DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT FRAMINGHAM?

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19)

This past weekend I found a booklet I’d forgotten all about. It was given out at the 1997 Southern New England Assemblies of God District Council. (If you have any connection to Framingham, Massachusetts, you will want to keep reading this post!) The booklet was produced for the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Southern New England District (originally, the “New England District”). It includes a number of photos and stories from the early days of Pentecostalism in New England. (The Assemblies of God is one of the largest of about a dozen church bodies which were formed during the Pentecostal Revival in the early 20th Century.)

Framingham played a major role in New England Pentecostal history. There was a Methodist Campground called “Montwait” (I’ve seen that spelled several different ways) in the part of Framingham where roughly the Tercentennial Park (former Cushing Hospital property) and Keefe Tech High School exist today. (Hence the street name “Mount Wayte Ave.” in that part of Town.) In 1913 a famous female Pentecostal evangelist named Maria Woodworth-Etter held healing services there. She was arrested for “practicing medicine without a license” and was tried at Framingham District Court, where she was found not guilty. Wayne Warner, noted Assemblies of God historian, phoned me when he was writing an article about this incident roughly twenty years ago. He wondered if anyone in our church had parents or grandparents who’d attended these meetings and remembered the incidents. Unfortunately we had no one meeting those qualifications in our church.

Many independent Pentecostal churches began using the name “Assembly of God” during the first decade of the 20th Century, including Bethany Assembly of God of Springfield (now Agawam), Massachusetts, but the actual “Assemblies of God” formal church organization did not begin until 1914. The New England District of the Assemblies of God had their headquarters, campground, and Bible Institute (for the training of ministers) on Route 9 westbound in Framingham on the site of what is now the “Wellness Center” and a number of apartment buildings on Auburn Street - near the Trolley Square strip mall. From time to time I will meet an older minister, usually 80-plus, who went to Bible School in Framingham.

In 1957, the decision was made to divide the District geographically into Northern New England and Southern New England. Attorney John Garrahan, who later became one of the most prominent lawyers in Town, handled the legal aspects of the sale of the Route 9 property. Almost forty years later, John Garrahan did some “pro bono” legal work for our church. Incidentally, our church, First Assembly of God of Framingham, was one of the first Assemblies of God churches in Massachusetts. We’ve been located on South Street in downtown Framingham since 1994, but for decades the church was located at Hartford and C Streets. The church was originally incorporated as “Pentecostal Church of Framingham”. The name was legally changed in 1961 to “First Assembly of God of Framingham”.

Did you know this “stuff” about Framingham? I suspect many of you didn’t! I hope you found it interesting!