THE REV. WILLIAM SPENCER CHILD, D. D.
1851-1859
Christ Church's next rector was the Rev. William Spencer Child. He came here, Sept. 29, 1851, from the Diocese of Rhode Island, to which he had been transferred by the Bishop of Virginia, soon after taking deacon's order. He had been assistant minister of Grace Church, Providence. Bishop Henshaw wrote of Mr. Child at that time, "His public ministrations have received such warm commendations as are rarely accorded to those of young clergymen." Mr. Child found the Church's improvements well under way, the congregation, meantime, worshipping in the Unitarian Church, whose cornerstone Dr. Titus Strong had laid so many years before.
The contemplated changes in the Church building on State Street were finished in the spring of 1853, one year after Springfield became a city. They had included an addition of thirty-one feet to the length of the church; thirty-two new "slips," a chancel with vestry and "library rooms." The location of some of the old "slips" had been changed, a new gallery erected, ribs on the ceiling, new plastering on side walls, and, as the Committee reported, "We believe we have made an entire new church, so far as the interior is concerned." The exterior was also painted.
Of the years of Mr. Child's rectorship, Dr. Slattery said; "Names of great importance begin to appear more and more upon the record, such as John Bliss Stebbins, for thirty-six years Senior Warden, and constant benefactor; James D. Brewer, long time Junior Warden and leader in the building of our present Church; James A. Baldwin, who endowed the parish and with his wife left a large legacy toward the
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