Centre Street's sanctuary boasts eight gorgeous Tiffany-style stained glass windows. Soaring sixteen and a half feet high above the pews, the windows are five and a half feet wide. On a beautiful summer day in Maine, with the sun streaming into the sanctuary, the windows are absolutely stunning.

Rev. W. R. Riddiough wrote of Centre Street's windows that "much of the beauty of these stained glass windows depends on the amount and source of light. At noon, the reds and yellows are most brilliant. As evening approaches, the blues become much more prominent. These changes in light bring life to the mosaic."

At the front of the sanctuary are two smaller windows, measuring just six and a half feet tall. The small window on the south side is dedicated to Riddiough, Centre Street's pastor from 1930 to 1961. On the north side is a lovely window dedicated to Maurine Jans, the organist from 1978 to 2003.

---

In 1889, Louis Comfort Tiffany registered a patent for opalescent window glass, a radical new treatment whereby several colors are combined to create a range of hues and three-dimensional effects. The fame of Tiffany windows, lamps, and vases spread rapidly, and the Colonial Glass Company of Boston soon adopted Tiffany's techniques.

Centre Street commissioned Colonial  Glass to design our windows, which honor specific people for their faith and service to the church. The windows arrived in Machias in January of 1899, on one of the new railroad's first trips Downeast. A special dedication service was held on August 6, 1899.

---

Preservation: An Ongoing Labor of Love

Every hundred years or so, stained glass windows need a bit of tender loving care. (Imagine yourself at one hundred. Get the idea?) This process involves removing the window and taking it apart, meticulously cleaning and repairing it, putting it back together, and then reinstalling it in a restored frame, along with a storm window to protect against the weather.

---

First, the Christian Endeavor Society Window

In 2017, based on a professional assessment of the condition of the Centre Street windows, Phoenix Studios, of Portland, Maine, was hired to restore the "Christian Endeavor Society" window at the front of the church. The wood working, storm window construction, and general repairs were led by Kevin Ackley, of Maine Molding and Millwork, with the assistance of Centre Streeters Harper Dean and Greg Maxwell. Thanks to tremendous financial support from a variety of sources, that project was completed a year later, at a cost of around $40,000.

---

Second, the Getchell Window

Two years later, Centre Street contracted with Willet Hauser Architectural Glass, one of the oldest studios in North America, to restore the Getchell Window, also known as the Deacons' Window. Willet Hauser sent to Machias a team who painstakingly took the window apart and removed it, installed a BIG piece of plywood in its place, and took the window back to their facility in Winona, Minnesota.

The Getchell Window spent the next two years in Minnesota, sorely missed in Machias. Meanwhile, thanks to the generosity of some thirty donors and a Maine Community Foundation grant, $41,000 was raised to pay for the project.

Willet Hauser re-leaded the windows and built a new ventilator window, which sits at the bottom edge. The window frame, which had been in bad shape, was restored by a local carpenter.  Finally, in late summer of 2021, the Getchell Window made its way back home to Centre Street.

And now? The beauty of this restored stained glass window will take your breath away. Glory to God in the highest, indeed.