The Anglican Church first came to the United States of America in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and got a foothold in the very heart of Puritan New England with the establishment of St. James’ Parish, Great Barrington, the first Anglican parish in what is now the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.
In 1701, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, later commonly known as the “S.P.G” was founded. Between 1701 and the outbreak of the American Revolution, the S.P.G. sent to America and provided support for no fewer than 353 Anglican priests. Included among then were Solomon Palmer, the first priest to hold services and administer sacraments according to the Prayer Book in Great Barrington; Thomas Davies, the priest who organized what is now St. James’ Parish in 1762; and Gideon Bostwick, St. James’ first Rector.
The strength of the Church of England in Connecticut and the fact that Berkshire County, Massachusetts enjoyed an easier access to the sea down the Housatonic Valley rather than across the Berkshire Barrier to Boston, help to explain why the first two Anglican parishes in Western Massachusetts were Great Barrington (1762) and Lanesborough (1767) – both of them on the Housatonic River, and why their early priests came to them from the Diocese of Connecticut rather than from the Diocese of Massachusetts until after the beginning of the nineteenth century.
After Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States in 1783, the Anglican parishes in each of the thirteen American states organized themselves into dioceses, and when a means of support could be found, elected bishops. Connecticut was the first diocese to have a Bishop. On March 25, 1783 ten priests met at St. Paul’s Parish, Woodbury to choose Samuel Seabury. Tradition has it that one of the ten was Gideon Bostwick, the first Rector of Great Barrington, which for convenience of travel was part of the Diocese of Connecticut until 1804.
The Diocese of Massachusetts came into being on September 8, 1784, when its first convention was held at Boston. The first Bishop of Massachusetts, who was elected on May 24, 1796 and consecrated in 1797 was Edward Bass (1797-1803); followed by Samuel Parker (1804); Alexander Viets Griwsold (1811-43); Manton Eastburn (1843-72); Benjamin Henry Paddock (1873-91); Phillips Brooks (1891-93); and then William Lawrence (1893-1927).
The rapid growth of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Massachusetts during the latter part of the nineteenth century was becoming too large for efficient administration under a single Bishop. On June 14, 1901, after ten years of a division being under discussion, the Convention assembled and Bishop William Lawrence presented an address to the Convention, giving history of the successive attempts to divide the Diocese and the difficulties such a division involved. He stated that he believed “the time had come when the spiritual interest of the Church in Massachusetts demanded a division at the earliest date consistent with justice to the Churches in the west.”
The dividing line was drawn and a committee was appointed to raise the sum of $100,000 within the limits of the eastern Diocese and give it to the new Diocese in lieu of all claims upon the funds of the Diocese of Massachusetts. The western part of the state did not want the Diocese divided. The final decision left the west with fifty clergymen and between 45 and 50 parishes and missions. The gift of $100,000, though generous, was not sufficient.
Appropriate committees for the organization and governing of the new diocese, officially recognized as The Diocese of Western Massachusetts, were appointed at the organizing convention of November 10, 1901. A special meeting at Christ Church on January 22, 1902, elected as Bishop the Rev. Alexander Hamilton Vinton D.D., Rector of All Saints Church in Worcester (1902-11). Although Bishop Vinton’s primary problem was financial, he also addressed how to consolidate parishes and missions with no previous center. Springfield, easily accessible from every part of western Massachusetts, was selected as the see city.
For more in depth history, read From the Blackstone to the Housatonic: A History of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts – The First Hundred Years, available at Diocesan House in Springfield.
