The Methodist Retirement Home and its descendant, the Chelsea Retirement Community.

Construction of the Methodist Retirement Home began in 1906, after Frank Glazier donated land for the purpose of building a facility to care for aging members of the community.

The Chelsea Retirement Community has changed quite a bit over the years, but its stone entrance gate still stands in the same place over 100 years after it was built. If you would like to learn more about the history of the CRC, you can visit the CRC’s Heritage Room.

This photograph, taken by George Chapman in 1907 or so, shows the front gate of the Methodist Retirement Home on its western approach. Used with permission from Larry Chapman.

In this mash-up of the 1907 photo by George Chapman and a March 2011 photo by Jim Hammel, you can really see how the intervening 104 years have brought significant changes to the Chelsea community.

The old Methodist Episcopal rest home, located at 223 South Street in Chelsea.Photo courtesy the Chelsea Retirement Center’s Heritage Room Collection.

In this April 20, 2011 view of what used to be the original Methodist retirement home, you can see that the external structure of the building has not been dramatically altered. Photo by Jim Hammel.

Original Methodist Home, then and now. Photos courtesy the Chelsea Retirement Center’s Heritage Room and Jim Hammel.