The Traveling Gospel Tent of 1913
— A Southwick Time Machine Story of Faith
Meetings were held each evening. There were Bible studies, worship, speeches, special gatherings for women, music, and social events. Activities and games for children took place on the lawn out front.
Traveling with the tent were three young men who spent three months moving from place to place.
 |
The 1913 Gospel Tent pictured in Hampden during its final stop of the season. Standing in front of the tent are the three young men who traveled with it throughout the summer. |
The Gospel Tent was an initiative of the Congregational churches of Hampden County. Henry Jacobson of Leicester was in charge. Jacobson had received his A.B. degree from Clark University in 1912. Charles C. Keith of Boston, a member of the Boston University Class of 1916, conducted the children’s meetings. The third member of the group was Edward J. Hyde of South Sandisfield, who had received a musical education in New York and represented the Massachusetts Bible Society.
The tent’s journey began in Granville, where it was set up on the baseball grounds. The first meeting was held on the evening of June 12, 1913. Guest speakers were a regular feature of the Gospel Tent, and the Granville schedule included some impressive speakers, among them Reverend Frederic K. Brown, who had recently accepted the call to the Southwick Congregational Church.
On Sunday, June 15, one of the young men associated with the Gospel Tent preached from the pulpit of the Congregational Church in Granville Center. Before long, the tent moved on to Southwick.
It was originally expected to remain in Southwick for only two or three weeks.
On June 24, the Gospel Tent was set up on Loomis Street along the Granville Road, opposite the schoolhouse. From there, it moved to the Longyard, where it was located near the home of Samuel N. Foster beginning July 8.
The tent was situated in the northern part of the Longyard, between the villages of Southwick and Feeding Hills, and attendance was very good. It was so good that the Gospel Tent stayed in the Longyard longer than originally planned.
When the time finally came for the tent to move on, the young men were strongly urged to return to the Longyard for another visit.
The Gospel Tent’s next Southwick-area stop came on July 21, when it was situated just west of Congamond Railroad Station. It remained there for six days.
The turnout was considered satisfactory, attracting summer tourists visiting Southwick Ponds as well as many of the Italian residents of the Point Grove Road section of town, then home to one of Southwick's largest Italian communities.
From Congamond, the traveling Gospel Tent continued to the Little River section of Westfield. There, the response was even more encouraging. The attendance and interest were so strong that the community seemed to be a promising place to organize a church. At the time, there was no church in Little River.
During its stay in Little River, the Gospel Tent served an unexpected purpose. On the morning of August 6, Edgar L. Thomas, a finisher at the renowned Waltham Watch Company, and Miss Grace F. Simpson, both of Waltham, were married inside, transforming the temporary revival tent into a wedding chapel.
The pulpit was decorated with green birch and sumac branches intertwined with flowers, and a bower of cut flowers created a beautiful setting for the ceremony. Drawing on his musical training, Edward Hyde played the wedding march. Reverend Ayer of Westfield officiated, assisted by Reverend Henry Jacobson and Reverend Charles Keith.
After leaving Little River, the tent was stored for a time while the three young men traveled to Northfield for a week of rest and inspiration.
Then they were back on the road.The tent moved on to East Wilbraham, where the results were again encouraging. From there, it made its final stop in Hampden.
The tent arrived there on September 6, and the first meeting was held on Sunday evening, September 7.
But September weather in Massachusetts was beginning to turn cold.
At Monday evening’s meeting, Charles Keith spoke on the theme “Truth Freedom.” The text was “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
The three young men had been living in a small tent behind the Gospel Tent as they traveled from community to community. The arrival of a cold snap persuaded them to accept the hospitality of Hampden residents, who offered them a warmer place to sleep.
Charles Keith gave the principal address again at Thursday evening’s meeting, speaking on the theme “Consecration.” An oil heater was brought in, making the tent comfortably warm.
The Hampden stay lasted eight days, which was shorter than some of the tent's earlier stops. The weather eventually became too cold for the outdoor meetings, and the tent was taken down for the season on September 15.
Despite the cold, local interest had actually increased. The final meeting drew such a crowd that it was standing room only.
The Gospel Tent was considered a success, and its continuation under the same leadership was recommended for another summer.
The Watch That Changed Time
When Edgar Levi Thomas married Grace Simpson in the Gospel Tent on August 6, 1913, he was working as a finisher in the watch industry. Decades later, he was listed as a watchmaker at the renowned Waltham Watch Company, connecting his life story to one of Massachusetts' most influential manufacturing companies.
Founded in 1850, the Waltham Watch Company revolutionized American watchmaking by pioneering the large-scale production of watches using precision machinery and interchangeable parts. Through standardized components and carefully organized production methods, Waltham Watches made it possible to manufacture accurate, reliable watches on a massive scale.
Waltham watches became known around the world for their quality. They were carried by railroad workers, soldiers, explorers, and even President Abraham Lincoln, who owned a Waltham pocket watch.
But the company's influence reached far beyond timekeeping. The precision manufacturing methods pioneered at Waltham helped shape the future of American industry. Henry Ford studied Waltham's highly organized production system, one of several influences that some historians say helped shape the moving assembly line that made the Model T affordable to millions of Americans and transformed automobile manufacturing.
Waltham Watch Company went out of business in 1957.
An authentic Waltham Watch pocket watch once sold for $1.485 million. The 14-karat solid gold watch belonged to John Jacob Astor IV. It was recovered when Mr. Astor's body was pulled from the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean seven days after the sinking of the mighty Titanic on April 15, 1912. The body was identified by the initials "JJA," which were engraved on the watch and also sewn into his suit jacket. Astor, the wealthiest passenger aboard the "unsinkable" ship, had been traveling with his young, pregnant wife, Madeleine. She and her unborn child escaped the sinking luxury liner in Lifeboat No. 4.
John Jacob Astor IV was 47 when he married 18-year-old Madeleine Talmage Force in 1911—a 29-year age difference. She was pregnant at the time. The marriage came shortly after Astor's divorce from his first wife, Ava Willing, adding another layer of controversy to the union. When the couple boarded the Titanic, Madeleine was still pregnant with their child. Their son, John Jacob Astor VI, was born four months after the disaster.
Madeleine lived another 29 years after her marriage to Astor. She remained in high society until her death from heart disease in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1940, at the age of 46.
Reverend Brown was born in England. He accepted the call to the Southwick Congregational Church about April 1913.
 |
| Original Photo - September 1913 |
Amazon may pay the Southwick Time Machine a small commission for any purchases you make when you access your Amazon account through any of the Amazon links on this page.