WD05 Choir Geometric

Donor: None

Probably from a catalog, 1879

This is another of the original geometrics. When the first new figural window of the Rich Young Ruler (WD06, next) was commissioned, it was originally intended to replace this Choir Window. However, that was where the organ console was then located, and the additional light of this geometric was desirable, so WD06 ended up in the next slot. When the new organ was installed in 1991, with its console on the other side of the nave, most of the other geometrics had already been replaced with figurals. Nevertheless, the Vestry voted to keep this geometric window permanently as a nod to history. Note the green and pink tiles that match the tiles under Moses’ feet in WD02.

It is apparent from the photo that the upper right panel does not match the other three panels. First, the diamond in the center is a teal blue while the other three are obviously gold. Second, the circles inside the red squares are a lighter blue than in the other three panels. Third, (this is difficult to see in the photo, but quite apparent when standing in front of the actual window) while the pink tiles match quite well, the tiles that are green in the rest of the window are actually quite clear, rather than green. Finally, the panel appears to have been reinstalled incorrectly. In order to match the symmetry of the other three panels, it would need to be rotated 180 degrees on its vertical axis. (See the graphic below for a detailed explanation.)It is quite apparent that this upper right panel is different, indicating that it might be a replacement panel. I have a theory for this.

According to oral history in the congregation, an explosion in town damaged one of our stained glass windows. On July 16, 1954, Kent Defense Industries, a fireworks and munitions plant, founded in 1941, blew up. Three explosions between 10:25 and 10:40 AM leveled nine buildings. Eleven people were killed. Thousands of windows were shattered. Houses in Bridgeville, Delaware, 40 miles away, were shaken. Some say it was the Good Shepherd window (WD07), two niches down that was damaged, but I’ve not been able to find any evidence for it in the window itself.

Might it have been this explosion that people remember and might it have damaged one or more of our stained glass windows? I think so. A straight line drawn between the site of the explosion (in what is now Chestertown Business Park on Dixon Drive) and Bridgeville 40 miles to the southeast passes right over Emmanuel Church. In fact, Emmanuel Church is only 2,790 feet from the site.

I suspect the munitions factory explosion was the Choir Window enough to require replacement of the uppr right panel. That’s my theory, and I’m stickin’ to it.