Old North Church (Sierra Madre, California)

Old North Church
Sierra Madre Congregational Church

Old North Church, Sierra Madre, California
Old North Church in Sierra Madre, California
General information
Status Used for Youth Groups
and Indonesia Church: Jemaat Kristen
Architectural style Georgian architecture
Town or city Sierra Madre, California
Country United States
Coordinates 34°9′44″N 118°3′40″W / 34.16222°N 118.06111°W / 34.16222; -118.06111
Elevation 263 m (863 ft)
Current tenants Sierra Madre Congregational Church
Construction started 1889
Completed 1890
Cost $3,300
Technical details
Structural system Wood
Designations Sierra Madre Historic Landmark #40
Original 1887 Sierra Madre City Library on Central Ave, renamed Sierra Madre Blvd in 1936. Sierra Madre Congregational Church temporary meeting place in the 1880s.
Original 1895 Sierra Madre Town Hall (with Cigar Factory next door) at Baldwin and Central Ave (now a gas station) . Sierra Madre Congregational Church temporary meeting place in the 1880s.
Sierra Madre Congregational Church
Sierra Madre Historic Landmark #39
Architect: Marsh, Smith, & Powell
Construction started: 1924
Construction completion: 1928
Cost: $80,000
Architectural style: Romanesque Revival
Across the Street from Old North Church
Central Ave, Sierra Madre CA in 1904. A mule team is grading the Ave for the installation of the 1905 Pacific Electric street car, in the background is the Old North Church with the original barn roof bell tower.

Old North Church (ONC) Sierra Madre, California. Old North Church in Sierra Madre, California is a historic landmark building built in 1890, one of the oldest churches in Sierra Madre.[1] It is site #40 on Sierra Madre designated historical landmarks list. There are forty-eight properties listed on Sierra Madre's Designated Historical Properties List.[2]

History

The Old North Church was constructed by hand with local wood. It is located on the north side of the current Sierra Madre Blvd at Hermosa. In 1890 Sierra Madre Blvd was a dirt street called Central Avenue. Old North Church is currently owned by its builder, Sierra Madre Congregational Church. The Old North Church is closely linked with the early settlement of Sierra Madre.[3] The community of Sierra Madre was established in the fall of 1881. Sierra Madre Congregational Church started as a Sunday School class in February 1882. Without a building of its own, the church originally met in the city's original 1882 one-room schoolhouse at the corner of Hermosa and Live Oak, now called Orange Grove.[4] To use the schoolhouse as a church on Sunday mornings, the pump organ, hymnbooks, and winter firewood were transported to the schoolhouse by the attendees. The following years the Church met in the original city library and the original City Hall. With the completion of the Old North Church in 1890, the church had its own meeting spot. Congregational Church of Sierra Madre was officially established in March 27, 1886 as a nondenominational church congregational church, with 13 founding members. One of the 13 founding members was Mrs. Annetta M. Carter.[3]

The Church's second, and current, main building was built across the street in 1928.[3] The 1928 Church building is also a Sierra Madre designated historical landmark, as site #39. Having outgrown the Old North Church in the mid 1920s, the Congregational Church of Sierra Madre built a new stone Church in a Romanesque Revival architecture style, designed by Marsh, Smith, & Powell.[5][6] After the move, the Old North Church was sold to the First Church of the Nazarene. After the Church of the Nazarene outgrew the Old North Church, it was sold back to Sierra Madre Congregational Church in 1976.[7] Congregational Church purchased back the Old North Church for the use of its youth and children, its current role. Sierra Madre's Cub Scouts Pack 373, and some of Boy Scouts Troop 373, meetings are held in the Old North Church. Troop 373 was founded in the Old North Church in 1924. Cub Scouts Pack 373 was started in the Old North Church in 1971.[8][9]
The Old North Church survived the 1991 Sierra Madre earthquake relatively undamaged. The 1928 building had damage to the bell tower, which was torn down brick by brick and rebuilt. The original ONC bell tower was built with a barn shaped roof;[10] later the Church of the Nazarene changed the bell tower to have a more classic pointed spire.

In 1890 Old North Church attendees had to walk, ride a horse or ride in a horse buggy. In 1905 the Pacific Electric street car was installed and rolled in front of the Old North Church, on the Sierra Madre line, each day till service ended in 1950.[5][11]

Mrs. Annetta M. Carter (Feb, 10, 1846-Sept. 24, 1937), wife of Nathaniel Coburn Carter (Jan. 24, 1840 - Sept. 2, 1904), was key founder of Sierra Madre Congregational Church.[3][12] Nathaniel and Annetta married in Feb. of 1864 and had 5 children: Florence, (now Mrs. William H. Mead); Arthur N. (b1868), Julia F., Anita E. (the first child born in the Sierra Madre, (b1883, m1910 to Holt R Gregory) and Phillip C (b1885). Annetta M. Pierce (Carter) and Nathaniel both were natives of Lowell, Massachusetts, Nathaniel came to California for his health in 1871.[13][14] In February 1881, Nathaniel Carter purchased the original 1103 acres that comprised the new city of Sierra Madre. The land was acquired in three purchases: 845 acres of Rancho Santa Anita from Lucky Baldwin, 108 acres from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and 150 acres from Levi Richardson (-Aug. 9, 1884). With no church in the new small town Annetta Carter helped form the worship group in 1882 that became Sierra Madre Congregational Church.[15][16]

Just to the west of the Old North Church are two other historic buildings: a 1919 Old Mortuary (was Ripple Mortuary, now called the New Life Center) and the 1915 Caretaker American Craftsman home (now called the Hospitality House). Both structures were purchased by SMCC in 1986.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ us.geoview.info, Old North Church in Sierra Madre
  2. ↑ City of Sierra Madre Historic landmark list
  3. 1 2 3 4 smccnet.org, Sierra Madre Congregational Church-(SMCC), Church History, EARLY YEARS
  4. ↑ seeingsierramadre.com, Old North Church History
  5. 1 2 cityofsierramadre.com, Timeline
  6. ↑ seeingsierramadre.com April, 4, 2013 SMCC
  7. ↑ City of Sierra Madre, General Plan Technical Background Report, September 2012, PDF file, cityofsierramadre.com/documents
  8. ↑ Pack 373 of Sierra Madre
  9. ↑ Troop 373 of Sierra Madre
  10. ↑ Photo Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society, Gallery SM and SMCC
  11. ↑ Electric Railway Historical Association, Sierra Madre line
  12. ↑ seeingsierramadre.com Mr. and Mrs. Carter b-d dates
  13. ↑ ancestry.com, Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies, NATHANIEL C. CARTER
  14. ↑ Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 6, Page 178, In memory of Nathaniel Coburn Carter
  15. ↑ THE MT. WILSON OBSERVER, January 5 - January 10, 200, Sierra Madre Turns 100, Year Long Celebration Begins, By Susan Henderso, Page 3
  16. ↑ Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 6, page 178
  17. ↑ mtnviewsnews.com, Mountain News News, VOLUME 9 NO. 16, DID YOU EVER WANT TO PEEK INSIDE THE OLD NORTH CHURCH ACROSS FROM MEMORIAL PARK?, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2015

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.