50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church

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Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church 890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Street, Brooklyn, New York, is a historic Dutch Reformed church – now a member of the Reformed Church in America. The church complex consists of the church, cemetery, parsonage and church house.

The land on which the complex sits has been in continuous use for religious purposes longer than any other in New York City. The congregation was founded in 1654 and the original church was built under the direction of Jan Gerritse Strijker at the order of Peter Stuyvesant.

The stone Federal style church building designed by Thomas Fardon was constructed in 1793-98 and is the third church building on the site. The stained glass windows are by Tiffany studios and commemorate the descendants of many early settlers of Flatbush. The building was constructed of Manhattan schist, and the architecture includes Romanesque features such as arched windows and doors. The church’s bell was imported from Holland, and paid for by John Vanderbilt.

The bodies of American soldiers who died in the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War are reportedly buried underneath the church structure. The cemetery is the last resting place for most of the founding families of Flatbush. The earliest legible grave marker dates to 1754.

The complex was initially designated a New York City Landmark in 1966, with the boundary expanded in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Ann’s

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Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church (295 St Ann’s Ave, Bronx, NY ) also known as Saint Ann’s Church of Morrisania, is a historic Episcopal church in Mott Haven, the South Bronx, New York City.

Founder, Gouverneur Morris Jr. (1813-1888) had St. Ann’s Church built in memory of his mother, Ann Cary Randolph Morris, who died in 1837. His father, Gouverneur Morris Sr. is known as “the Penman of the Constitution”, because he put the United States Constitution into words. He also also designed the street grid for Manhattan and was one of the founders of Kings College (now known as Columbia).

The church is named in honor of St. Ann, the grandmother of Jesus, because the founder’s mother was Ann Cary Randolph Morris of Virginia, a direct descendant of Pocahontas.

It was built in 1840 and donated by him as a family monument, the Morrisania Memorial. It is a field stone building in the Gothic Revival style with a vernacular Greek Revival style tower. The complex includes the stone parish house added in 1916, late-19th century Sunday School and gymnasium building, and a graveyard that includes the Morris family crypt.

It is the oldest continuously used church in the Bronx. When the church was founded, the entire South Bronx was called “Morrisania”; however the neighborhood where the church is located was sold to J.L. Mott, who renamed it “Mott Haven”.

The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1967.

Brechner Series at the Orange County Regional History Center

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The Orange County Regional History Center hosed N.Y. Nathiri who spoke about The Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston as a Cultural Preservationist. In addition to exploring Hurston’s literary accomplishments, Nathiri delved into Hurston’s important work as an anthropologist and activist; Nathiri also highlighted the community-driven effort to promote Hurston’s legacy in Central Florida.

Nathiri read one short story by Hurston about the empowerment of woman. In it, men and women had been created equal by God but man wanted the upper hand. So the man went to God and asked him for more strength than the woman which God granted. The man used his new strength to dominate the woman.

So the woman went to God and asked for more strength but God had already granted that to the man. He could not grant her more strength then the man. That made her spitting mad. So she went to the devil. He told her to get 3 keys from God.

One key was for the bedroom, one key was to the cradle and one key was to the kitchen. She locked them all up and waited for the man to come home. The man had no peace in bed and nothing to eat, and he couldn’t have children unless he used his power to suit the woman. Of course you are far better off to read this story in Hurston’s own words. She uses a delicious dialect that comes from her background as a cultural preservationist and astute story teller.

Nathiri spoke quite a bit bout the history of Eatonville Florida which is the oldest town incorporated by African Americans just north of Orlando. It hosts the Zora Neale Hurston festival each year and has become an internationally recognized community. It was shocking to learn that in the 1980s, Orange County had considered the school in Eatonville as a possible site for a bus depot. They put this line item on the docket for a vote late in the evening since most working folks might not show up ant the item could pass. Residents in Eatonville showed up on mass for that meeting and they saved the school.

Hanzel and COVID

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On March 7, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis‘s mouthpiece, Surgeon general Joseph Lapado recommended against children being vaccinated for COVID-19. As he put it, “the Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children.” He justified this insane stance with concerns about possible side  affects that are pushed by anti-vax groups.

Ladapo’s announcement contradicted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) which says all people over age 5 should get vaccinated.

Dr. Tina Carroll-Scott, medical director at South Miami Children’s Clinic, blasted Ladapo’s verbal directive on Monday, calling it “irresponsible and incorrect.”

This goes against the Florida’s Department of Health’s new guidance issued on March 8. 2022 which does not recommend against the shots for kids.

“The known risks of Covid-19 illness and its related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death, far outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to vaccination, including the possible risk of myocarditis or pericarditis,” the CDC’s website says. The CDC has been monitoring reports of myocarditis, and found that cases of the condition “have rarely been reported, especially in adolescents and young adult males within several days after” vaccination.

DeathSantis himself went on to scold children for wearing masks at one of his press briefings, making it clear he doesn’t feel it is a parent’s right to decide if their child wears a mask, it is his choice that they not be protected. DeathSantis knows best.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: First Presbyterian Church

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The First Presbyterian congregation was founded in 1822, at a time when affluent merchants were beginning to move to Brooklyn from Manhattan. Their original church was located on Cranberry Street between Henry and Hicks Streets, and was where the celebration of Brooklyn’s official incorporation as a city was held.

First Presbyterian Church (124 Henry Street south of Clark, Brooklyn, New York) was built in 1846 and was designed by William B. Olmstead in the Gothic Revival style. The church’s memorial doorway was added in 1921 and was designed by James Gamble Rogers. The doors are constructed of Teek wood and cost more than the entire structure.

Architecturally, the church’s dominant feature is its 90-foot tower with pointed arch windows. Many of the stained glass windows in the church are by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios.

American Presbyterianism split over the issue of slavery, some members of the church, in reaction to the “New School” abolitionist preaching of Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox – who was the church’s pastor for 17 years – split to start a conservative “Old School” church, located at Remsen and Clinton Streets, while others left to help start the Church of the Pilgrims or joined the Plymouth Church.

First Presbyterian minister Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox,  became known as “Brooklyn’s first abolitionist.”

The church is part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 23, 1965.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church

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Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church is located at 438 Grand Street, between Pitt and Attorney Streets in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1826 to serve Irish immigrants living in the neighborhood, it is the third oldest Catholic parish in New York.

The church itself was built in 1832–33, and was then enlarged and had its facade replaced in 1871 by the prolific church architect Patrick Charles Keely. The original portion is the second oldest Roman Catholic structure in the city, after Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, which was built in 1815.

Before this sanctuary was built, services were held in a former Presbyterian church on Sheriff Street. Reverand Hatton Walsh was named pastor. On November 9, 1831, a lone person broke into St. Mary’s Church and set a fire.   Although the church diplomatically blamed “a burglar,” The Evening World later pointed at the Irish Protestants. The pastor, Reverend Luke Berry, fought the blaze valiantly. Injured and exhausted, he died on December 7, 1931.

The church purchased the present site, the highest elevation in Lower Manhattan, from the former mayor of New York, Stephen Allen. In 1832 the cornerstone was laid for the present building, which was dedicated in June 1833. While the edifice rose, the priests of St. Mary’s turned their attention to the cholera epidemic that broke out that summer. The Catholic Church in the United States of America noted “the severity of the labors of the priests in attending the dying may be imagined from the statement of a parishioner that said he saw five coffins carried out from one house in one morning.”

Reverend William J. Quarter, curate at Saint Peter’s on Barclay Street, was named pastor. Quarter would later become the first bishop of Chicago. The new red brick facade designed by Patrick Charles Keely in 1864 was in the Romanesque style and featured twin spires. Other changes were made by Lawrence O’Connor in 1871.

The influx of Irish immigrants exploded the population of the area and continued to tax the physical limits of the church building. In 1861 the parish was split and Saint Teresa’s parish was formed to handle the overflow. Only seven years later another split resulted in the parish of Saint Rose. The neighborhood was seeing another flood of immigrants of the Jewish faith. In February 1919 Reverend James M. Byrnes struck out at bigotry. “I wish to state that it is a shame and an outrage to have to read so often the uncalled for remarks in regard to the Jewish people living on the East Side. As a rule, I am certain that the ones who make these assertions are highbrows, and scarcely know, or rather never have been on, the East Side.”

The neighborhood around St. Mary’s Church continues to change. Building go up and come down. Today the parish is largely Hispanic. But the church building, for decades changed and changed again, survives much as it was in 1871.

50 Oldest Church of NYC: Saint Ann’s Armenian Catholic Cathedral

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The parish of Saint Ann’s Shrine Armenian Catholic Cathedral (120 East 12th Street, Manhattan, New York), was  was organized in 1852 by Bishop Hughes, who appointed Reverend John Murray Forbes to be its first pastor.

Father Forbes purchased the former Third Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church on East 8th Street, between Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The impressive Georgian-style building had been constructed in 1811-12 on Murray Street, but when real estate grew more valuable, the Presbyterians sold the site and moved the building to 8th Street at the head of Lafayette Place in 1842. After St. Ann’s congregation vacated the edifice in 1871, the building was used as an upholstery factory and, starting in 1879, a succession of theaters until it was razed in 1904 for construction of the subway.

Sometime around 1870, St. Ann’s purchased the former Temple Emanu-El on East 12th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, which had been built in 1847 as the Twelfth Street Baptist Church. Before the Catholic congregation moved in, architect Napoleon Le Brun created a new church in the 13th century French Gothic style, retaining only the original facade. The new church was dedicated in 1871. Stained glass windows were added in the 1920s.

Cardinal Terence Cooke of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York offered St. Ann’s Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan for use as the Armenian Catholic Cathedral. The offer was accepted and St. Ann’s Cathedral was established in 1983.

In 2002, Cardinal Edward Egan requested that the exarchate surrender the facilities at St. Ann’s. Attempts were made to save the cathedral, but in the end they had no choice but to vacate the building. It was closed in 2005. The property was sold to NYU and a dormitory now occupies the site. The front facade and tower of the former church remain, but the bulk of the building was demolished. Leaving the facade, like a Hollywood stage prop to decorate the front of the modern NYU Dorm building.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Marble Collegiate Church

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The Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America.Located at 272 Fifth Avenue at the corner of West 29th Street New York, New York.

It was built in 1851–54 and was designed by Samuel A. Warner in Romanesque Revival style with Gothic trim. Originally called the Fifth Avenue Church, it was renamed in 1906 for its facade of Tuckahoe marble.

The church congregation was founded in 1628 as the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church, a Calvinist church in the Netherlands. During its first 150 years, Marble shared its ministers with the other Collegiate congregations as they developed in the city. This pooling of pastoral ministry was abandoned in 1871.

Norman Vincent Peale, the noted author of The Power of Positive Thinking, served as senior minister from 1932 to 1984. Under Peale’s ministry Marble’s influence reached national levels and it became known as “America’s Hometown Church”. On November 19, 1961, actress and comedian, Lucille Ball married her second husband Gary Morton in the church.

The church takes an LGBT-welcoming, open and affirming approach to same-gender relationships and non-cisgender identities. This includes the performing of same-sex marriage ceremonies, a designated queer fellowship (GIFTS), annual participation in the NYC Pride parade.

The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1967, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Holy Cross Church

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Holy Cross Church is a Roman Catholic church located at 329 West 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, near Times Square and across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The Holy Cross Parish was established in 1852 and a chapel erected, which the congregation quickly outgrew. In 1854, a new building was constructed and dedicated, but lightning struck this second structure in 1867, and the ensuing fire severely damaged it.

The current church was constructed to a design by Henry Engelbert on the site of the damaged building and completed in 1870. This church is notable as the oldest building on 42nd Street.

The exterior of Holy Cross Church shows a red brick facade with flanking twin towers in an Italianate Gothic form.

Louis Comfort Tiffany designed the mosaics below the dome and in the sanctuary. Tiffany also designed the stained glass of the clerestory windows and wheel windows of the transepts.

Mass is celebrated in both English- and Spanish-language services. Holy Cross Church operates Crossroads Food Pantry, a food kitchen serving the poor and hungry.

The church houses an Aeolian-Skinner organ, which is located in the rear gallery in the choir loft. Installed in 1933 and completed in 1941 with the addition of a set of chimes. It replaced an organ built in 1882 by J.H. & C.S. Odell. The earliest organ, which had been built by Hall and Labagh in 1854, was destroyed in the fire of 1867.

Holy Cross Church is sometimes known informally as “Father Duffy’s Church”, after the Reverend Francis P. Duffy. Duffy served as Chaplain of the “Fighting Irish” 69th New York Regiment during World War I, and was decorated for his activities. This is fascinating to me since My great grandfather John HIckey fought with the 69th New York “Fighting Irish” regiment during the Civil War many years prior. He fought at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg.  Joseph Corr died in 1880 and his wife was denied a military pension.

After WWI, in 1921, Francis P. Duffy was appointed Rector of Holy Cross. Later elevated to Pastor, Father Duffy served the church until his death in 1932.

 

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Calvary Church

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Calvary Church is an Episcopal church located at 277 Park Avenue South on the corner of East 21st Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on the border of the Flatiron District. It was designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect who designed in a gothic revival style in 1848. Renwick also designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Grace Church in NYC. Calvary is constructed of brownstone.

The Calvary Church parish was founded in 1832, and initially used a wooden-frame church on what was then Fourth Avenue – which has since become Park Avenue – uptown of its current site. In 1867 there were two large wooden towers that rose from the front facade but today only the octagonal bases remain. The church’s two wooden spires were removed in September 1860 when they became unstable.

The church complex also includes the nine-story Calvary House, east of the church on Gramercy Park North (East 21st Street), also designed by Renwick, and built in 1867. Calvary House is now rented out as offices.

The “Renwick Gem” Schoolhouse, is a small building to the north of the church which was built as a theatre but used for that purpose only for a short time before being utilized for the Calvary Church Sunday school. It has a large interior space, about 27 feet (8.2 m) between the columns, which were designed to hold up the heavy slate roof without the use of exterior buttresses.

The family of Theodore Roosevelt lived two blocks away from Calvary Church from 1854 to 1872 and Calvary was the church the family belonged to. Other congregants included members of the Astor and Vanderbilt families. some of the richest families of the gilded age.

In 1976, facing financial difficulty, Calvary parish merged with the nearby parishes of St. George’s Church and the Church of the Holy Communion. The Holy Communion buildings were de-consecrated and sold to pay down the debts of the new combined parish, eventually becoming the Limelight disco, and the remaining two churches were able to remain afloat. During the early days of New York’s 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, New York Post reported on the church’s bells, which played “Amazing Grace” and other hymns four times a day.