Our History
A Church in Time
By Emily Yates
This account is a history about Old Town and, in particular, the events that led to the United Methodist Church becoming an essential part of the city. For fifty long years, the church’s history has not been updated. Mrs. Jean Huff, writer of the last church history in 1954, did not include the history of Old Town in her work. This current history entwines these two histories together while updating the church history for future generations to expand upon or modify. Since many people have shaped Methodism in Old Town and Maine through time, a synopsis of these individuals and events in history is necessary for understanding the context in which the town and church were built.
Before the first European settlers came to Old Town in the sixteen hundreds, Maine was joined with Massachusetts, and the Penobscot Nation lived there, for it was their ancestral land. Just below Old Town, the Penobscot River split to go around both sides of the island known today as Marsh Island. “The Indians [said] that the aboriginal name of the locality [Old Town] was Pannawanske (Pannawanskek or Panamske as it is variously spelt), meaning ‘it forks upon the white rocks,’ or ‘it opens (or widens) upon the rocks” (History of Penobscot County, Maine 181). The Penobscots were a seasonal people who planted crops in the spring in Old Town, traveled down to the coast of Maine during the summer, and came back in the fall to harvest the food that they had planted in the spring. While in Old Town, they lived in traditional long houses.
The Penobscot people believed that God was in everything: the rocks, trees, and the blue sky above. The first white settlers to explore Old Town were French Catholics, who wished to convert the Penobscot people from polytheism to the Catholic doctrines of monotheism in the name of “saving their souls.” For the Penobscot people’s sake, “Jesuit missionaries were with them in 1611 and for several years after” (History of Penobscot County, Maine 176). After French missionaries settled in Old Town in 1614, around 1700, “a French architect erected for the Indians a place of worship, in Indian Oldtown. The church was burned about the year 1757” (History of Penobscot County, Maine 176).
As the colonists settled in “Indian Old Town” (present-day Orono and Old Town combined), the Native Americans shared their land. “Anciently, the Tarratines (Penobscots) owned all the territory watered by the Penobscot River and its tributaries” (Norton 12). But, the European settlers felt that since the land was not owned through monetary purchase or deeds, they could take the land little by little. After much persuasion, the Penobscot Nation “yielded still more [land], reserving only Old Town Island, or, as it is supposed to have been called in 1710 ‘Island of Lett,’ and all the other islands, thirty-eight in number, in the river just above it.” (History of Penobscot County, Maine 180). Even though the white settlers were encroaching upon the natives, the Penobscots remained friendly to the settlers during the American Revolution.
William Marsh, the man for whom Marsh Island is named, came to Old Town in 1774 when it was still thinly populated. Marsh became friendly with and acted as an interpreter for the natives, and, in return for the kindness that he showed them, they petitioned to the General Court of Massachusetts for a small plot of land as a grant for him to build a house at the foot of present-day Marsh Island in Old Town. When the petition was granted, it came back as a deed for the entire island. (Norton, 17) Now that the Island belonged to him, Marsh allowed other white settlers to live on the island with him. In later years, this created a problem for the natives as they were pushed back from their ancestral lands.
In 1796 and 1818, treaties were made between the natives and settlers which forced the Penobscot people to relinquish nearly all of their territory (Norton 16). All that was left to them was a large island, later named “Indian Island.” Luckily, the Penobscots had the ability to live peacefully with the white settlers and were not forced out of Maine. “It was European disease (especially smallpox) that really decimated [the Penobscot Nation] killing at least 75% of the population.” (www.native-languages.org/penobscot.htm)
The Catholics were not the only denomination to encroach upon the Native Americans in Old Town. Calvinism was widespread in the 1700s. This was a Protestant belief, started by John Calvin (1509-1564), who theorized that God already separated each person before they were born into two groups: the Heaven bound, and the Hell bound (http://www.religioustolerance.org/calvinism.htm). Methodism, an Evangelical Protestant belief founded by brothers John and Charles Wesley in mid-1700s England, spread to America by 1769 (Norwood 23 and 70) and to Old Town by 1793. “The Methodist Church grew rapidly because of its message. John Wesley…believed in the free love of God as against the predestination of Calvinism” (Wentworth 9). Methodist preachers were distinct from Catholic priests at that time. Catholic priests attended a theological seminary at Harvard University while Methodist preachers were often times unschooled, but made very good preachers, and were moved by a calling to preach (Wentworth 9). In fact, Zenas Caldwell was the first Maine Methodist preacher to graduate from college around 1824, which was Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine (Thompson 13).
At the time that Methodism arrived in Maine in the later part of the 1700s, circuit riders (pastors mounted on horseback) came to different towns to preach the word of God. They taught in civilian houses, meeting houses, even in the streets. Circuits were groups of towns in which one preacher taught. One such Circuit Rider was a man by the name of Jesse Lee who made his first ride into Massachusetts to spread Methodism in the streets. Lee was remembered for his:
“stalwart figure, bright, genial clean-shaven face, fair skin and large grey eyes, an open countenance, marked by shrewdness, tenderness, and military bearing…Because he had a heavyset figure, he kept two horses with him while traveling, riding one and leading the other. His preaching style was well commemorated for being ‘powerful in prayer, and one of the best preachers in the denomination or in America’” (Thomson 3).
For this reason, the well known preacher was appointed to the Province of Maine (at that time Massachusetts) by the 1793 Methodist Conference in Lynn. Soon after the appointment, he headed across the woodlands in search of willing ears to hear him preach. The first Methodist sermon taught by Jesse Lee in Maine occurred on September 10, 1793 in Saco, Maine; soon after, he visited the village of Old Town, which was the farthest north that Lee ever traveled. In almost every town to which Lee traveled, “Classes” were begun, including Monmouth, Readfield, Saco, and Hallowell, but there is no record of a class being taught by him in Old Town (Thompson 2-5).
The year 1794 marked the year that Lee became a Presiding Elder, a very prestigious position within the Annual Conference. Lee met Bishop Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop in Maine, and served under him until the year 1801. By the time that Lee retired at fifty-eight years old in 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts as its own state and three circuits had been established by him. The Readfield, Penobscot, and Portland Circuits were named for the towns where the individual circuits started (Thompson 6).
Thompson, in her book Roots and Wings, acknowledges that Lee did introduce Methodism to central and southern Maine, but believes he was not the first Methodist preacher in Maine. Duncan McColl and Rev. John G. Pingree were both preachers who brought Methodism to Aroostook County in northern Maine in 1785-86 and 1836 (Thompson 2 and 17). There is reason to believe that the town where Pingree taught, Marsardis, had the same atmosphere as Old Town because they were both lumbering towns.
“As it grew dark, the people commenced coming in, till the house was filled with roughs of the place, and from the lumbering camps in the vicinity. When liquors, tambourine and fiddle were ready, the work was given, ‘three cheers for the Methodist missionary!’ Now a song with music, then a dance, three cheers again, then a drink, with loud, rude speech. This was continued through the night by the crowd, consisting of men women and children” (Thompson 18).
McColl was not as active as Lee, for he did not establish any “classes” in the towns in which he preached. He was a good preacher, and made rounds preaching to anyone who would listen. But McColl, Lee, and Pingree were not the only traveling preachers. The Maine Annual Conference in 1824 showed that there were three districts, thirty-five circuits, and forty-two traveling preachers (Thompson 13).
The first Methodist class in Old Town met in 1837, and consisted of eight women studying under Pastor Moses P. Webster. Their names were: Joanna Davis, Betsey Stinson, Maria Marsh, Louisa Emery, Mary Snow, Catherine Palmer, Sarah Johnston, and Ruth Sterling (Norton p. 83). They met in Mrs. Davis’ house for the first time. In1842, a meeting house was erected on Water Street (Old County Road) under Rev. Benjamin Bryant. Huff wrote a description of the inside of the meeting house “It consisted of a workshop and dwelling rooms on the first floor and an assembly room above. ‘The assembly room was reached by a stairway on the outside of the building, and the finish, seats, and furnishings were about as they were left by the saw and the broadax’” (Huff 7). When a new church was built in 1854, the title to the meeting house reverted to Mr. Aaron Foss, a trustee, who had lent much money for the house’s construction (Huff 8).
In her 1954 paper about the Methodist Church history, Mrs. Huff mentioned one woman from the first Methodist class in particular, Joanna Davis. “Joanna Davis was 20 in 1818 when she came to Old Town, and lived to be 89. Her daughter was Abbie Davis, whose handwritten journal and unfinished history is in the Old Town Public Library archives” (Huff 6). Unfortunately, these manuscripts cannot be located, but are believed to be in storage in Special Collections at the University of Maine Orono.
A handwritten letter of c. 1921 in the University of Maine Special Collections library says that Old Town was originally part of Orono. At the time that Orono became a town in 1806, Old Town had 300 inhabitants within its borders (Négann Dennek letter 2). The first houses in Old Town were also described in the letter, as follows:
“The first house to be built in our part of the new town was the one which still stands at the corner of Wood and Main streets. And which is known as the Master Moor[e]s house. The second house made here in the wilderness found place near the recent residence of Dr. Weld. Between these houses stretched a blueberry bog, and it was by no means, an uncommon thing to meet bears, while traveling back and forth. Each family owned a large horn, which was blown vigorously, if either was wanted by the other. The number of houses grew slowly, for it was not until 1824 that the third one was built-by Daniel Davis. It is still standing and occupied by the builder’s daughter, Miss Abbie Davis. The settler following Daniel Davis was an Aaron Hook, but we do not learn on what spot he lighted his hearth-fire. It was in the Master Moor[e]s house Oct. 13, 1813 that the first white child, Asa Davis, was born” (3).
Denneck’s letter went on to describe the first saw mill which was fabricated in 1798 and the first dirt road built, Bennoch Road, in 1828. Interestingly, the United States’ second railroad was put together to run between Old Town and Bangor in the year 1836 (5). Several large mills were built in Old Town between 1806 and 1878, some of which burned down and were rebuilt (Norton 18-19 and 33-40). For example, in 1836, a medium-sized steam mill was erected by one Samuel Godfrey. It was big enough to hold two saws, but it burned down the year after it was built. Godfrey had too little money and was not able to rebuild his business (Norton 38). General Joseph Treat was another saw mill owner who built on the west side of the Penobscot River in Upper Stillwater. It was a flimsy-made building which needed repair very soon after its construction The mill was abandoned around the year 1808 (Norton 33)..
In 1826, “Samuel Veazie…bought all of Jackson Davis’ interest in lands and mills in Old Town…thus acquiring all the privileges upon the falls adjacent to Marsh Island, except one belonging to Wadleigh, and four owned by Williams” (Norton 18). Veazie made a grist mill in 1829, and a double mill after that. By 1833, there were 16 saws on the falls (Norton 19). Samuel Veazie was the same man for whom the town of Veazie was named, and the Wadleigh family still owns the Governor’s Restaurant in Old Town today.
In the year 1840, the year that Old Town became a city in its own right, “there had been a growing feeling of jealousy and rivalry, between the inhabitants of the villages Old Town and Stillwater, as there is apt to be in different villages in one town” (Norton 55). Relations between the two towns improved after their parting, and became very close again. In fact, the Stillwater Federated Church and the Old Town United Methodist Church were united by the same pastor off and on for many years. In 1927, the two churches were fused together by the bond of one pastor. W. H. Stewart was the first pastor to serve both churches (Maine Register 1927-28 983).
At the time that Old Town was incorporated on March 26, 1840, the population totaled 2345, almost double the population of 10 years before (History of Penobscot County, Maine 461). With more people to serve, new religious denominations arrived in Old Town. Congregational missionaries did some work there between 1820 and 1832 and built a church soon after. The Baptists organized a church in 1835; the Methodists established their first class in 1837; the Universalists organized a new parish in 1843; and the Episcopalians swept into town in 1845 (Norton 82-85).
The United States Senate decided to try a Temperance Movement when Old Town was first establishing itself in the early 1800s. Many people saw alcohol as a harmful substance that was the cause of physical abuse in families and that the drunkards were harmful to themselves. There was also a religious prejudicial undercurrent that drove the issue. Many people began to accuse the European and Irish Catholics of being drunkards because they used wine for Communion, a religious ritual. There were also those who were genuinely concerned for others’ well being. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was such a group that tried to end the violence. Maine was the first state to agree with the movement and became a dry state in the year 1846. Only twelve of the fifty states agreed to the pact. Unfortunately, the law was difficult to enforce, and a certain amount of bootlegging and moonshine making took place. By the end of the Prohibition Movement in 1868, Maine was the last state to relinquish the law on alcohol (“Temperance movement” http://law.jrank.org/pages/10714/Temperance-Movement.html).
During 1847-8, the first steamer ship was introduced to Old Town. It was a common sight to see the boat pacing like a soldier near the shores of Old Town. The early historian Norton recalled “the little stern wheel steamers which used to ply so busily between Old Town and Winn, adding so much to the convenience of doing business upon the river, taking up or landing passengers at any point along the shores where business or pleasure called them.” In 1849, General Samuel Veazie, a large property owner in Old Town, built another steamer which was a large, powerful boat called the “Gov. Dana.” Officials of Old Town didn’t like the presence of a new boat on the river. The ship was packed up in pieces and carried off to the Sacramento River in San Francisco (Norton 41-2).
This same General Veazie owned the land upon which the first permanent Methodist church was built in Old Town. In 1852, David Clark, a Methodist pastor,
"persuaded General Samuel Veazie to give the (Methodist) society a lot of land on Brunswick Street on which to build a church [in 1854].--- a clause in the deed provided that if the land should ever be used for anything other than religious services it should revert to his heirs;” an act of the State Legislature of 1907 cleared the title, ‘allowing the property to be sold provided the proceeds of such sale be used for the purchase of a suitable piece of land to be used for the same purpose’” (Huff 8).
This allowed the land to be sold for a later church, as we shall see.
Old Town participated in the Civil War. The war marched forward in1861, gathering up young men and former Methodist preachers to help its cause (Norton 106). Old Town alone sent five hundred and five men to action (O’Keefe 53). Many young men were restless at this time, and felt that war would give them something to do. History records this war as one that was supposed to be a short war, lasting only ninety days long. The war ended soon after President Lincoln was assassinated.
On the day of Lincoln’s funeral, Aug. 12, 1865, a hungry fire consumed much of downtown Old Town. No less than twenty buildings had been demolished by the time the flames had been put out. People were just returning from a service in memory of President Lincoln when people started to see flames curl up from the buildings. Sometimes, this fire was referred to as the “Lincoln Fire” (O’Keefe 55).
A decade later, during the years 1875-1882, Methodism declined in the Old Town area, but not because of fire. There was a lack of pastors assigned there between 1879 and 1883. "Since which time [Cromwell's] there has been no preacher stationed here, and the society has had to live upon occasional preaching, like scattered crumbs dropped here by other circuits--and for this year [1879] with no preaching at all" (Norton 84). Old Town was rarely mentioned in the Annual Conference minutes during those years, and the church was used so little at this time that it had fallen into disrepair (Huff 10). The Old Town Methodist Church was finally supplied with a pastor, Loren Hanscom, in 1883 (Maine Register 1883-84 518). At that time, "the church edifice at Old Town has been so thoroughly reconstructed that it is equivalent to a new building" at a cost of $1800 (Huff 10).
O’Keefe reported in his book that a block of mills burned in 1875, as well as in 1878. Eighteen seventy six was a bad year for the repair and construction shops for the railway as well as the mills. The railway shops burned down and many people were thrust out of work (O’Keefe 55-57).
While shops and mills were being built and destroyed in the late 1800s, the City of Old Town saw St. Joseph’s Parochial School being built and run by the Sisters of Mercy, and Jordan Lumber Company was being founded in 1880. By 1882, the Penobscot Chemical Fiber Company began to make soda pulp. Old Town, as a community, was still active in prohibiting alcohol. As an entire town, they voted to revoke the license from anyone who sold spirit liquors in 1878 (O’Keefe 57).
Meanwhile, in the Methodist Church, the Annual Conference took away the women’s right to vote and be ordained and rejected five women from consideration as delegates to the Annual Conference in the years 1881-1888,. The Conference did, however give women an opportunity to serve their churches in an important, official role. These women became deaconesses, a station that stopped them from being ordained ministers. Many Maine women were notable deaconesses who served their communities: Inez Webster, Audrey L. Hunt Macdonald, Harriet Louise Perry, Agnes Vose, and Edith Porter. Women did get their rights back eventually, but it was a gradual process. During the time that women were deaconesses, a group of women sought to educate people from other cultures about Methodism. The women called themselves the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society. They served in China and many other countries around the world (Thompson 20-21).
In the early 1900s, the Old Town Methodist Church held Ladies Aid Society meetings in Old Town, which turned into the Women’s Society of Christian Service in 1940 (Barker 1). One of the tasks undertaken by the women of the church was to make sure that the parsonage was readied for the new pastor. The first parsonage was donated to the Methodist Church by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Perry in the year 1892 and located at 271 Center Street (now 218 Center Street). “Mr. Simonton was the first minister to occupy the parsonage” (Huff 10). The parsonage was within walking distance of the church, and looked like any other house on the street.
Many changes took place in Old Town during the early years of the 20th century, especially for the learning and entertainment of its young people. A new high school was constructed in 1901, and in the following years the Helen Hunt and the Great Works schools were built. Herbert Gray was erected in the year 1920. These schools were a great asset to the youth in the town. They had a writing master to teach the young students “the science of Chirography, from pot hook and trammels to German text.” The students had a singing master as well (Norton 31). The first public library was built in 1904, and Andrew Carnegie raised about $1000 for books to stock the shelves. St. Mary’s Catholic Church was erected in 1907. The entertainment business started up in the year 1910, with the first movie theater ever to be constructed in Old Town (O’Keefe 57).
Amid the construction, there was great damage to the communities of Stillwater and Old Town. “The Great Fire of 1901” struck Stillwater and demolished more than 20 buildings (A History of Stillwater, Maine 23). In 1905, the Methodist Church on Brunswick Street burned in a fire that destroyed most of the building (Huff 11). Out of the ashes, a new church rose, bigger and better than ever, and a newly dedicated congregation. The Methodist Church was repaired and whole sections redone for $7500, which they promptly paid off by insurance. The Church was able to reuse the original cellar, tower, and parts of the walls, and was a sound building when the construction ceased. The newly remodeled church was described as "a modern building, steeple sheathed throughout, walls and ceiling tinted in delicate colors, circular oak seats and a beautiful pulpit set. The primary department is on the second floor of the wing where there are also class, social, and toilet rooms, with the usual church kitchen." (Huff 11-12). In 1911, a new pipe organ was purchased for the Old Town Methodist Church, arriving just in time for the Annual Conference to meet there for the first time. The organ was partially paid for with a gift from Mr. Carnegie of $625. The total price for the organ was $1600, which was paid off by 1912, the 75th Anniversary of Methodism in Old Town. (Huff 12-13).
By 1924, the Methodist General Conference revealed that women were allowed to be ordained and become the highest rank of the Conference: an elder. Once the rights to vote and be ordained were given back to the women, Miss Maybelle Whitney was the first woman to be ordained as a Methodist pastor. This was a great gain for women, as they were once again allowed to follow their calling.
After the historic event of 1924, the Great Depression of 1929 affected the lives of Maine’s citizens’ morale minimally even though the crash hit investors’ capital pretty hard. Many people in Maine did not invest in stocks. Work shortages affected everyone in the United States. Because the stocks crashed, markets for agricultural products were scarce; Northern Maine was particularly affected by the loss of markets for farm products. Big cities such as Portland, Maine were hit hardest by the Great Depression. “Portland spent five times the amount of relief that they gave to the poor in 1930, in 1933.” Rural Maine was also affected. “In 1934, Aroostook County yielded the largest potato crop to date, but prices had dropped so low that farmers threw out the majority of the harvest” (www.mainememory.net, Maine Historical Society). Stocks lost their value by almost twenty percent (“The Great Depression” by Modern American Poetry www.english.illinois.edu). History that records the Great Depression fled with the oncoming of World War II. Businesses were back and busier than ever making war materials, and men found jobs in war.
When World War II ended, prosperity returned to Old Town, too. Additions were placed on the Methodist church in 1948, including a kitchen, basement, ladies’ parlor, dining room, and classrooms. As an old tradition, pews in the Brunswick Methodist church were sold to a family in the congregation. The family to whom the pew belonged had the right to sit in the same pew every Sunday. Ushers of the church had a list of pew owners and would tell those unlucky few who sat in an owned pew to find another in which to sit. Pew owners had to pay taxes as a price for owning a piece of the church. The taxes were paid especially when church needed to have repairs of any kind done on it (Leonard, R. Personal interview. 15 March 2009).
There was another tradition besides owning pews in the old Brunswick Church. Marriages could take place in the parsonage, if the couple decided. Mrs. Carolyn Bradeen was one member of the church whose marriage took place in the parsonage. Mrs. Howard Benson confirmed this fact by relating it was a common practice: “A lot of pastors performed weddings in their parlors” (Benson, H. Personal interview. 19 February 2009). Before weddings took place, women and girls of the church would decorate the church, and sometimes met the bride herself (Bradeen, C. Personal interview.18 February 2009).
The 1950s was a time before cars were really used in Old Town, so many people walked to their respective churches in town. Even though women were supposed to stay at home and raise families in the 1950s, the Methodist Church was more progressive. In 1956, women were given recognition as voting members of the Conference. In 1967, Margaret Henrichsen, a Mainer, was the first woman ever to become a district superintendent. She wrote a book about her years of service, called Seven Steeples and became famous in the United States for her writing (Thompson 24-26).
In the 1960s, the Annual Conference shifted its focus to the youth of Maine; Shortly thereafter the Old Town United Methodist Church joined this cause. Before this time, there were very few programs for children. The Epworth League was in place for many years to teach children about Methodism and offered a safe place to be during the day. The group also taught teenagers about the benefits of community service. For example, one of the stained glass windows for the church on Brunswick Street was donated by the Epworth League (Oakes, H. Personal interview. 18 February 2009). Later, the Epworth League was renamed Youth Ministry. Then, a new idea was brought to the Conference’s attention: Why not make a camp for youth to attend in the summer? The name for the camp was Mechuwana. The Me in the word came from Methodist, the chu from the word church, wa from the Native American word for God, and na, the first two letters in the word nature. The camp was to be built in the town of Winthrop, Maine. Ever since the grand opening of the camp, many generations of Old Town and other Maine children have enjoyed swimming and boating in the lake at which the camp is located (Thompson 31-32).
Around the year 1965, a debate came up in the congregation about whether to seek land for a new church, because there was no place for parking or to expand. Reverend Howard Benson was the pastor at the time. There were several plots of land upon which they might like to build. Both Mr. Ralph Leonard and Rev. Benson shared their stories of finding a suitable place. Because Mr. Leonard was a pilot, he took Rev. Benson up with him so they could take aerial photographs of potential locations for the new church in Old Town. Reverend Benson shared the experience from his point of view. Mr. Leonard said:
“‘OK, we’re going to get in the company plane and we’re going to go take pictures’...Don McKay had the camera, and Ralph took off to take pictures of all of the sites. Well, something was wrong with the camera, so after we got flying for about five minutes or so, maybe ten, Ralph said, ‘Well, let me have the camera, Don, and I’ll see if I can do anything with it. Howard,’ he said, ‘you fly the thing’…’Course, he was right beside me, but he wasn’t paying a bit of attention to me…well, all I need to do is just don’t do anything, just keep the plane steady…we had permission to stay within a certain radius of Old Town, but you aren’t supposed to go outside that radius. So when we got near that distance, I thought ...well, let’s see if I can turn this plane around. And I did. I turned the plane around and headed back towards Old Town.’” (Benson, H. Personal interview. 19 February 2009).
Mr. Leonard was not concerned, because it was a routine maneuver for him. To Rev. Benson, it was the most exciting day of his life.
The plot on Stillwater Avenue was finally chosen for the new church. It was owned by the University of Maine, and was being used to keep road salt. Mr. Leonard, head of the building committee, talked to the President of the University, who was reluctant at first to part with the land. He told Mr. Leonard an Act of Congress from Washington D.C. would be needed to allow the University to sell the land to the church. The law would have to be changed for all Universities who wanted to sell land, not just one University to sell to one church. Rev. Benson and Mr. Leonard flew down to Washington to speak with Maine’s Senator Hathaway during the middle of the Senate recess in the summer. Hathaway needed to be re-elected before he could finish pushing the bill through. For four long years, the Act waited in the Senate before being debated and finally won approval in 1969. In that space of time, the church had been fundraising to get the building materials that they needed. When the news came that they could start building the new church, the money was put forth right away and the building began. When it was completed, the church was a high vaulted building with oak pews and a long hallway. The first service was held on Easter Sunday, 1970, for a rejoicing congregation. (Leonard, R. Personal interview. 15 March 2009).
At about the time the new church was built, In 1968, the Methodist Church became the United Methodist Church in 1968. New church groups were formed and old ones reshaped. The WSCS was changed to the all-encompassing name United Methodist Women in the year 1972. Its first president, Mrs. Anita Leonard was elected on December 19th of that year. One of the largest events to happen in United Methodist Women’s history was airing a television program in 1984 called “The Lost History” on WLBZ-TV, and featured the Bicentennial Special Features for Women (Barker 1).
During Rev. Benson’s time in Old Town, around the year 1976, an old tradition dictated that the Catholic Church would not share the pulpit with a minister of any other denomination. At this time, that particular rule was relaxed, and many local people were left tear stained with happiness.
“Imagine, this had never happened before--a group of priests and Protestants planning a worship service. Quite significant, I think, because at one time, people said that they didn’t even want to hardly go by the church…the Catholics, if they went by a Protestant church, they’d [covers face and shields eyes], they felt so strongly…We talked about hymns, and what do you suppose they asked for? A Mighty Fortress is our God, A Bulwark Never Failing, by Luther!...We had the service at St. Joseph’s church, a great big auditorium, and that probably was one of the highlights of my ministry; because the other ministers and the priests decided I should be the speaker. No Protestant minister had ever spoken from the pulpit of that church, ever. And here I was to give a sermon” (Benson, H. Personal interview. 19 February 2009).
In 1993, another Methodist Church fire broke out. At the time, Rev. George Curtis III was pastor of the church. He later revealed the cause of the fire: lightning. It struck the steeple, traveled down the electrical wiring, and started the fire. No one knew that the church caught on fire until the flame was large and consuming. Rev. Curtis called two longtime church members with the news; Mrs. Grace Garceau and Mrs. Charlotte Stevenson, who was a former church secretary. Mrs. Garceau, once informed, could see the burning church from her front lawn. The fire was devastating to her and many other people in the congregation. When the fire was extinguished and the damage done, church members walked through the wreckage. The sanctuary was gone, as was the main hall. Sadly, many church records kept in the secretary’s office were lost in the heat and flames. Rev. Curtis, upon walking through the soot in his office, discovered that his Bible had been mostly ruined by smoke damage. Only one verse was legible in the open book, Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things, God works for good with those who love him” (Moore, Bangor Daily News 5/16/1994). Due to the fire, many early records of members in the church were lost along with other important documents.
Once again, the congregation united under the task ahead of them. Almost everyone in the church wanted to help in the rebuilding process; the tasks were divided up among them (Curtis, G. Personal interview. 21 February 2009). Women and men played an active role in raising money for the rebuilding. Money came through bake sales, spaghetti and bean suppers, craft fairs, and many other means, in addition to the insurance money. Churches from around the United States also donated money to help with the rebuilding costs.
While the rebuilding was underway, the Stillwater Federated church kindly lent the Methodists use of their church on Sundays and special events for a year. The United Methodist’s annual Blueberry Festival was held at the church, as was the Methodist Church Christmas Fair, Yard Sale, and countless fundraising dinners. The United Methodist Church, upon being rebuilt, had its first service on a fine Sunday in 1994 led by Rev. Dr. George E. Curtis III.
Two years after the United Methodist church was rebuilt, a large fire struck Old Town once more. The fire completely gutted three buildings on Main Street and shut down eight businesses. “The three buildings destroyed in last week’s fire were apparently all built around the turn of the century, in the downtown’s better days” (Penobscot Times Oct. 31, 1996)
The fire did not ravage the old Methodist Church on Brunswick Street. In fact, the building became the community center for many years. It served as a meeting place for talent shows, local Scout troops, dance lessons, and was the office of Old Town Parks and Recreation. In 1998, the community center was sold by the City of Old Town to the Old Town Canoe Company; from there, the building was promptly torn down for factory expansion. “The 28,000 square foot expansion could mean as many as 40 new jobs…” (Penobscot Times Sept. 3, 1998)
Several years after the old Brunswick Street Church was torn down, new building projects took place around Old Town. A new elementary school was built in 2003, as well as a Sunday school addition to the United Methodist Church. More children were coming to church than ever, and the building committee took this opportunity to slope the originally flat roof over the Leonard Room. Before the addition and change on the roof, church members had to get up on the roof to shovel off the snow. The snow caused the roof to sag under its weight (Curtis, G. Personal interview. 21 February 2009). When the church arrived as a modular kit in 1969, the designers made the mistake of making a flat roof, not realizing that the kit would be going to a very cold climate (Benson, H. Personal interview. 19 February 2009).
The year 2006 was an economically difficult year for Old Town when its largest employer, the Georgia-Pacific paper mill, closed. The unemployment line extended far in Old Town; many children were affected, since many parents worked in the mill. Some teens held jobs there as well. Many people decided to move south to Bath, Portland, and other big cities to find employment. One woman named Greta Sproul summarized Old Town’s mentality during the year. “Hey, 2006, don't let the door hit you on the way out!” (Penobscot Times Dec. 28, 2006). The population in Old Town declined rapidly from over eight thousand to about seven thousand five hundred people.
Two thousand and seven was a good year for drama at Old Town High School. The Pokeberry Players took part in the One Act play called The Bald Soprano. The High School students involved won the State Drama Festival, and went on to the New England Festival in Warwick, Rhode Island. Two schools from each state were allowed entrance to the festival. The program within the festival created an opportunity for students to watch each other perform, attend workshops, and socialize (Penobscot Times March 29, 2007 1).
In the same year, the Old Town United Methodist Church welcomed its first female pastor, Rev. Joan DeSanctis. She was a former physical education teacher and was very active in youth ministry (DeSanctis, Rev. J. Personal interview. 18 February 2009). Rev. DeSanctis was very dutiful to her numerous activities in the community. She will be remembered as a tall woman with sandy blond hair, light skin and dark brown eyes.
While Rev. DeSanctis was serving the church in December 2009, two pipes broke in the church walls, creating a flood that extended into the Fellowship hall and Leonard Room. The steam coming directly from the pipes damaged a piano, kept next door in the Choir Room along with several other wooden objects. All furniture in the Leonard Room and Fellowship hall was moved out into the main hall the following Sunday. The pipes were to be fixed, and the carpet replaced later that week. Many activities were closed down for the week due to the flood; Youth Group and the women’s Bible study were among them. With the new carpet installed, everything went back to normal again. The only noticeable difference was the smell of new paint and rug.
The year 2009 was difficult economically for the United States as well as the church. Poverty ran high, as a large percent of the student population received free or reduced student lunches. In the economic downturn, the Old Town school department considered school consolidation, bringing in children from Alton and Bradley.
In spite of its flood and hard economic times, in the 21st century, the Old Town United Methodist Church thrived. More parents were coming to church and their children were being brought to Sunday school. Young singles and couples had organizations which met a couple of times in a month. Two Bible studies met every week, one for men, and one for women. Boy and Girl Scout troops were sponsored by the church. A Boy Scout Hall was erected on church property for all youth programs to use. The church was also a large supporter of a local food pantry named Crossroad Ministries, which has been giving food, clothes, and money to Old Town’s needy for many years. Also in the service of the community, meals were prepared for a shelter in Bangor, and a family could “adopt” a student from the University of Maine, meaning that the family made them a home cooked meal once in a while. Because the Old Town United Methodist Church helped the community, it became an inseparable part of Old Town, and will be here for Old Town for many years to come.