Canton Maine Historical Society

History Story:

Bradbury Memorial Chapel

By Carole Ferris

Albion Emery Bradbury was born in Byron in 1822 and moved to Canton in 1828. His parents were wealthy and owned a large amount of land. Their homestead was located just above and behind the chapel. Albion received his education in the Canton school system as well as having a private tutor, another evidence of the family’s financial standing.

Albion continued in his father’s footsteps by also becoming a farmer and  large land owner. Having never married, he had no direct heirs to leave his estate to. His will was drawn in 1885, leaving small amounts to both his brother Charles and his sister Penny Bradbury Childs. The remainder of his estate was left as follows;

“I give bequeath, and devise all the rest residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal and mixed, wherever found and however situated, unto School district No. 3 in the Town of Canton,  known as the Canton Point District the same to be used and appropriated for the purpose of building a Universalist Church at Canton Point between my residence and that of Granville Child at Canton Point (so called) in said school district. The balance of any remains after building is to be used in supporting and maintaining preaching in the same, as said school district may designate by a majority vote, said district to use as much money in building the Church as a majority of the same may desire.”

 Plans for construction were started in early 1908; the treasury indicates a payment of $60.60 to architect Calvin S. Lane. Construction was done in the summer of 1908 with payments totaling $1500 to contractor A. L. Holley. Records indicate it cost $75 to install the large Bradbury window behind the altar. Total cost for the building, including furnishings was roughly $3000.00.

The formal dedication was held on June 25, 1909 with Charles Lyman Worden (incidentally my great grandfather) as speaker. It was decided that services were to be held every 2 weeks; this continued until 1963. Currently the chapel is used only for special occasions.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Chapel’s large beautiful stained glass windows.  Local families from the the Point donated windows in memory of their families. See the memorial windows in the gallery below.

The large McCollister window was vandalized in May of 1990. That led to a large fundraising effort to repair the window, estimated at the time to be in the $5-7,000 range, as well as purchase of plexiglass to install a protective outer covering for the windows. Over time that plexi yellowed and we again raised funds to install Lexan coverings.

 In 2024 we established a newly revitalized Board of Trustees who are working to preserve this historic landmark. Our mission is to maintain the building and have it available for years to come!