RUMFORD – People filled the Rumford Point Congregational Church dining hall Sunday to celebrate 200 years of being a congregation.

After Ann Morton welcomed the group and held prayer, Jill Morton read a poem written by Celia Elliott for the 150th celebration, “Our Church in the Valley.”

Louise Morton, a deacon in the church and member for 61 years, took the assembled crowd on a timeline journey. A church building was built soon after the church was organized, but it burned. In 1811, the first pastor, the Rev. Samuel R. Hall, came to the congregation, which was meeting in homes. He was paid $100 a year, $50 of that in cash and the rest in produce. This was a common salary in those days, she said.

When the Rumford Center Town House was built in 1828, it became a meeting place for the church, which then had 56 members. In 1864, the present building was built at a cost of $3,000.

The church suffered without a year-round minister until 1940. During that time, services were held only in the summer. Though a furnace was installed in 1930, it was several years before services were held throughout the year.

In 1962, the basement dining room and kitchen were completed. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. That list cites its Greek Revival style of architecture.

The Rev. Deborah Jenks who was pastor from 1994 to 2002, said she misses things like seeing a bald eagle fishing on the Androscoggin River each morning.

“The area around Rumford Point really gets into your blood, and those years I was here became a very important part of my life,” she said.

She recounted how the people learned not to challenge her to a dare after she sported a purple wig in Vacation Bible School one year. She lauded the church for persisting over the years even during times when there was no formal pastor. This happens to be the case now when Michael Johnson is an interim pastor.

Two letters were read from former pastors Harry Conroy and Patricia Moore, after which members were asked to share their memories over the years.

Debbie Jenks remembered how when the steeple was restored, after having been displaced by a storm, they held an auction that raised over $3,000 for the project.

Louise Morton remembered when her dad helped start the men’s club. Others remembered riding the ferry and seeing the church as a landmark since the ferry was right beside the church. Wendell Easter said his dad, Ike Easter, ran the ferry from 1943 until the bridge was built in 1955. The closest bridges before then were in Rumford or Bethel.

Others remembered the Memory Garden which was started by Sunday School teacher Barbara Ferguson, wife of former Congressman Norm Ferguson. It was the spring of a year when many deaths had occurred in the church, and the Sunday School children suggested they start a garden with plants from the deceased people’s gardens.

Afterward, cake, punch and cookies were served as fellowship continued long after the program ended.

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