(Photo/Wikipedia)
HUDSON – Back when Hudson had trolley lines, the Worcester Consolidated Streetcar Company had a small waiting station at Stones Corner, Central Street, just east of where the Beetle Barn is today.
As the nearest church was over two miles away, the Reverend Louis West conducted church services in this building. The building was located close to the tracks, so close in fact that one could step from the doorway right onto the steps of the streetcar.
Nearing retirement years later in 1953, Reverend West built a tiny church on his property, then moved it, placing it next to the road at 301 Central Street.
The church stands 10 feet tall. In its tiny steeple hung a bell which was recovered from a small sailing ship. The building is eight feet long and just five feet wide. The inside front wall was decorated with a twenty-square-foot canvas painting of a ship that had gone aground.
Inside is just enough room for a small lectern for the minister and room for two folding chairs. Everyone else either sat or stood outside.
In 1957 the Guinness Book of World Records acknowledged this church as “the smallest.”
Years later Reverend West also built a very similar tiny church in his vacation town of Wiscasset, Maine. Unfortunately that church burned in 2014.
On September 5, 1953, the first official wedding took place. Through the years over 600 more followed. For over 30 years the West family held church services there.
The church held its last wedding on September 24, 1977. A short time later the church was moved to a spot alongside the First Federated Church, at 210 Central Street. Over the next several years the church began to deteriorate. Seeing this, local contractor Victor Petkauskos moved the building to his wooded lot on Causeway Street, where he restored the church to its original glory.
The tiny church still stands today. Let us hope it is maintained as it is a most interesting piece of Hudson history.
