Waterbury Democrat., 1902-04-05
 THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
Second Congregational Church Had Ap-
 propriate Celebration Last Night.

propriate Celebration Last Night. of which the Rev J. G. Davenport is pastor, celebrated it's fiftieth anni- versary last evening in an appropriate was present. which included people from other churches of the city. The very interesting services were opened with an organ prelude. The doxology and the invocation followed and then the Rev l.. H. Holden conducted q re- sponsive reading. The Rev Joseph An derson, D. D., pastor of the First Con- gregational church, the mother of tie Second church. offered the prayer, and the choir rendered Dudley Bucks ''Ie Deum" in D major.
 Of the fifty charter members of the church thirteen are now living. The six now living in this city are: Deacon D. F. Maltby, Mrs Mary A. Maltby, Deacon A. M. Blakesley, Mrs Cornelta NJ. J. Benedict. Albert s. Upson and Mrs Cornelia C. Holmes. Those who l are members of other churches are: Mrs Carolina S. Fabrique, Alma Ter lrell, Henry W. Steele, Mrs Cornelia A. D. Kenney. Mrs Maria L. Warner, Dea- iCOu A. LuuI, MILO I11Qe.
 l The pastor also read papers written by Deacon Homer W. Keeler and former Deacon Edwin A. Lun. Dea- con Douglass r. Maltby read one pre- pared by himself for the occasion. All three papers dealt with reminiscences of the early history of the church.
 Several letters from absent members of the church were read, and after the e r \ r., Light" by the choir, the Rev B. F. Root the new pastor of the Third Con- gregational church, pronounced tine | benediction.
 1 During MT Davenport's address, among other things he gave the follow ing interesting reminiscence of early Waterbury:
 The church is comparatively young. and yet it is older than about twenty other churches that have been estab- lished within the present limits of the town Of Waterbury, itself being tue sixth here formed. Only the First Congregational. St Johns Protestant Episcopal, the First Baptist, the First Methodist and the Roman Catholic church of the Immaculate Conception antedate it. I think it will be general ly admitted that the fifty years through winch It has lived are among the most Interesting and important that have passed since the world began
 They have been eventful years fol | Waterbury. The church when organ Ilzed was not a city church. but one of the institutions of borough whicI had here been established in 1895. Ir 1852 Edward B. Cooke, afterward fol many years prominently connected with the Waterbury American. was warden of the borough and it's last as the following year a city charter was obtained and the city of Waterblry
 began it's career. The census of 3S5( gave our town but 5,137 inhabitants almost exactly one-tenth that reported
 by the census of 1900. If we could bs carried back through the fifty years
 and set down i'll the little village here
 standing, probably we should scarcoly recognize the locality as one that VI
 had seen before. The green was en
 closed by wooden railing, with iso lated posts at appropriate intervals fo1
 the entrance and exit of the people
 The trees upon it were none of then
 more than ten years old and many ot them but four. The drinking fountain
 and the soldiers monument were. ot
 course, among the things not ye
 dreamed of. The First church wa.
 worshipping in a wooden building. ant
 Gothic hall, its former place of wor
 ship, stood upon the site of the presen
 Odd Fellows building. Where the cit, hall now lifts it's imposing front stood
 the old stone academy building, whicl
 two years before had been turned int
 a dwelling and which was afterward
 occupied as a residence by the frs
 pastor of this church. The stores wer,
 few and unpretentious. The Water
 bury National bank, as it is now called
 was but four years old, and the Wa terbury Savings bank but two, ant .. these were all the banking institution within the town. It was only thre
 years before that the completion of tn Naugatuck railroad had brought tn place into easy communication vitl Long Island sound and with Ney York. It was only that year that il : Illuminating gas was introduced into tn
 borough. The factories at that tim
 employed an aggregate average Q about 775 men. This part of the towl was but slightly built up. Beyond tn corner just west of Us Judd's taver1 ! had stood for many years, but in 1S3 I was destroyed by fire with the terribi : circumstances at which some of Il : used to shudder as they were describe s in Barbers Historical Collections. Tn n wide spreading city of today with it e beautiful homes and its attractiv l places of business was unknown. ET
 terprise. as with fairy's wand. ha
 changed the entire aspect of the place
 since the original members of thi { church. on that memorable Sunday al
 ternoon, fifty years ago, left Gothic hal for their homeS'