 When
the Allison
Memorial Methodist Church was destroyed by fire on January 20, 1954,
Dickinson College president William
W. Edel arranged a trade with the members of the church. In exchange
for the site of the destroyed church, adjacent to the President’s House,
the College offered a section of the Benjamin Rush campus along Mooreland
Avenue, close to the church’s parsonage, for the construction of a new
church building. The new Allison Methodist Church, standing on the ground
acquired in the trade, was designed by Hensel Fink, and was completed
on April 20, 1958. It was constructed at a cost of $850,000, to which
the College contributed $200,000. The church design was in keeping with
the prevalent style of the College campus, complete with limestone façade;
it also boasted of a 150-foot steeple and a sanctuary that could seat
750 people. A small chapel was dedicated to Bishop Fred
Pierce Corson, Class of 1917 and former president of the College,
for his many years of service to the church. This new building served
as a “Church-Chapel” to the College community for some time; however,
the church is no longer officially affiliated with Dickinson College. |
