Albion’s stained glass windows will be featured in tour

File photos by Tom Rivers – Bill Lattin, Orleans County historian, talks about the Christ the Consoler window in the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church during a stained glass window tour in December 2013. The church in 1895 wanted a window with outstretched arms of Christ to fit the denomination’s welcoming tradition.

ALBION – The Albion Merchants Association sees the seven historic churches in Albion’s Courthouse Square as a community asset, and their artwork and architecture will be celebrated on April 18 during a stained glass window tour.

Bill Lattin, the recently retired Orleans County historian, will lead the tour beginning at 11 a.m. at the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church. That church has more than 40 windows from the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, perhaps the most famed stained glass artist.

The Merchants Association is organizing the event and many of the businesses will have spring sales that day. The Merchants are suggesting a donation of $5 per person for the window tour.

A crowd views the stained glass window at the First United Methodist Church during a tour of windows in December 2013. The Good Shepherd window was a gift to the congregation by the church’s pastor in 1914, the Rev. Henry Clay Woods.

This may be the last chance to see the windows at the United Methodist Church. That church is having at farewell service today at a 7 p.m. ecumenical Good Friday service.

The church has some structural problems with its roof. The congregation will start holding services on Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church.

The fate of the United Methodist church building is uncertain.

The seven churches are part of a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lattin will discuss styles and designers of the windows, the symbolism and Biblical stories in the scenes, and some background on the people memorialized with some of the windows.

The Albion churches have examples of windows from the 1860s to 1960s. Lattin wrote a book about Orleans County’s stained glass windows: “Luminaries in the Firmament.”