track trolley. The motorman in control of the northbound trolley, George A. Charon of Springfield, 33, was killed and at least 30 passengers were injured, many seriously.

Springfield Sunday Republican November 19, 1905 (article transcribed below)

Per a report of the crash which ran in the The Springfield Sunday Republican the next day on November 19, there were 83 passengers on board, most of whom were from Thompsonville and headed into Springfield for a pleasant Saturday of shopping and entertainment.

The accident occurred at around 1:45 in the afternoon. Allegedly, the northbound trolley was behind schedule and may have been trying to make up time. It was traveling at about 20 mph down the hill as it approached the south end of the green when it collided with a northbound trolley on the same, single track.

The newspaper paints the scene in vivid, gruesome detail: “The two cars were locked together in close embrace, neither being overturned or even leaving the track. The up-car, packed with humanity, presented a scene which made strong men turn away heartsick. The conductor had rung up 83 fares. And the people were packed in almost as closely as they could be, the aisle being filled with people hanging onto the straps. Those in the front of the car were most seriously hurt. The flying remnants of the vestibule and front end drove right and left through the car, and the breaking glass from the windows literally showered the passengers at the forward end of the car. Even those at the rear end did not entirely escape it. The seats were torn from their fastenings and the passengers were thrown together in a confused and frightened mass. They were piled one on the other with seats on top of them, and the chorus of cries and those who were in pain made the scene terrible. A large number of the passengers were women, and those women who were not hurt much fainted at the sight of so much blood and the nervous shock which they sustained.

"[People] set to work early to relieve the motorman, who was crushed into a remarkably small space in the corner of the vestibule. Debris covered his body, and his legs were pinned down by the heavy iron bumper of the southbound car. The feet were completely severed just above the ankles. The small band of rescuers tore away the debris and succeeded in getting the motorman from between the cars while he was still conscious. He was remarkably brave, and made a little complaint, except to say that his back was painting him terribly. He was laid on the grass near the car, ropes being used to tie up his bleeding limbs, to prevent death from the loss of blood. He soon became unconscious. Not long after he had been taken from the car, a southbound car came along. It was turned back to hurry the man to the hospital in the hope of saving his life. The car was run with all possible speed to the city and an ambulance was waiting at the car barn to take the man to Mercy Hospital. Doctors worked over the man, but the efforts were futile and the death came about 4 o’clock.”

"The street railway had a wrecking crew on the ground within 20 minutes after the accident.… The Hartford-Springfield car was the lighter of the two cars and consequently was the more damaged. The seats in the car were torn from their fastenings, while the vestibule was a complete wreck. The bumper was bent over so that it almost reached the door of the car. It was this that crushed the motor man. Nearly all the windows in the front of the car were smashed, and many of the wounds received by the injured were caused by the flying glass. The vestibule of the southbound car was also a complete wreck, and the motorman must undoubtedly have suffered the same fate as his brother motorman had he not had time to jump. The interior of the car was not much damaged, only one or two of the side windows being broken.

"As the struggling, excited mass of humanity were striving to untangle themselves. …Men and women, anxious only for their own safety and the safety of their belongings, rushed back-and-forth, in and out of the car to gather up their possessions. The conductor of the car, and of the car with which he collided, endeavored to calm the people and to relieve the distressed."

Nearby Longmeadow residents jumped in to help as nearby doctors were summoned to help. Rooms in houses were opened up to serve as temporary hospital wards. The accident led to considerable local concern surrounding trolley safety. A letter to the editor of The Republican published a week after the crash and signed “A Passenger” expressed fear at traveling on the cars: "The last year I have had occasion to use the electric cars between the state line and Thompsonville, and every time I felt that I had taken my life in my hand: especially on that part of the line between the state line and the Longmeadow green. I have ridden on a great many electric lines this summer in Massachusetts, and my observation is that it is not so much the fault of the motorman as it is of the management back of them, demanding such reckless speed in order to keep the scheduled time. To arrive, with little care how, is the spirit of the age. More trips, more money, money, money. The horrible results to life and the heavy damage is too little to correct this growing evil.”

This event led to converting the single track system to a double track which was felt to be safer and not require the turnoffs and signaling system. This required a considerable construction effort to create the double track.

Construction for the trolley tracks conversion north of the green 1908

Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society

George Corriveau was the motorman on the last ride

The last trolley ran up and down Longmeadow Street in 1940. By the summer of 1941, all tracks, poles, and electrical lines were dismantled and sold for scrap. Essentially nothing remains in Longmeadow from this trolley era that lasted from 1896- 1940. Occasionally however remnants are discovered and who knows what may yet be unearthed.

Rail spikes unearthed recently by former tree warden and current town resident, Dave Marinelli

For more information on the Longmeadow streetcars please visit here and here.

-Contributed by Lenny Shaker, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published November 3, 2022

Sources: Springfield Republican Boston Herald Boston Globe Connecticut Trolley Museum