A Legacy of Faith
A November sermon by the Rev. Thomas A. Maurer at Carlisle’s Allison United Methodist Church touches on the college’s Methodist connections.
by Rev. Thomas A. Maurer
December 30, 2008
Each Sunday morning most of us arrive at Allison at the usual hour. We come expecting to worship in this grand sanctuary without any thought to those who chartered this congregation, nor the host of faithful saints whose faith grew and preserved this church for the past 216 years. We take for granted the legacy of those who preceded us, seldom pausing to recognize the risks and sacrifices they made that allow us to enjoy what we have today.
So this morning - in celebration of All Saints Sunday - I want to share with you a brief history of Allison Church. For some of you this history will be a review. You'll recall I preached this same sermon a year ago on this same occasion. For others, it will be the first time you'll be hearing this history. In either case, it's important we honor those who went before us and preserve the legacy of faith which we have inherited.
On March 3rd, 1792, the "trustees" of the first Methodist Society in Carlisle purchased a 40 x 60 foot lot on the corner of South Pitt Street and Chapel Avenue. While there is no known sketch of what that building looked like then, the limestone house shown on the screen sets on the corner where once stood the first meeting house for the Carlisle Methodist Society. This lot became the first of seven locations for what we know today as Allison United Methodist Church.
Over the next 23 years, this early Methodist Society grew, forcing it to relocate to the south-side of an alley between S. Hanover and S. Pitt Streets. The alley subsequently became known as Church Avenue.
The church was built on the site where today the rear of the Pomfret Parking Garage now stands. The location is adjacent to the Gingerbread Restaurant.
It wasn't long, however, before problems with this new location soon emerged. Rowdy behavior in the alley during the services was at times disruptive, and nearby stables fumed an offensive order.
Then, in 1833, the small but growing Methodist denomination acquired Dickinson College from the Presbyterians, who originally founded the college in 1783. With the purchase of the college, both the congregation and the Annual Conference decided that a new church home was needed that would serve the dual purposes of the congregation and the need for a college chapel.
So in 1835, the Methodist congregation purchased a building from the German Reformed Church. The German Reformed Church was located on the corner of West High and Pitt Streets, the current location of Casa Mani Coffee Shop.
For a time this new location served both the needs of the Methodist congregation, and those of Dickinson College, including weekly chapel services, matriculation, baccalaureate and commencement.
However, after several years of sharing the same facility, a contention occurred between the congregation and the College. Regrettably a split occurred in the early 1850's, resulting in the College's purchasing a plot of land where today stands Grace United Methodist Church.
There they build a small chapel and named it Emory Chapel, in memory of the 2nd Methodist President of Dickinson College, Robert Emory, who served as President from 1845 to 1848. The congregation continued to worship at the former German Reformed Church on the corner of West High and South Pitt Streets.
For two decades the congregation and the College remained as two separated entities, despite several attempts to reunify. Then, in the early 1770's reunification was achieved, contingent upon the condition that the old German Reformed Church be torn down and a new building erected on the site. So, in 1875, the German Reformed Church was torn down, and in 1876 a new church building was begun.
The new church building was a two-story brick building. In recognition of America's centennial celebration, the church became known as the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church.
During the construction period, the two congregations worshipped in Emory Chapel, though it's unclear whether they did so together or at separate times. Regardless, when the Centenary Church was completed, the congregation and the College once again shared the same facility.
With the congregations reunited, Emory Chapel was leased for two decades to the Dickinson School of Law under Dean Trickett. In 1919, the chapel was sold to the Grace United Brethren congregation, who in turn tore the Chapel down and in 1929 constructed the current building.
The congregation and the College continued to share the Centenary Church for the next thirteen years. Then in 1889, the congregation sold the church with plans to construct a new facility on the corner of South West and West High Streets, adjacent to the President's House at Dickinson College.
It's hard for many of us to imagine a church building standing in what is today President Durden's front yard, but in fact that's where the former Methodist Church once stood. At one point only 15 feet separated the church building from the President's home.
During the period of three years when church was being constructed, the college Trustees agreed to have the congregation worship at Bosler Hall on the campus of Dickinson College. This would be the first of two occasions when the congregation would use Bosler as its temporary church home.
The new church was dedicated in March, 1892, and was named the William Clare Allison Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. As you might suspect, the widow of Mr. Allison made a substantial gift toward the construction of the church in memory of her husband. Her gift was not conditioned, however, on the basis that the church be named after her late husband. That was a decision the church Trustees made believing the size of her gift warranted the name change. Her gift equaled about 20% of the total construction cost. The cost of the new church, including equipment, and the construction of a new parsonage adjacent to the church, totaled $50,576.
During the next 62 years Allison Church continued to grow.
Then on the night of January 20, 1954, disaster struck. A fire broke out in the furnace room. Apparently the fire had been smoldering several hours before anyone noticed and called in the fire alarm. During those hours gas began to collect at the ceiling level of the Sanctuary.
Within minutes of the fire alarm being sounded, the fire department responded. Initially the firemen believed they had put the fire out, and were in the process of evacuating the building when suddenly the whole sanctuary exploded, knocking out the stained glass windows and consuming the whole building in fire. Fortunately no one was injured.
The fire burned most of the night, with multiple fire companies responding to contain the fire. There was concern that the fire would spread to the parsonage and the President's home.
As it turned out, both the parsonage and the President's home were saved from damage. But the church was totally destroyed.
With the building in ruins, the College Trustees again extended to the congregation an invitation to use Bosler Hall as their temporary home, which the church readily accepted. Not a single worship service was missed, including the Sunday following the fire. During the four-year period between January, 1954, through April, 1958, Allison made Bosler Hall her temporary home.
The embers were barely cool from the fire before Allison and Dickinson Trustees were meeting together to decide Allison's next step. During one of these meetings Dickinson Trustees proposed that Allison relocate to the southwest end of Benjamin Rush Campus, to which the Allison Trustees readily agreed. Ironically, a factor in agreeing to relocate involved the availability of more parking for Allison since there was already a small parking lot at the location. The move would reduce the limitations imposed by street parking only.
It was agreed that the College and the church would share parking spaces. Remember, this was in 1954, before Witwer and Adams dormitories were constructed, and the enrollment at the College numbered in the hundreds instead of several thousand. In those days few students had cars to bring to college.
Dickinson Trustees also agreed to contribute to the cost of the new facility, with the understanding that the sanctuary would double as a college chapel. These were years when compulsory chapel services were still required of all students. In 1964, the College abandoned this requirement. It was further agreed by both parties that the exterior of the building would match the limestone exterior of other Dickinson buildings.
So on March 10th, 1956, ground was broken for the new church. The cornerstone was laid several weeks later on the northeast corner of the building along Mooreland Avenue.
As a way of preserving its historical legacy, cornerstones from both the Centenary and Allison Memorial Churches were also included in the new structure. The cornerstones are located to the left of the campus entrance.
After 25 months of construction, the new church was consecrated in April 1958, with numerous services conducted over four days. The name of the new church was abbreviated simply to Allison Methodist Church.
The total cost of the project - including furnishings and landscaping - came to a total of $878,209. Of this amount, the fire insurance claim totaled 20% of the cost; Dickinson College contributed 23%; the Central PA conference and neighboring Conferences of the Methodist Church contributed $19%; and the congregation contributed $38%. The congregation borrowed a portion of their needed funds. Nine years later, on January 15, 1967, Allison celebrated the burning of its mortgage.
In recounting this history it's been my hope that you will appreciate the cloud of witnesses who preceded us in faith; who risked making changes as circumstances warranted; and who made personal sacrifices to preserve a legacy of faith for the generations that followed. My prayer is that we today will be as bold and committed in preserving the same legacy of faith as we discern Christ's future for Allison.
AMEN