Centro De Restauración Emanuel in 2021
The church as seen in 1895 from Chestnut St., shortly after its completion. The apartment building seen in the background no longer stands and the tapered roof over the righthand doorway has since been shortened. Image source: Holyoke Past and Present (1895).
Holyoke’s Presbyterian Church was founded in May of 1886, after an ad placed in the Daily Transcript by the Boston-based Reverend Joseph Sanderson generated an immediate response in the city.
The church held its first services just a week later in the old YMCA building on Suffolk St, with over 100 total people attending its two Sunday sermons. Services then moved to the new YMCA building on High St. for several weeks, before finding a home in the now-demolished Forester’s Hall on the corner of Essex and High Streets.
The church moved quickly to build a permanent meeting place, acquiring this parcel from the Holyoke Water Power Company. In 1887, they laid the cornerstone of this Romanesque Revival building of rough-faced granite and redstone. The roof, including that of the distinctive conical tower, is made of slate. It was formally dedicated in March of 1889 and within 5 years membership topped 500. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie provided funding for the church’s new organ. In 1921, the congregation purchased the home at 215 Oak St. to serve as the minister's home, or manse. It was among the first homes in Holyoke to have a telephone.
Renovations in 1934 brought upgrades to heat and lighting and made cosmetic changes. In 2002, the Presbyterian congregation sold the building and moved to the Skinner Memorial Chapel on Maple St. while constructing a small church building on Route 202 in Granby.
The Centro De Restauración Emanuel was established in Holyoke in 1977 and was located at Race & Hamilton, Maple St., and Cabot St. before acquiring this building in 2002. Its vibrant Pentecostal community has given new life to the historic building.
