When the Clock Strikes Midnight

Storrs House Museum, Longmeadow

In a few short days we will all settle in and prepare to ring in a new year. Perhaps a clock like this will help you keep time. Today this tall clock resides at the Storrs House Museum, the home of the Longmeadow Historical Society.

Henry H. Emerson of Longmeadow donated the clock to the Historical Society in 1942, one year before his death. The Emerson siblings who lived at 476 Longmeadow Street are responsible for much of what we know about old Longmeadow. Paesiello Emerson took hundreds of black and white images of the town, houses, and people that we use to tell our stories; Annie Emerson was an early supporter of and historian for the Historical Society, and Henry donated several items from the family’s home for us to preserve.

The clock as it stood in the corner of the Emerson home c. 1920

Not much is known about the original owner of this 7½ ft tall clock with wooden works. Accession records indicate that it had resided in the “Cooley-Emerson” house since around 1820 when it was made and that perhaps its pine case was made by Longmeadow resident David White.

A few years ago local horologist, David Gallup, examined it and shared his interesting insights: "Connecticut Tall Clock, Wooden Movement, circa 1820. The movement for this clock was made in Connecticut at the beginning of the 19th century by an unknown maker when small water-powered shops were making wooden movement clocks from the forests of Connecticut using oak, cherry, and laurel. Brass movement clocks were very expensive to make and only the wealthy of New England could afford them. The case is a country case made of pine and stained. Some cases were hand grained. This clock is weight powered and runs about thirty hours. It has to be wound every day by pulling up the cords on the weights. The dial is hand-painted on wood. This country clock was affordable for the residents of small New England towns whose economy relied primarily on agriculture." Longmeadow of 1820 certainly was a community of frugal-minded farmers.

Particularly intriguing about the clock is the presence of masonic figures on the face. The original owners of the house, the Cooley family, counted several masons among its members. At least four Cooleys were members in local lodges, including Stephen Cooley, Jr who was a charter member of the local lodge in 1817. Hanan Cooley, his brother, was a mason/gravestone carver.

An antique clock such as this one has watched over the turning of approximately 200 new years. If it is true that it stood in one house for the first century and a half of its life, imagine what stories it could tell about the people and households who made sure to wind it every day to keep it running. How many ordinary days did it keep time for? How many momentous events did it stand watch over?

The Longmeadow Historical Society wishes you a healthy and happy New Year. We look forward to bringing more stories of our town to you in 2024.

Contributed by Melissa Cybulski, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society. Support by Al and Betsy McKee.

Originally published December 31, 2020

Early Center School Kindergarten

Center School Kindergarten (undated)

One look at this busy classroom scene evokes memories of past Decembers when teachers and students alike counted the days until a well-deserved holiday break to celebrate the season and the beginning of a new year! Such a festive time! As the town's population has grown over the past century, children from families of many faiths and cultures have brought their customs into classrooms to share with their teachers and classmates. This image, likely a kindergarten, was captured in a classroom in the earlier years of the Center School building that still stands on the green today. Hard to say exactly when this photo was taken, but the new school building opened to students on September 3, 1929. Kindergarten was still optional, and a largely new occurrence in public schools. Parents in town were increasingly interested in giving their children a headstart on formal schooling, though. Converse Street School converted one of its classrooms to a kindergarten around this time with success. Norway Street School was too crowded for one, but parents were invited to send their children to the new Center School if they chose. Miss Lorraine W. Benner was hired to teach the new Center School kindergarten at an annual salary of $1450. Her classroom had 25 students. Perhaps she and her students were better off than the 3rd-grade classroom that held 39 students that year!

Per the 1929 Annual Town Report: “The building committee and the superintendent of schools spent much time studying modern features of school equipment. They decided to use movable chairs and tables in the three lower grades as well as in the kindergarten. The upper grades were equipped with the usual fixed desks but with swivel chairs. On September 3, nine rooms were occupied, six by the regular grades and one by the kindergarten. The layout of the finished building stands as follows: an auditorium with stage, 12 classrooms (including kindergarten and a room for special class work), library and board room, dental clinic, health room, teachers’ restroom, reception room, principal's office, serving room, stockroom, four toilet rooms, two basement playrooms with lunch counter, boiler room, and janitor’s work room.” The total cost for the new school was $125,900. Next door, the Junior High shop classes built 51 flower box stands and 2 chests for blocks for the new school.

The Longmeadow Historical Society wishes all town teachers, staff, parents, and children a joyous and peaceful holiday break this year! You certainly deserve it! Perhaps in 100 years, we’ll be writing about your extraordinary efforts in 2020 to keep school going for our children during a global pandemic.

Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published December 24, 2020

Early Music in Longmeadow's First Church

Recently on Facebook, the First Church of Longmeadow began sharing a few videos of their virtual choir. In this global pandemic age when choirs cannot meet in person, their approach of editing individual performances into one cohesive video presentation is the perfect meeting of art and technology.

It also inspires us to wonder how Longmeadow’s earliest residents and First Church members would feel about such an assembly of voices. Surely the technology in and of itself would be a marvel.

Early documents and writings show us that in the earliest years of the church singing was controversial. Longmeadow’s First Church building was built in 1716 and its first minister, 22-year-old Stephen Williams, began his 67-year tenure at the pulpit. The church was the center of all social, political, and spiritual life for the young community.

Williams kept a diary of his life in Longmeadow. In a nine-month period between 1717-1718, he mentions his worries over community strife caused by the issue of singing at services at least 28 times. Early New England settlers were steeped in Puritan tradition. It seems Rev. Williams wished to bring singing into the congregation and it was met with resistance by his flock. On July 25, 1717, he writes in his diary, “this day I have observed some uneasiness among neighbors about singing & I am at loss to do in ye case – oh Lord God be pleased to direct thine unworthy servant in the case.” A month later on August 21, he writes, “Some of my neighbours seem to be exceedingly out of humour because of what has been said & done about singing.” And on October 11, “this day I heard of some of my neighbours had lost their affection for me because of what I did about singing, but my conscience don’t accuse me of any irregularity in the matter – but I pray ye to forgive me & show me his will.” Clearly, this weighed heavily on his soul.

It is difficult to know exactly what caused some of his congregants to so strongly oppose the idea of singing during services, but in Longmeadow’s 1884 Centennial Book, Rev. John W. Harding writes about the early years of the church: “Alas! the strife that raged awhile between the Psalter and Watts's Hymns; between the free singing and that by rote- the unheavenly dissonance - as Thomas Walter (1696-1725), the Roxbury pastor says, ‘left to the mercy of every unskilful throat to chop and alter, twist and change, according to their diverse fancies; and, 'so little attention paid to time, that they were often one or two words apart, producing noises so hideous and disorderly as is bad beyond expression." One can only imagine the sounds pouring out of the new church on the green!

The “Psalters” likely would have supported the use of The Bay Psalm Book (1640), the first book ever printed in New England and a staple of early New England Christian worship services. Watt’s Hymns refers to a 1707 addition to spiritual music called Hymns and Spiritual Songs by Isaac Watts. While psalms were believed to be directly inspired by the word of God, Watts’ hymns were not as direct a connection to the actual word of God as Watts had written and composed them himself.

In 1765, the church voted “that there Some Suitable Person Provided Upon the Precinct Cost to Instruct us in the Art of Singing – And that Deacons Nathaniel Ely, Erza Stebbins, and Eleazer Smith be a Committee to Hire Some Person."

Fast forward to 2020, and the art of singing is indeed strong with The First Church of Christ Virtual Choir under the direction of music director, Dan Inglis.

Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published December 17, 2020