Centenary UMC & Horwood Stained Glass
CLICK PIC: Stained Glass Gallery
-
Horwood stained glass is renowned across the United States and Canada. This company was a family business. The patriarch of the family, Harry Horwood, was born in England in 1838. Harry and his brothers were taught to make stained glass windows by the Rev. William M. Blackwell. Harry Horwood left England in 1861 settling in Toronto. He remained there until 1864, returning to England to work with his brothers. He, his wife and 6 children emigrated to Ottawa in 1876, then New York City. While in New York Harry and his son Harry J, who was born in 1865 in England, repaired the stained glass windows of the Vanderbilt Mansion.
-
In 1881 the Horwoods moved to Prescott, Ontario and also established a branch of his firm in Ogdensburg. Horwood Stained Glass was awarded the contract for all the stained glass windows for the Ogdensburg Opera House. Unfortunately these windows were destroyed in a fire in 1926. The same fate befell the stained glass windows in old St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1947. Harry Horwood died in May 1917 in Ottawa. His eldest son, Harry J. carried on the family business. He resided in Ogdensburg from 1898 until his death in 1947. Harry J. Horwood specialized in church memorial windows and decorative windows for private homes.
-
A total of 17 beautiful Horwood Stained Glass Windows were installed in 1934 at Malone: Centenary UMC. Each of the windows is a sermon in itself. For the most part these were personal gifts given in memory of loved ones. They were made by Mr. H. J. Harwood at Ogdensburg, New York and installed by Mr. Thomas Arnold without charge.
Sources:
Malone: Centenary UMC, David E. Martin, Persis Boyesen: Horwood: Stained Glass Artists, Alice B. Hamilton: unpublished manuscript, Ogdensburg Journal January 31, 1947
