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- MMN #71599
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Description
The First Unitarian Universalist Church building in Pittsfield, Maine sits on Easy Street off Main Street, near the bridge, as pictured in this postcard. It was built in 1857 as a non-denominational place of worship known as the Union Meeting House, where circuit-riding ministers came to preach. The building was bought and remodeled by the Universalists in 1871 and rededicated as the Universalist Meeting House in 1872. The Ladies Social Aid Society, later the Universalist Ladies Aid Society, met regularly in the building as a group to provide support for the church and parish. As usage increased, the building was overcrowded and began to show wear, so funds were raised under the leadership of Reverend Leroy Wilson Coons to establish funds to build a new church. The original church building was moved to its current site on Easy Street in 1898, where a new building facing Main Street was erected, making use of the former building as a vestry and church school rooms.
The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and noted for its architectural features. The new sanctuary built at the end of the 19te century has triptych design stained glass windows, inclined floor, and domed ceiling with muraled figures representing God. The building contains an additional twelve life-sized canvas murals of Old and New Testament figures painted by Harry Hayman Cochrane of Monmouth. An organ with 600 speaking pipes used power supplied by a pump run by the Sebasticook River, though young members of the church took over running it during drought periods.
At the time of this postcard, Reverend Milo G. Folsom led the church, and at his death in 1939, his wife Josephine took over the ministry, becoming one of few ordained ministers of the period.
The caption reads, "Bridge and Universalist Church, Pittsfield, Maine."
The Tichnor Brothers printing company published this type of postcard circa 1938.
About This Item
- Title: Universalist Church, Pittsfield, ca. 1938
- Creator: Tichnor Bros., Inc.
- Creation Date: circa 1938
- Subject Date: circa 1938
- Location: Pittsfield, Somerset County, ME
- Media: Linen texture postcard
- Dimensions: 9 cm x 14 cm
- Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection
- Object Type: Text and Image
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- Bridges--Maine--Pittsfield
- Church buildings--Maine--Pittsfield
- First Unitarian Universalist Church (Pittsfield, Me.)
- Postcards
- Unitarian Universalists--Maine--Pittsfield
- Universalists--Maine--Pittsfield
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