The Emmanuel History
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Our History
Emmanuel Church is located in Newport, Rhode Island, an historic seaport city of 24,000 residents at the southern tip of Aquidneck Island, the largest island in Narragansett Bay.
Emmanuel has long been known as “the Church of the people,” where “rich and poor, high and low, great and humble all worship and work together as friends.” Today we are a Parish family of 218 active members with 85 pledging units. We offer two Eucharists on Sunday morning, one on Tuesday morning and one on Wednesday evening. All baptized Christians are welcome at the altar.
Emmanuel began in 1841 as a mission of Newport’s TrinityChurch, when three women parishioners recognized the need to offer free space for worship to people who could not afford to rent or own a pew. Meeting originally in private homes, they soon purchased an unused BaptistChurch. In 1852, the growing congregation was admitted into Diocesan Convention as Emmanuel Free Church. We owe our current building, a magnificent Tudor Gothic Revival structure on the National Register of Historic Places, to the generosity of the widow of John Nicholas Brown, Sr. She had it built in memory of her late husband more than a century ago. The Brown’s descendents still worship here.
Because Emmanuel welcomed everyone, with or without money to buy a pew, the Parish developed around the needs of all its members, from mill workers, domestic servants and fishermen to teachers, merchants, lawyers and bankers. The similar diversity of today’s congregation—a microcosm of our island-wide community—is proof that this tradition of inclusiveness and welcome continues.
Compassion for our neighbors is another Emmanuel tradition. Newport may have a reputation as a wealthy and cosmopolitan resort city, but it also suffers from one of the highest poverty rates in Rhode Island. We thus have a history of starting outreach programs to those in need. Some have long since grown beyond our walls to become community-wide institutions. These include: Island Hospice, the Church Community Corporation (affordable housing), and the MaherCenter (a sheltered workshop) whose roots include former Emmanuel support group for parents of special-needs children. Our “Soup’s On,” offering free hot meals, began in 1982 and has since become part of a community network that helps insure that hungry people can find sustenance for body and soul throughout the year.
We have also been a long-time supporter of Lucy’s Hearth, a shelter for homeless women and their children. We do not define the word “neighbor”narrowly. Over the years, our annual mission trips have helped people in need from Grenada in the Windward Islands, to Appalachia and New Mexico, to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. During Easter Week in 2009, we sent 14 people to the Broadmoor District of New Orleans, our fourth consecutive trip to help Katrina’s victims.
In short, Emmanuel has a big heart, open arms and warm, loving hands.
Some Key Dates & Events: The cornerstone of Emmanuel Free Church (our original name) was laid in 1855, and the first service in it, the Rector’s own wedding, was held a year later. The building, a wooden Tudor-style structure, became free of all debt by 1858 and was consecrated that same year. Believing that children needed a daily education both secular and religious, a group of parishioners established a school on the premises. The first term began in 1860, with one teacher and 25 children, many of whom had never attended school before. Over the next 30 years, the school was both enlarged and rebuilt, eventually housing 285 students and a staff of 25! The tradition continues with EmmanuelDay School.
In 1899, a Men and Boys’ Choir began, affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in England. Our present mixed choir is one of the few in Rhode Island, of any denomination, still maintaining that affiliation. In the early 1930s, our organist was one of the country’s most famous, Mr. E. Power Biggs.
In 1901, our original building was moved across the street after Natalie Bayard Brown decided to build a new church on the site to honor her late husband, John Nicholas Brown, Sr. The first service in this, our present home, was held in 1902. The two bells in our tower, cast by the same English foundry that made Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell, were given in 1903 by Natalie’s mother-in-law, Sophia Augusta Brown, in memory of her son Harold. Our reredos and wall murals were given in 1921 by Natalie Brown as a peace memorial for Armistice Day.
People Stories: To more fully understand us, you also need to know the stories of our people. Because there are literally thousands of such stories—certainly enough good ones to fill a book—we must be highly selective here. We have chosen to tell you how three different groups of people have helped make us who we are today. Each of their stories illuminates a distinctive facet of our history.
Families who have worshiped at Emmanuel for several generations: Anyone who takes the time to peruse our Parish records will be struck by the reoccurrence, generation after generation, of certain names. As a church, we are certainly not unique in this, but we believe we have been unusually blessed by the sheer numbers of such people and by the depth of their commitment. Our 2009 Parish directory lists the names of at least 16 multi-generational families currently active.
The attendance of military personnel: If one of our strengths is the continuity of family ties in the congregation, another is just the opposite. Members of the military usually discover Emmanuel when they attend the nearby NavalWarCollege or undergo training at the Naval Education and TrainingCenter. It might be supposed that such transients have little to offer us, but our experience has been otherwise. With or without a family, they bring with them a grateful appreciation for finding a spiritual home away from home, an admirable model of selflessness and devotion to duty, and knowledge of cultures and places far different than ours. Our lives have always been enriched by knowing them. Many have remained our friends long after moving on, and some have eventually returned to settle here.
The impact of Cursillo: When the Cursillo movement began in RI in the late 1970s, Emmanuel was among the first in the Diocese to encourage active and potential Parish leaders to attend. Over the next ten years, more than 30 people did so. For many, it was a life-changing experience. For nearly three decades, the positive effects of Cursillo’s infusion of renewed commitment and spiritual energy were felt in every aspect of our parish life. Today’s Emmanuel Church would be a less vibrant place without it.
