Church of the Good Shepherd, Pawtucket (Mss. Gr. 197)

Historical Information

The Church of the Good Shepherd was established in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1868 in a former volunteer firehouse on Carnation Street. It was begun primarily to serve as a Sunday school, services followed after school for the benefit of students, teachers and the elderly. The school was founded on November 1, 1868 with eighteen students on its opening day by Silas H. Woodcock, Frederic Merris, Rebecca Yates, and Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, the rector of Trinity Church. Over the course of the next year, a parish library was established and the population of the school increased to nine teachers and sixty students. Wednesday evening services were added beginning on February 10, 1869. The attendance at the school and services continued to increase over the next year, and it was felt that a chapel was needed in order for the parish to expand further. To serve this purpose, a lot on the corner of Broadway and Woodbine Streets was purchased in 1869-1870 from parishioner Martha Sidebottom.

Ground was broken for the chapel on March 9, 1872. The first baptism in the new chapel, a small plain building with heavy benches instead of pews, took place on the day of the opening service, June 23, 1872. The chapel was under the direction of Rev. Seymour until mid 1872 when Rev. George A. Coggshall took over missionary duties from Rev. Storrs O. Seymour. Coggshall left the parish in 1874 and later converted to Roman Catholicism. Following Coggshall, Rev. Benjamin Eastwood became rector in 1874, on the first Sunday following Easter. At this time, regular Sunday and weekday services were established.

In September 1874, a rectory adjacent to the chapel was completed and, in addition to serving as the rector's residence, this building became the center of the church social life for a number of years, hosting such events as the Old English Shrove Tuesday pancake party. The original space in the firehouse on Carnation Street also continued to be used for church social events for several years, until it was taken over by the town of Pawtucket to be used again as a fire station. Between 1868 and 1874, the size of the congregation expanded substantially, and in April 1875, the church was enlarged.

The first regular parish meeting was held on Monday, March 29, 1875, where the first election for church officers was held. Interestingly, one of the most prominent of the vestrymen at that meeting, Elisha Gaynor, was actually a lifelong Roman Catholic. Rev. Eastwood cultivated a close relationship with the nearby Catholic Church, the Sacred Heart, throughout his time as rector. His was a philosophy of liberality and inclusiveness that took in all of the residents of the neighborhood, and in fact, he was known as Father Eastwood to the parishioners of Sacred Heart Church.

By the time of its consecration on June 16, 1883, 275 individuals had been baptized, 120 had been admitted to the communion, and burial service had been said over 160 people. In 1888, the church was officially incorporated into the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.

In the early 1890's space was rented on the upper floor of a building on the corner of Park and Japonica Streets to meet the growing need for a church hall. The rent proved to be too expensive and the following year a less expensive space in a former schoolhouse on Woodbine Street was found. With the growing number of parishioners the need for a permanent parish house was evident. The congregation worked toward this goal for many years and on January 13, 1905 a parish house was dedicated. Rev. Eastwood retired as rector, after twenty-four years in the position, on June 30, 1898, though he remained involved in the church as a pastor-emeritus until his death on January 25, 1899. A successor for Rev. Eastwood was not chosen until December 1898, when Rev. Asaph S. Wicks received the call.

A pipe organ was purchased and installed on May 26, 1913. In September 1915, the church bought the house and lot adjoining the rectory, to use as a rental property and to keep business blocks from being built next to the rectory. By the fiftieth anniversary in 1918, the church had performed 1,275 baptisms, 872 confirmations, 582 marriages, and 991 burials. The Sunday school’s current enrollment was over 300. Church organizations in 1918 included the Women's Guild, the Girl's Friendly Society, the Altar Guild, and the Boy Scouts.

Rev. Wicks retired on January 1, 1929, after exactly thirty-one years of service to the parish. He died that evening. During the latter half of the twentieth century, several major events occurred in the life of the Church of the Good Shepherd. In 1950, the rental property next to the Church on Carnation Street was sold in order to start an endowment. Between 1952 and 1954 interior and exterior improvements were made to the chapel building. In 1961, a major addition to the Parish House was also made, adding six classrooms and a new sacristy. In 1966, the church voted to allow the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program to use several rooms in the Parish House. This program grew and in 1968, it was decided to move the program into the rectory, and purchase a new rectory for the purposes of housing the rector.

A new rectory was purchased in 1968 in Seekonk, Massachusetts. In 1977, the original rectory adjacent to the church was demolished and replaced by a Memorial Garden. The new rectory in Seekonk was thought to be too far from the church, however, and the church sold it to Rev. Humphrey when he retired in 1978. A new rectory on Sheffield Avenue in Pawtucket was purchased in 1979.

In 1980 the parish voted to sponsor a Cambodian refugee family, and toward this end, the church rented a five-room apartment which became the home of the ten members of the Tan family. The family has since become fully integrated members of the parish.

As a result of declining enrollment at the end of the 1970’s, the Good Shepherd forged a close relationship with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, combining the Junior and Senior High Fellowship groups and Wednesday night Lenten services. Membership continued to decline towards the end of the twentieth century, and in July 2005 the Church of the Good Shepherd merged with the Church of the Advent, after the latter parish closed its doors. 

Chronology of Rectors

Rev. Storrs O. Seymour (1868-1872)

Rev. George A. Coggshall (1872-1874)

Rev. Benjamin Eastwood (1874-1898)

Rev. Asaph S. Wicks (1898-1929)

Rev. Roger Alling (1931-1939)

Rev. Edwin W. Grilley (1939-1942)

Rev. Herbert Dowling (1942-1948)

Rev. W. Leighton Burgess (1948-1951)

Canon Anthony R. Parshley (1951-1963)

Rev. William Schnitzer (1963-1968)

Rev. Richard H. Humphrey (1968-1978)

Rev. Charles C. Caskey (1979-1981)

Rev. Lawrence Bradner (1981-1982)

Rev. John Combs (1982-1991?)