Emmanuel Church (Killingworth, Connecticut)
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church is an historic church building at 50 Emmanuel Church Road in
Killingworth, Connecticut Killingworth is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,174 at the 2020 United States Census. History Killingworth was established from the area called Hammon ...
, United States.


History

The church society was organized in the mid-eighteenth century and known as the Episcopalian Society of North Bristol (now North Madison) and North Killingworth. In 1800, the society was organized as a parish of the
Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut (also known as The Episcopal Church in Connecticut) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the entire state of Connecticut. It is one of the nine original dioceses ...
. The society erected the present church in 1803 and it was called Union Church after 1805. The church, located off Route 148, was organized on July 10, 1800, by 19 residents of North Madison (then North Bristol, named after the Bristol family who were founding members of the church) and two residents of Killingworth. The church building was completed and formally consecrated by Bishop Hobart of New York in 1817. The first part-time pastor, Nathan Bennett Burgess, was hired in 1801. The church was slightly enlarged and formally renamed Emmanuel Church, which is
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "God is with us", in 1869. The church fell on hard times in the late nineteenth century. The handful of families remaining in the congregation considered selling the building. The Rev. George B. Gilbert, a native of
Randolph, Vermont Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,774 at the 2020 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities that s ...
, arrived as pastor in 1909. Gilbert, a graduate of
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
and
Berkeley Divinity School Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," ...
(now associated with
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
) who lived in Middletown, had just had a falling out with leaders of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown over his informal style and populist political views. Gilbert revitalized Emmanuel Church, building the congregation and holding picnics that would draw hundreds of people to the remote Killingworth location. During nearly four decades at Emmanuel Church, he also was pastor of the Church of the Epiphany in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
and St. James Church in Haddam, also in Middlesex County. When the ''Christian Herald'' was looking for a "traditional country preacher" to be the subject of a book in the late 1930s, the magazine's readers recommended Gilbert as the perfect choice. The
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
he wrote for the magazine, ''Forty Years a Country Preacher'', was published by
Harper and Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
in 1939. It topped
The New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
for several months and made Gilbert the subject of a photo spread and article in the July 24, 1939, edition of ''
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'' magazine as well as an article in ''
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''. Gilbert's son, Charles, said his father wrote the book in long hand while recovering from an operation on his foot. The manuscript was typed by his daughter, Virginia Gilbert. The Rev. Gilbert, who also was a state representative and
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of the state Senate, died in 1948 at age 76. Gilbert said his father was a man who believed that dedicating his life to the church also required a dedication to the least fortunate members of society. Gilbert would take in homeless people and parolees from the old
Wethersfield State Prison Wethersfield State Prison was the second state prison in the state of Connecticut. Used between 1827 and 1963, it was later demolished and the site turned into a park on the banks of the Connecticut River. History Connecticut opened the Wethersf ...
to live and work at his 25-acre farm, which was located at the intersection of Millbrook Road and Prout Hill Road in Middletown. "He liked to help poor people, that was his bent," Gilbert said. "We always had one or two strangers, people who were down on their luck, living with us." Emmanuel Church was down on its luck within a few years after Gilbert's death. Virginia Gilbert, who worked as the librarian at Woodrow Wilson High School in Middletown, struggled to hold the dwindling congregation together during the 1950s. In the late 1960s, the church was changed from a
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
to a
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to secure additional financial support from the state Episcopal diocese. The aid included installing electricity at the church for the first time, in 1970. In 1980 the church joined the Middlesex Area Cluster Ministry, a regional ministry that for the past three decades has provided rotating ministers for small Episcopal churches in Killingworth, St. James in
Higganum Higganum is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Haddam, a part of Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,089 at the 2020 census. History The name "Higganum" is derived from an Indian name mean ...
and St. Andrew's in Northford. The construction of a parish hall and kitchen in 1989 brought Emmanuel Church its first
indoor plumbing Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a Tap (valve), tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used fo ...
facilities. The congregation had used an outhouse for the preceding 189 years.


Inside the church

The church houses an
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
built by the firm Karl Wilhelm Inc. of
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. In its design and construction, the organ is true to historic principles, dating back to the seventeenth century. The free-standing self-contained case is made of
white oak The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...
with hand-carved butternut pipe shades, which are gilded with 22 karat
gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...
. The natural keys are covered with
ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...
and the sharps are rosewood and plated with cow bone. There are 8 stops of metal pipes which are of tin-lead alloy, that provide an amazing versatility of sounds, from soft to bright and full. The Bourdon 16’ and 8’, played with the feet on the pedal board, are made of wood and are used to play the bass notes. There is a total of 636 pipes. The church also has a single stained glass window and a brass chandelier.


Current use

The congregation is Episcopal. The church's outreach programs include Helping Hands Food Bank, HK Back Pack programs, Welcome baskets for the Albert J. Solnit Children's Center, Amazing Grace Food Pantry, St. Vincent dePaul's Place, Bishop's Fund for Children, Heifer International, Lulac Head Start, New Horizons Women's Shelter, clothing collections for the South Dakota Indians and Mision Divino Salvador in Bogota, Colombia. The building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1999.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Connecticut __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Connecticut. There are 123 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United S ...


References


External links


Emmanuel Episcopal ChurchEpiscopal Diocese of ConnecticutMiddletown, Connecticut Patch
{{Anglicanism Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Federal architecture in Connecticut Churches completed in 1803 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Killingworth, Connecticut Churches in Middlesex County, Connecticut Episcopal church buildings in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut