The first worship service of the Episcopal Church was held in the old town hall in East Webster on July 18, 1869 with the rector of Grace Church Oxford, The Rev. Dr. William Henry Brooks, officiating. On January 3, 1870 a parish was formed named “Church of the Reconciliation.” William Slater, a grandson of Samuel Slater who founded the American textile industry, purchased property on North Main Street and presented it to the parish. James Howe and William Slater were among the many townspeople who marched from the Samuel Slater House to celebrate the building of a house of worship on that site. A fund raising committee was formed and the great Gothic revival architects Richard and R. M. Upjohn of New York were commissioned to design a wooden church in the neo-Gothic tradition with a 52-foot bell tower and seating for 300 people. The cornerstone was laid on July 18, 1870. The interior was finished entirely with chestnut. Lovely stained glass windows were given as memorials over the next century. To this day the church retains the four distinctive original gaslight candelabra at the center aisle, which have been electrified. From its beginning the parish has been a hospitable place for all sorts and conditions of people in town, and this warm ministry of hospitality has continued into the twenty first century.

When the church was completed and consecrated on January 3, 1871 it was fully paid for, and Dr. Brooks moved from Oxford to become its first rector. The Church of the Reconciliation was a full-fledged parish from the beginning. The parish continues to benefit from the generous gifts given by the Slater family and other families prominent in the early history of Webster. The tower bell was first rung on Christmas, 1884; it was given by Mr. H. N. Slater who contributed liberally to the parish but was never a member.

Lydia Slater donated a magnificent Hook and Hastings pipe organ in 1873. A larger version of this organ still exists in Mechanics’ Hall, Worcester. The instrument was enlarged and refurbished by the Slater family in 1912 and rebuilt by the Morel Organ company in 1964 under the direction of the Rev. Robert Davis. The organ was releathered by the parish in 1999 and is being shared with the community in a series of organ concerts. In 1899 a boys’ choir was established with some distinction. Worship in the parish has had a vested choir ever since that time. The present organist and choir master Roland Malboeuf has served for over 25 years.

The parish hall was given in 1898 in memory of William Slater by a gift of his five sisters. In 1914 by the gift of Georgia Slater Bartlett in memory of Katherine Slater Brown it was enlarged and raised with a basement gymnasium and kitchen. Since then the hall has been a meeting place for young and old in the community. The gymnasium was the first in Webster and was used by neighborhood boys for basketball and good healthy exercise. Young ladies learned their “stitches” from the Slater sisters. Music recitals and plays were held in the upstairs hall. Later a local Greek Orthodox church held services in the basement until they built their own church. More recently Shared Blessings Kitchen served meals there three times weekly to needy persons in the community from 1982 to 1994. Most of the funds raised go outside the parish to help those in need nearby and far away. The parish warmly welcomes several Alcoholics Anonymous groups, girl scouts, and other community groups.

The parish has been served by fourteen rectors since Fr. Brooks. These clergy have been actively involved in the community and in ecumenical activities. The local food shelf was born here in a small closet; it is now housed in the United Church downtown. The longest serving rector was The Rev. S.Walcott Linsley who served devotedly from 1910 to 1938. The Rt. Rev. Robert Rusack, Bishop of Los Angeles from 1974-1986, grew up in our parish and was ordained deacon here in April 1951 by Bishop W A. Lawrence; his family is still active to this day. Another son of the parish Albert Denham entered the permanent diaconate and served the parish until his death in 1979. The parish has benefited from the service ministry of deacons ever since.

Despite the changes in the neighborhood around the parish over 135 years, the parish continues its warm worship and welcoming ministry to persons young and old with a large number of baptisms every year. This ministry advances with an increasing sense of ministry of all baptized persons with the pastoral care of our priest-in-charge, the Reverend Janice Ford. Sacramental ministry is one of the parish’s great missionary outreaches to those in the community who need God’s blessing and hope. The Church School is also a spirited and successful ministry of the parish. Visitors often remark about the warm and welcoming worship of the parish. The members of the parish are working and praying in the community and endeavor to live up to the words painted on the arch at the entrance to the sanctuary: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.”