Category:
Roland Mather addressed a letter to George Chase, chair of the Asylum Hill Congregational Society, that stated it was time to complete the church building and donating $19,000 toward that end.
F. Irvin Davis (1908) gave the cost of the steeple as $20,000. Melva Swartz (1940) repeated this figure for the cost. There is no subsequent reporting that the cost of construction overran the original amount of the gift.
The bell arrived at the church on June 22, 1871.
George Chase would read this letter to the Asylum Hill Congregational Society at a special meeting held on February 10, 1875.
The Courant article quoted Mather’s letter in its entirety: “Dear Sir – The time has come, I think, when the tower and spire of your church should be carried up and the edifice completed. Let me ask you to go forward and contract for the work to be done soon. You may rely on me to furnish the funds for the purpose to the amount of nineteen thousand dollars ($19,000), as a gift to the society.”
$19,000 in 1875 would be equivalent to $457,514.82 in 2021.
Swartz, Melva J., “Hill Church Will Observe Anniversary,” Hartford Courant, March 18, 1940, page 1.
Unattributed, “Asylum Hill Congregational Church,” Hartford Daily Courant, February 11, 1875, page 8
Unattributed, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church,” Hartford Courant, February 14, 1915, page X5
Unattributed, “History of the Hill Church – F. Irvin Davis Gives It in Brief,” Hartford Courant, March 2, 1908, page 4.
Unattributed, “Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Twichell Honored at Anniversary of His Church,” Hartford Courant, March 24, 1915, page 16.
Share this: