by Bea Peterson
How do you say goodbye to a church you have attended your entire life? How do you say goodbye to a building that has been a focal point in the community since 1888? You do it with love, respect and dignity. And that’s what Rev. Donna Elia and the remaining members of First United Church, Presbyterian on Main St. in Hoosick Falls did on Sunday, November 7. Rev. Elia noted that 10 generations of worshippers have kept the faith in this building and the previous ones. It was a service of thanksgiving for the worship space, for the ministers and lay leaders who led worship, for the worshippers themselves, for the hymns, the choir members, the organists, pianists and other musicians who proclaimed the faith through song.
Briefly sharing that thanks was Fr. Tom Zelker, former pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, just across the street, who thanked Rev. Elia and the members for offering their worship space to ICC when that church could not be used because of flood damage. In a remembrance he said, “You opened the doors of your home when we had no home.”
Sunday’s service was opened and closed by Scottish piper Josiah Black. John Button, who has been Minister of Music for 45 years, performed the prelude and postlude and accompanied the choir, which was directed by his wife Judy Button. Church elder, treasurer and historian Joyce Brewer related some of the church’s 196 year history.
Clergy from the Hoosick Area Church Association and members of the community from all denominations who attended the service received copies of a memorial book, complete with the church’s history, member’s remembrances, photographs and a list of all the ministers who have served since 1825. It’s a wonderful keepsake.
In the lovely book parishioners recall Sunday School days, picnics, bazaars, junior choir, social events, participating in services, projects supporting the community and so much more that made the Church their second family. Families saw baptisms, weddings and funerals of loved ones, all in this building.
That building has been sold to the non-profit RTI International that also owns the adjoining building, which will soon be used for local PFOA testing.
Joyce Brewer stated the trustees wanted to see the building sold, or torn down. “We did not want to see it simply fall apart,” she said. Its future use is indeterminate at this time. Funds from the sale of the structure go to the Albany Presbytery. One hundred percent of the funds from the sale of the church’s contents will be equally distributed to Maple Grove Cemetery, the Community Band, the Rescue Squad, HACA and the Louis Miller Museum.
Paraphrasing the history as written in the memorial book, it states that in 1825, the Presbyterians, who had been meeting previously with the Methodist Episcopal Church, petitioned church authorities to organize a separate church in Hoosick Falls. The new structure was supported and built by the entire community and was dedicated in February 1830. Twenty-two years later that building was deemed too small and the old building was moved across the street. The new church was built on the old site and still stands today. In the 1950s it was sold and became the Hoosick Falls Community Center on Church Street. Interestingly, the cemetery was adjacent to the church, but when Center Street was built in the 1860s, the caskets were taken up and moved to Maple Grove Cemetery.
The 1850s were the beginning of gigantic growth for Hoosick Falls. In 1860 the Methodists decided to build their own church on Main Street. It was dedicated on Christmas Day 1860 and could accommodate 300 people. That church would also prove to be too small, and a new Romanesque style church was dedicated in 1888. Records show the following description: “the building is of brick with terra cotta and brown stone trimmings. It is 103 feet in length and 70 feet in width with a slate covered roof. At the northwest corner is a tower 100 feet in height. The whole exterior is beautiful and imposing and is one of the handsomest church buildings in this vicinity.”
Times changed, the population of Hoosick Falls was declining and in December 1943 the Methodist and Presbyterian churches formed a union, keeping their own legal organization, but worshipping and working together. The services alternated between the two churches, the “white church” on Church St. and the “brick church” on Main St., among other things, allowing them to conserve fuel during wartime. In 1950 both congregations voted to consolidate the two churches as The First United Church, Presbyterian, meeting in the Methodist Church and selling the Presbyterian Church. The final service at First United Church, Presbyterian will be held at 10:30 am on Sunday, December 26.