Dedication: A Centennial Story

Board members from Seventh Church do their own private investigation of the Fort Lewis Christian Science Activity after a statewide conference of Christian Science churches on May 29, 1934, was held to decide whether to renovate the building or shut it down. Meanwhile, events in Germany under its new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, raised concerns about the oppression of Christian Science in Germany and the possibility of another war.

Image: Christian Science Welfare Building at Fort Lewis, Washington. From Christian Science War Time Activities by Christian Science Publishing Society.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

Mr. Orison "O.J.C" Dutton, board chair, with a united board, proposes inspirational meetings for the members of Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, after another request for financial support for the Christian Science Publishing House in Boston was published March 24, 1934, in the Christian Science Sentinel. 

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

Miss Eileen Ruth Gormley writes a historical sketch for Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, in 1933. Mrs. Harriett M. Armstrong writes the history of First Church, Ms. Adela S. Hawley for Fourth Church, and a committee of three for the newly formed Eleventh Church. Judge Clifford P. Smith expands the archival collections at The Mother Church in Boston. Rev. Dr. Lyman P. Powell uses the archives to write a biography on Rev. Mary Baker Eddy. Christian Science teachers Smith, Irving C Tomlinson, Julia M. Johnston, and E. Mary Ramsay also publish books on Christian Science history, as does photographer Richard Southall Grant. Christian Science church members collect loose issues of Christian Science Journals, Sentinels, and Monitor Weekly into bound volumes. The Christian Science Monitor's 25th anniversary is celebrated at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, as is the influence of Mary Baker Eddy as an author. Seattle Christian Scientists hold their own Monitor exhibition, and publish a full-page advertisement about Seattle's development in the "Progress Edition." 

Image: Bound volumes of weekly magazine section of The Christian Science Monitor

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mr. William Rathvon shares how important music was to Mary Baker Eddy. The workers at Kingsport Press hum and sing while manufacturing the new Christian Science hymnals in 1932. Church members hold hymns sings. Mr. Bicknell Young is guest soloist at Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle. Mr. Elbert LeRoy Bellows is hired as the new soloist at Fourth Church. Mr. Arch N. Torbitt hires an unskilled worker to help with maintenance at Third Church through the Man-A-Block Plan. Mr. Charles E. Heitman sings praises of those who supported the new Christian Science Publishing House in Boston at the 1933 Annual Meeting of The Mother Church.

Image of church auditorium courtesy of Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mrs. Elizabeth H. Ferree proposes hanging an American flag behind the readers on February 22, 1932, George Washington's 200th birthday, at Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle. The Christian Science Board of Directors announce a special church service and lesson sermon for the Washington Centennial: "Love for God and Man, The Universal Ideal." President Herbert Hoover urges Americans to commune with "the spiritual springs of patriotism," and telegraphs a signal to unfurl flags at the opening of the George Washington Memorial Bridge in Seattle. Mr. Albert Eaton Lombard, Committee on Publication, gives a commencement address called "Looking Upward" at the University of Washington in front of a huge American flag. Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Dallas, Texas, builds a new church. Eleventh Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, acquires a building site. Mrs. Hawley at Fourth Church and Eleventh Church write to Boston about using the national anthem at church services. 

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mr. Ross Perry Williams, head usher at Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, orchestrates the Sunday collections in 1931 to help pay for construction of the new Publishing House building for the Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston. Mr. Byron B. Haviland, Washington Committee on Publication, presides over a mass meeting of Seattle church members at First Church to discuss the latest Boston building project.

Image: auditorium floor plan from Guide for Ushers. Courtesy of Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mrs. Rice, Secretary of the Joint Dedication Committee, sends the standing rules to the local Boards of Directors for their approval in early 1931. The board at Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, considers a statement from the Christian Science Board of Directors in Boston in the Christian Science Sentinel about joint dedication. Includes mention of joint dedication in New York and Los Angeles, and background on early joint dedication in Chicago done with the approval of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy.

Image: Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mr. Herbert T. Condon, Dean of Students at University of Washington, invites the college student Christian Scientists to move their meetings off campus to Eagleson Hall, the University YMCA in the U-District at 15th Ave NE and NE 42nd Street in Seattle in the fall of 1930.

Image: Eagleson Hall (in 2022). Photo by Cindy Safronoff.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mr. Edwin Kirk Piper hears a K.O.M.O. radio broadcast of the Sunday evening service of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle. US President Herbert Hoover gives a state of the union address to Congress on December 2, 1930.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory

Mrs. Ruth Marthaler announces the dedication of Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, in Seahurst Park, on Sunday, December 8, 1929, after Mrs. Laura E. Ellis reads a telegram sent to the Board of Directors of The Mother Church in Boston.

Image: Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle (original), around 1929. Used with permission from First Church of Christ, Scientist, Burien, WA.

Season 2 of "Dedication: A Centennial Story" is a review draft prior to publishing the book for Part 2: 1929 to 1979. The book of Part 1: 1889 to 1929 of Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story by Cindy Peyser Safronoff is available on Amazon, through Powell's Books, or by special order through your favorite local book store.

This independent project is supported by people like you! Please purchase the book and help support the ongoing project: 

1. Rate and review the book and podcast!

To learn more about this ground-breaking project, visit CindySafronoff.com or Facebook: @DedicationCentennialStory