Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church is located at 290 Henry Street between Montgomery and Jackson Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.
The church began in 1819 as a mission near the old Grand Street Ferry run by students of the General Theological Seminary. Led by former mayor, Marinus Willett, the mission grew. It was organized as a parish in 1824, and construction began on All Saints’ Free Church (“Free” meaning free of pew rent), around 1827. It was built of Manhattan schist. Around this time “Mount Pitt” (also known as Jones Hill), near Pitt and Grand Streets, was being leveled, and some of field stone used was taken from there.