Fairhaven Windows Update 12-8-2024
Summary
In his presentation, Rich Cummings, Fairhaven's historian and archivist, shared the fascinating story behind the recently restored Good Shepherd window. The window, a generous donation from Cordelia Long Horning in 1907, was originally measured incorrectly and had to be adjusted upon installation. After five months of painstaking restoration, the window was revealed in its intended form for the first time in 117 years. The window, based on an 1877 painting, features anthropomorphized sheep and vivid details now visible after years of soot and coal dust.
Rich also uncovered new historical information about the window. The original dedication to Cordelia Long Horning was removed sometime between 1940 and 1969, replaced with a dedication to her son. Recently, the trustees decided to restore the original dedication. Rich expressed his hope that Mrs. Horning's great-great-great-grandson in Georgia would one day see the window and appreciate his family's legacy. The restored window, a beautiful piece of art with intricate craftsmanship, is now a treasured part of Fairhaven United Methodist Church's history.
Transcript
We had I think 20, 20 do you remember 28,000? I think we had about 28,000 in donations that came over the course of time towards that. The grant that we received was for $9,000 but you have to pay up front and then they'll give you the 9,000 afterwards. So we are always still looking to offset the cost of this large expense and if you're ever led to put in an envelope for the Good Shepherd window it'd be appreciated. Okay Richard he is our historian and archivist.
Done a lot of work. Good morning everybody. Hi Vince. And if I take some water it's because I take old man medications and my mouth gets real dry.
Yes it's finally done and it's been an exhausting process. Five months and look I've seen this window taken apart bit by bit and I've watched it reassembled and it still was amazing to see what it looks like when it's all put together. The church was built very quickly. It was the cornerstone was laid on June 30th 1907 and the dedication ceremony was December 8th today 1907 so today is the 117th anniversary of this building's dedication.
So we are seeing the window almost as it originally was. Because the church was built so quickly all of the single windows were mismeasured as was the Good Shepherd. So when they delivered it they had it sitting on the front lawn and they had to figure out how to get it in. These windows were measured too big so they had to expand them which you can see at the top.
All those little red things they were not meant to be. This window the Good Shepherd was measured too small so they took out the frame in the middle section and what happened was they actually put those red glass into the wall so taking it out cracked the glass. It was it was a it was a very difficult and because they did that the alignment was off so they flipped the bottom three pieces and it's been upside down for a hundred and seventeen years and because those are columns I mean it I mean nobody noticed it until two or three years ago but it's been fixed. So the window when it was built was donated by Cordelia Long Horning.
She owned this land. She was born across the street over on the hill where Kunkle's Farmers Tavern, Hillside Tavern used to be and she got her money from her father not the Horning family. The Horning family got the money from her. When her dad died she bought all this land all the way back to Brownsville Road.
She paid $13,000 for it in 1875 and she donated this piece here. So when the window was they were gonna build this church she was raising funds but she paid for the window. In 1907 the window cost, there's no receipts but we could make it approximate just looking at old-time catalogs, about four thousand dollars. So in adjusted for inflation today that's about a hundred and sixty thousand dollars that she paid for that window.
The window is irreplaceable. Much of the glass along the edge is no longer made. If you go up you'll see that the glass is the same color but it's not the same texture of glass because we actually went to Kokomo where the glass was made and they don't make all that glass anymore especially the red and the amber. I got to see the amber glass that's in there made from scratch watching them carry the molten glass out in these big old buckets like they did a hundred and fifteen years ago and they juggle it and they throw it onto this machine that flattens it all out and it comes out like that.
So it was really interesting getting to see it made. I actually have a video of it that I would like to post online at some point. So if we were to, if we could replace the window today in its perfect state it would be upwards of three hundred thousand dollars but like I said it could not be replaced exactly the way it was intended to be. But considering the nine generations of people who have gone to this church since 1907 we are the first ones to see the window as it was intended to truly be by the artisans and that's certainly is for me a privilege.
It's based on an old painting from 1877 but if you notice not in the painting the lambs, the sheep have been anthropomorphized to look like people. So it really is what I think is that was the glass artisan who did that and it really draws you into the window and if you notice the trees in the back runners, the desolate tree for death and the blooming tree for life. All these details are so so vivid now. The colors are vivid, we can see the eyes and looking at the pieces one by one just well you probably can't imagine but you really can't imagine a hundred and seventeen years of soot and coal dust that was in that window we took it out.
I mean literally we would the images of Christ are two panes of glass and we took them apart just dust just fell so and those colors the flesh tones needed a lot of work because they are fired at a very low temperature and the paint isn't as sustainable as the darker temperatures. So I think that it's oh the last thing I wanted to say was when the window was coming out Pete Boucher who owns the company that restored the window looked at me and said there's been a there was a previous dedication on this window and I said okay I know nothing about that so we only have one photograph of the window before 1940 and it's black and white and I pulled it out and I looked at it and sure enough it was donated says exactly what it says there. Sometime between 1940 when that photograph was taken and my cousin's wedding in 1969 the dedication was removed and I don't know why I would love to find out but sure that's lost to history and then in the 70s the window I would imagine during one of the restorations when that Reverend Tulock had the benches replaced and windows they dedicated it to Mrs. Horning's son which is appropriate but whenever we realized what the original dedication was the trustees and I felt that be more appropriate to go back to the way it was originally.
I think it's a wonderful legacy to Mrs. Horning who's actually 10 years ago her great-great-great grandson was here and I wasn't able to get ahold of him but that lives in Georgia but it's a wonderful you know honor for her to still see her legacy here and it's a beautiful window it's a beautiful piece of art and and I hope you all enjoy it I can spend hours looking at it and it's it's truly not just a window it's it was a lot of individual craft and attention went into it that you don't see in a lot of windows in even even cathedrals I've seen a bunch of Notre Dame this I mean I think that they had a lot more leeway because it was a small church they could you know make it more individualized and I hope you all appreciate it thank you [APPLAUSE].