Built in 1766, Saint Paul’s Church is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan, and one of the nation’s finest examples of Late Georgian church architecture.
The main entrance to the church faced west toward the large churchyard and the Hudson River beyond what is now One World Trade Center.
Notable individuals buried in the church yard include, General Richard Montgomery, Revolutionary War hero ho is buried beneath the east porch of St. Paul’s.
John Bailey, who forged the George Washington battle sword in Fishkill, NY, while the Continental Army was encamped there. The sword is preserved in the Smithsonian Institution.
John Holt, a patriotic printer and editor of The New York Gazette, New York’s first newspaper founded by William Bradford, and The New York Journal.
George Frederick Cooke, a renowned British character actor. He played Richard III at the Park Lane Theatre to an audience of 2,000 on November 21, 1810.
George Eacker, a New York lawyer, who mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton’s son Philip in a duel. Alexander Hamilton is buried at Trinity Church in NYC.
In 1960, the chapel was named a National Historic Landmark; it was also made a New York City Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.