First organization of congregation: February 13, 1921. 29 original members joined.
Church officially recognized by church organization:
October 6, 1921...congregation viable enough to be admitted to Eastern Pennsylvania Synod.
Church charter signed: March 6, 1923, charter signed by church councilmen. May 8, 1923, charter accepted by court and signed by Judge Isaac H. Johnson.
Groundbreaking of land for church: November 16, 1925. Cornerstone laid: May 2, 1926
Building finished and dedicated: November 7, 1926.
A Brief History: As you can imagine it took a lot of time and effort to establish this church. After the church was dedicated, the numbers grew to three hundred. Most were drawn to the church by the activities the church sponsored, such as Vacation Bible Schools. Others were drawn by the beautiful interior of the building. During the Second World War, the basement of the building was utilized as a kind of headquarters for the war effort. Recently it lost membership due to a number of factors. One of the biggest factors was the split services conducted by Reverend Frederic Watson in the late 1980s as an experiment. The experiment failed as even more decided to leave. The last church service was Easter Sunday 2011.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog today - lot's of interesting posts, as I grew up in neighboring Aldan in the 1960s.
I used to play softball in a league that included First Lutheran, Nazarene, and Collingdale Baptist. So sad, the number of churches that have changed hands in Collingdale.
Will you be doing a post on Frank's Hobby Shop (was on MacDade near Sharon Ave)?
Nice photo of 2 older Collingdale #1 fire trucks.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I bought this book on Amazon.com, which includes a photo of the Mack city service ladder truck that Collingdale #1 used from about 1951-1969.