Death of a Church, by Stephen Altschuler (April 1977)

Item Information

Title:
Death of a Church, by Stephen Altschuler (April 1977)
Description:
This sixteen-page document is an article titled "Death of a Church" written by Stephen Altschuler and published in the April 1977 Yankee Magazine. The article talks about the closing of Hope Congregational Church that was located on Mason Square, at one time known as Winchester Square. The article gives the history of the church, reasons for the closing of the church, and interviews with current staff. There are photographs of the church and its members. Within the scanned pages is a painting by Ray Williams of a Church in the winter. The cover of Yankee Magazine was also digitized. The last page is a letter written by Charles F. Weckwerth to Gerald Davis, the director of the library at Springfield College, donating the Yankee Magazine to the library. It is dated March 31, 1977. In the letter he does talk a bit about the connections, including his wife Mary, the Church maintained with Springfield College. Construction on the building was completed in the spring of 1886 and it was dedicated on June 1 of that year. The building consisted of a reading room, gymnasium, parlor, a recitation room, an amusement room and fifty sleeping rooms. The Armory Hill YMCA also rented rooms in the building. In 1891 James Naismith, while a faculty member at the school, invented the game of basketball in the gymnasium of the building. In 1890 the School for Christian Workers separated into two schools which continued to operate out of the same building, the YMCA Training School and the School for Christian Workers. In 1896 the Training School finished the transition to its new location on Alden Street and in 1897 the School for Christian Workers became the Bible Normal College and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. The original building was torn down in 1965 to create a parking lot. In 1995, McDonald’s Corporation bought the land, excavating the original foundation and bricks before building a restaurant on the site. Today, there is a monument commemorating the site as the birthplace of basketball. The entire issue of the Yankee Magazine is contained in the collection. Only the cover and the pages with the article between pages 92 and 108 have been digitized. Of these pages, advertising has not been OCRd.; The letter was folded within the front cover of the magazine. It was decided that it should be placed in the back of the digital file rather than the front so that the article could be prominent.; Page 13 and Page 14 were flipped during scanning, therefore numbering of files is off;
Creator:
Altschuler, Stephen
Date:
April 1977
Format:
Documents
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
College Archives Digital Collections
Subjects:
Springfield College
School for Christian Workers (Springfield, Mass.)
International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (Springfield, Mass.)
Springfield College--Presidents
Springfield College--Buildings
Original School Building
Weckwerth, Charles F.
Davis, Gerald F.
YMCA
Amory Hill YMCA
Hope Church
Springfield (Mass.)
Churches
Congregational churches
Magazine covers
Correspondence
Places:
Massachusetts > Hampden (county) > Springfield
Extent:
16 pages
Link to Item:
http://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15370coll2/id/34302
Terms of Use:
Text and images are owned, held, or licensed by Springfield College and are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that ownership is properly cited. A credit line is required and should read: Courtesy of Springfield College, Archives and Special Collections. Any commercial use without written permission from Springfield College is strictly prohibited. Other individuals or entities other than, and in addition to, Springfield College may also own copyrights and other propriety rights. The publishing, exhibiting, or broadcasting party assumes all responsibility for clearing reproduction rights and for any infringement of United States copyright law.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
Yankee, Inc.
Language:
English
Notes:
Part of the Yankee Magazine, April 1977 Issue including cover and pages 92 through 108. See https://springfieldcollege.on.worldcat.org/oclc/38739478 for catalog record.
Identifier:
rg111-01-01-002