Springfield congregation celebrates 70 years of worship

This year, the Church of Christ congregation is celebrating their 70th year of worship in Springfield with a special two-hour service on Sunday, Aug. 28 starting at 10 a.m.


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2016-08-25 / Local Springfield congregation celebrates 70 years of worship By NEIL P. ALLEN mftwmail@gmail.com A vacation bible school held at our previous building near Riverside Middle School in Springfield, at what was then 4 Park St. and is now a Chester Road address. The picture was taken circa 1967. — COURTESY A vacation bible school held at our previous building near Riverside Middle School in Springfield, at what was then 4 Park St. and is now a Chester Road address. The picture was taken circa 1967. — COURTESY SPRINGFIELD — This year, the Church of Christ congregation is celebrating their 70th year of worship in Springfield with a special two-hour service on Sunday, Aug. 28 starting at 10 a.m. The first hour of the service will celebrate the congregation's early years and the second hour will be for the later years. Following the service there will be a picnic lunch then an old fashioned hymn at 3 p.m. The celebration is open to the public and all are welcome. The congregation began in the fall of 1941 in a small home on Rita Street owned by Urban and Bea Richardson. A short time later, Mary Erskine started to attend the meetings at the Richardson’s home. After more members of the Erskine and Richardson family joined the meetings, they had a solid core of members, according to Ed Wilkins, an elder at the Church of Christ. Then, on Feb. 28, 1946, the congregation was incorporated under Vermont law, which allowed them to own property and meet other legal business requirements. They bought a home in 1945 that was “one of the oldest buildings in Springfield — the Old Field Mansion,” said Daryl Wilkins, Ed’s wife and granddaughter of Mary Erskine. The building was originally on the Park Street Extension now known as Chester Road. After renovations, they held their first service in June 1947. In 1957, they bought a home on Whitcomb Street for the minister to live in. Charles MacDonald was the first minister to live in the house. It is still used by the current minister. By 1964, they had outgrown the building and built a new building closer to Chester at 972 Chester Road, where services are held to this day. Daryl’s granddaughters are the sixth generation of the family in the church. “It feels like it is now my legacy to share,” she said. Several former ministers will be coming back including Lee Cooper who served from 1964 to 1971; James Russell from 1976 to 1980; Leeland King from 1991 to 2008 and Chais DiMaggio, who grew up in the congregation and “served as minister in one capacity or another,” said Ed. The congregation has about 100 members. On Sundays, they have a bible study at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. There is a bible study on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.