THE BAR HARBOR METHODIST CHURCH

BAR HARBOR METHODIST CHURCH

Bar Harbor Record
November 22, 1888

Brooklyn N.Y. has been aptly named the  "City of Churches."  Bar Harbor may well be styled the "Village of Churches."  By next summer we shall have a finer display of sacred edifices than any village of the size in the United States can boast of.  Already we have four comparatively new church buildings - the Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist and Roman Catholic - and work has been commenced on two more, the Congregational and the Unitarian.  The latest addition is the Methodist Church on Second Street, which has just been completed.  The building was opened for public worship last Sunday, though meetings have been held in the lecture room for some weeks past.
The new Methodist Church is a handsome brick edifice, with slate roof and a lofty square tower in the northeast corner.  The exterior shows four large gables, three of which have large arched windows of stained glass with smaller ones on either side.  The tower is 90 feet in height, finished near the top in four small gables, each of which surmounts windows filled with lattice work.  On the four corners, on a level with the gables, are turrets topped with ornaments of galvanized iron, and the summit of the spire, which springs  from the base of these turrets, is crowned with a banner of bronzed ironwork.  There are twelve windows in the tower below the latticed openings, four of which are circular and set with Cathedral glass.

The main entrance to the church is in the base of the tower.  Double doors open into a porch about eleven feet square.  In the north wall is a pretty, small stained glass window.  The door on the left leads into the lecture room and the one ahead into a smaller vestibule which, in its turn, opens by two doors into the audience room or body of the church.  The lecture room on the left of the porch is a large room, 40 by 24 feet.  In this is the finest of the large windows.  It is of stained glass, as well as all the windows in the church, and is twenty one feet in height.  On either side are two smaller, but very pretty windows.  The large one was given to the church by Mrs. Clark, widow of Bishop David Wasgatt Clark, who was born on the island of Mount Desert, and is dedicated to his memory.  In the north end is another small window.  The plaster work of the walls is of a Terra-cotta shade, and the ceiling is buff.  The lecture room is connected with the body of the church by six large folding doors, each in two parts connected with hinges.  These occupy the entire western end of the room, and when folded back, practically throw the two rooms into one large audience room.  The doors in the centre fold back so close to the posts on which they hinge, that they offer no more obstruction to the view of the pulpit than the pillars which support the gallery in other churches would.  The upper parts of the doors are finished in small panels set with Cathedral glass, and above them, in the partition, are arched windows also of Cathedral glass.  The other sides of the lecture room are surrounded with a wainscot of pine, four feet high.  To the south of this room, is the ladies room, 24 by 15, lighted by three stained glass windows.  Between the two rooms are three large windows, the lower sashes of which can be raised at pleasure, thus forming a still further addition to the seating capacity of the church, as the pulpit can easily be seen from this point.  This room is nicely carpeted and kslaomined.  Folding doors in the western end open on a small porch which communicates by two doors with the audience room.
A door in the south side of the porch opens on a sidewalk which runs along the south side of the building, thus making two entrances to the church, one on each corner.
The audience room is sixty feet square, with two wings, each formed by a gable containing three windows, a large and two smaller ones.  Several of these are memorial windows.  In the south wing, the large one is in memory of Mrs. Lina Higgins and was put in by Mrs. Mary J. Higgins, her mother.  The small one west of it is presented by Mrs. Patience Bunker in memory of her husband, W,. G. Bunker.  The large window in the north gable is in memory of Mrs. Cordelia Snow and Stephen W. Higgins and was presented by Mrs. Mary F. Higgins;  the small one west of it is placed there by Mrs. Hannah Jordan and daughter in memory of Mrs. Jordan's first husband, Melvin Johnson.  The windows are very handsome being of stained glass in beautiful designs of exquisite coloring.  They were made by Redding, Baird and Co. of Boston.  In the western end is the choir loft, 10 by 36 feet, which is on a raised platform reached by stairs from either side.  The panel work which forms the rail in front of this platform is of ash, carefully selected, and the workmanship is very excellent.  In front of this is a semi-circular platform, about eighteen inches in height, for the pulpit.  It is surrounded by an alter rail of black walnut, finely carved and beautifully polished.  The semi-circular platform on which the alter rail rests is almost a foot above the level of the floor, and extends about a foot outside the rail.  This space on the outside is nicely cushioned.  The reading desk is of black walnut, beautifully polished, and is a very collaborate piece of workmanship.  It was designed by the architect and made by Mr. E.L. Hodgkins.   In the southwest corner of the building is a small porch with an entrance door from outside.  This communicates with the body of the church and also, but a few steps, with the choir loft.
The roof has four valleys.  The valley and main are finished down and supported by heavy carved brackets.  The spaces between the exposed rafters are ceiled with matched pine.  The woodwork is all covered with a light finish and the molding on the rafters is stained a darker shade.  The effect is very beautiful and, with the light tinted plaster walls gives a bright and cheerful tone to the interior.  The church is lighted by incandescent lights set in handsome wall brackets, and in the centre of the ceiling, where the valley rafters meet, is a cluster of six lights beneath a circular mirror of plate glass which diffuse a uniform light over the whole of the church, bright enough to read by without any of the other lights being turned on.  The floor is covered with a pretty woolen carpet.  The seating accommodation consists of 313 assembly chairs, placed in nearly semi-circular rows and divided by the aisles in three sections.  The middle section has nine chairs in a row.  The framework of the chairs is of iron, with the bottoms and backs of this, perforated maple, beautifully polished.  Though the chairs in each row are connected, they are separated  by arms so the each person has a chair to himself and there is no danger of crowding.  The bottoms turn up, and underneath are wires placed in such a way as to form a receptacle for a hat.
There are also brackets on the legs for umbrellas or canes.  On the back of every second chair is a rack for bibles and hymn books.  The chairs were manufactured by the Andrews Manufacturing Co. of Boston and New York, and the models of comfort and elegance.  The heating is done by two large furnaces in the cellar, connecting with two registers in the audience room and one in the lecture room.  Ventilation is secured by means of a special flue in the chimney, with apertures near the floor and ceiling.  The lower one lets out the cold air when the church is being heated, and the upper is for the heated air to escape when required.  The audience room, as now provided with seats, will accommodate 313 persons;  but there is room for 500 without crowding, by using folding chairs besides the assembly chairs.  The lecture room will accommodate easily 200, and 250 if necessary.  This gives the whole building a seating capacity of about 750.
The architect was Benjamin D. Price, Philadelphia, a gentleman who, during the past ten years, has designed 3500 churches.  We do not wonder at his popularity as a church architect, judging from the specimen of his skill which has just been described.  Messrs. Geo. L. Wescott and
Asa D. Hodgkins, in the mason and carpentry work respectitvely, have discharged their duties and preformed their parts with great care and skill.  Mr. Hodgkins is to be complimented on his selection of workmen;  and his foreman, Mr. Leighton, deserves special mention as a man who thoroughly understands his work, both theoretically and practically.  The elegant manner in which the wood work is polished and finished does credit to Mr. Frank D. Foster's taste and the skill of his workmen.  The building, in all respects, is a beautiful  specimen of what skill in architecture and workmenship can accomplish;  and the Methodist body in Bar Harbor may well be proud of their elifice.  The pastor, Rev. H.E. Frohock, has from first to last, personally superintended the undertaking, encouraging the workmen by his pretense and making many valuable suggestions.  It must have been with feelings of thankfulness and justifiable pride that he took his station for the first time on the pulpit platform of the beautiful edifice last Sunday.