LIBRARY 1628 1928 To commemorate the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the organization in 1628 of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York. Collated and Edited by WILLIAM LEVERICH BROWER, Senior Oificer of the Church Published by The Consistory of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church New York A. D. 1928 The Civic Authorities appointed the year 1926 in which to celebrate the Tercentenary of the City of New York, it being the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians by Peter Minuit. The Consistory of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church of the City of New York in that year issued a Monograph, collated and edited by William Leverich Brower, Senior Officer of the Church, in recognition of the celebration of the City. Peter Minuit, whose purchase of Manhattan Island formed the basis of the celebration, became the first Elder of their Church when it was formally organized in 1628. That Monograph was found to be of much use in forming the plans for the celebration in 1928 by the Collegiate Church of her own Three Hundredth Anniversary. A further issue adapted to that auspicious occasion has been authorized by the Consistory. The early history of the City is inseparably interwoven with the history of the Dutch and their Church. The late Chancellor Kent paid the following tribute to the early Dutch settlers of this State : "The Dutch discoverers of New Netherland were grave, temperate, firm, persevering men, who brought with them the industry, the economy, the simplicity, the integrity, and the bravery of their Belgic sires, and with those virtues they also imported the lights of the Roman civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith. To that period we are to look with chastened awe and respect for the beginnings of our city, and the works of our primitive fathers — our *Albani patres, atque altce mcenia Romcsf " 2 o lO CD 1 to < ^ Q < W z H 0 < 111 z ^ummarp of £on(en^0» The following subjects are treated: 1. PETER MINUIT. The history of Peter Minuit is reproduced from the Year Book of the Collegiate Church, 1897, and was written by the late Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, S.T.D., and was published shortly after his death which occurred in 1896. Doctor Chambers at the time of his death was the Senior Minister of the Collegiate Church and was widely known as a scholar and theologian. In the year 1900 there was erected in the Middle Collegiate Church, Second Avenue and Seventh Street, a mural tablet in memory of Peter Minuit, which is the only memorial to him in this City. The group in which this tablet is placed includes a memorial to the Krankenbezoekers, Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck, officers of the Established Church of the Netherlands, who came hither in advance of the first minister to perform their sacred office of ministering to the people and consoling the sick; also a memorial to the first minister of the Collegiate Church, Jonas Michaelius, who organized the Church in 1628. These four men who formed the first Consistory of the Church are thus the illus- trious men who founded both Church and State in the metropolis of the Western Hemisphere. A photographic illustration of these tablets is to be found in this Monograph. The Gospel was brought to the Western Hemisphere in four ways : By the Roman Catholics in the discovery by Columbus at San Salvador. By the Church of England on the James. By the Dutch in New York as indicated above. By the Pilgrims at Massachusetts Bay. 3 Since the erection of three tablets, it has been disclosed that the date of the arrival of the Krankenbezoekers was in 1624 instead of 1626. II. BASTIAEN JANSZ KROL (CROL). The First Religious Teacher in Manhattan ( 1624), This article was prepared for the Collegiate Church Year Book of 1911 by the late Rev. Edward Tanjore Corwin, D.D., and is a tribute to the missionary zeal which characterized the early Church of Holland, the animating fires of which have con- tinued in the Mother Church and her children throughout the succeeding centuries. To it is appended an extract from an article on the Church of Holland, a Missionary Church, written also by the Rev. Edward Tanjore Corwin, D.D., and published in the Collegiate Church Year Book of 1903. These widespread efforts of the early Church in proclaiming the Gospel are truly Apostolic in their character and constitute a ready response to the words of our Lord as recorded in Matthew XXVII ; 19-20 : "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.'^ III. DOMINE JONAS MICHAfiLIUS. First Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, Translation of his letter, 11th August, 1628, recounting the organization of the Church, and drawing a picture of the priva- tions of the first settlers of New Amsterdam, of their first culti- vation of the land, of the productions of the country and of the manners and language of the Indians. 4 IV. A SUNDAY MORNING DEPICTED AT THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CITY. (The Church in the Fort, A, D. 1642,) This interesting account formed a part of an address by the late James W. Gerard in 1874 before the New York Historical Society on the "Old Streets of New York Under the Dutch" and is introduced here as pleasing contemporaneous matter. V. NEW YORK'S LIBERTY BELL. The bell of the Old Middle Church (1729) now hanging in the belfry of the Church of St. Nicholas, Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street, this City. It has been thought interesting to introduce into this Monograph an account of this famous bell which is indeed a rival to the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The account will sufficiently indicate the patriotic spirit which has animated the Dutch Reformed Church in this City throughout the cen- turies which have passed. VI. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH 1928. This account is intended to give some salient facts of the really great work in which the Collegiate Church of this day and generation is engaged. VII. A CATALOGUE OF PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLD NEW YORK AND OF OTHER HISTORI- CAL PLACES AND PERSONS INSTALLED IN THE MIDDLE CHURCH HOUSE, 50 SEVENTH STREET, NEW YORK CITY. The Collection of William Leverich Brower, This collection comprises one hundred and fifty prints and photographs of persons and places chiefly identified with the earlier history of the City and Nation. The collection in the opinion of one of the prominent print dealers of this city is one 5 of the most extensive in the city and is noted for its general arrangement and classification and for the lucid descriptions in the catalogue, of the several objects. VIII. SYMBOLS OF THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. TX. EXHIBITS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FROM TEN TO FOUR O'CLOCK EVERY DAY EXCEPT SUNDAY DURING THE PERI- OD OF THE TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION. 6 MM "THE eu>»' OF CHtLWEN *8E THHfc 'Off THE CFMEfA'nrOK TO COME' '1EU u n'V^ CHrtWEN or it . A«tO LET VUUP CHlLMtN TEU "HEl" KIIJM&4 AND THEIR CHIiXWEN £iSCT£ftA-ftl900 erncf . m dfvcut m o«Nmoi» «(ANe i$ miHKir rc he CHoaeit m% ill i mm Of »'c fits or IHC »T«Bl!'SW»i in tsumtw Tttt rnvrtfiH ; . ATFIt^ TO K»MPH THRU 1 | ' 10 1t(f PCWtf «Nt C^^OUMyr ' tftMflESS" ' ~ - - , ' KKOiD THE U>»*)f &i1> W>>tCH 1AKET}{ aW*1 the M(i 4» THF tOMTOir^ COKFOfT Yf »lT KOPti- 't VAi M£tk iitNb tE VIUTtB ME * ^ i i CM1¥H It Y i^ltrCTrt B> CNI HtttMEir OtiMXEb TV TMC Of Ffcr or itrtitvtH& rnt pooa or vjMi>Tjjr A D fee EVfWW * SE T»E Cf^FCM *T ^rT PHOTOGRAPH OF MURAL, TABLETS ERECTED IN THE MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, SECOND AVENUE, A. D., 1900 TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS MEN WHO LAID THE FOUNDATION OF CHURCH AND STATE IN THE METROPOLIS OF THE NATION. I. I One of the group of illustrious men who founded both Church and State in the metropolis of the Western Hemisphere. In the sixteenth century and the seventeenth, religious perse- cution drove out of France a multitude of her best citizens. Thousands of these found refuge in neighboring countries where their superior skill and industry won for them an enviable name. The city of Wesel, on the Rhine, in the duchy of Cleves, was famous as an asylum for persecuted Protestants. Besides the native Reformed churches there were large and influential French, English and Dutch congregations. In the Walloon, or French, church of this city of Rhenish Prussia, was born and baptized Peter Minuit, or as the name was sometimes written, Menewe. The records of the church were lost in the vicissitudes of the times, yet we learn from other sources that Minuit was not only a member in full communion, but an elder in the Walloon church. The civil records of the city of Wesel show that Minuit departed for foreign countries in the month of April, 1625. At this time the West India Company of Holland, determined to plant a stable colony in America, and they fixed upon Minuit as a suitable person for the office of director-general. They com- missioned him, and he sailed from the Texel in January, 1926. * While a letter written by Michaelius from. Manhattan in 1630, and addressed to a friend in Holland, has recently been discovered and published, in which letter there is every evidence that there was no small controversy between the writer and Minuit, as was often the case in those days, and while in it he even reflects upon the character of Minuit, yet notwithstanding this seeming implication the Con- sistory of the Collegiate Church prefers to preserve unimpaired the memory of the general integrity of character in which Minuit has been held during these succeeding centuries. Doubtless there was error on both sides and with these men, in that distant time, in a new country, deprived of the restraints of settled communities and beset with trying problems of government, prejudices, no doubt, were created, passions aroused and utterances made, which in a calmer period and under other circum- stances would not have arisen. The Consistory cherishes the memory of these two servants of the Church with veneration and respect. 9 and arrived at Manhattan in the following May. With him a council was appointed, which was invested with all legislative and judicial powers, subject to the supervision and appellate jurisdiction of the chamber of the company at Amsterdam. Minuit's birth and training, as well as his natural character, fitted him to lead the hardy Dutch and French emigrants to the banks of the Hudson. It was his business to transform a mere trading post into a firm-settled agricultural colony, and, accordingly, he brought with him a supply of seeds, plants, domestic animals and implements of husbandry. Hitherto- the Dutch had possessed Manhattan island Only by right of discovery and occupa;tion. Minuit determined to superadd a higher title by purchase from the aborigines. Accordingly, he opened negotiations with the Indians, and an arrangement was made by which the whole island was ceded to the West India Company "for the value of sixty guilders," or about twenty-four dollars of our present currency. This event, as the distinguished J. R. Brodhead has observed, ''as well deserves commemoration as the famous treaty, immortalized by painters, poets and historians, which William Penn concluded, fifty-six years afterwards, under the great elm tree, with the Indians at Shackamaxon." This humane and Christian policy of peaceful negotiation and fair dealing with the Indians was inaugurated by Peter Minuit, eighteen years before William Penn was born. In fur- ther evidence of the purpose to establish' the colony upon a firm foundation, a fort, faced with stone, was constructed at the southern end of the island. The interest of trade and of agri- culture were encouraged with equal care. A plenty of grain was raised, and the meadows furnished grazing for herds of cattle. The Indians were offered fair prices for their furs, and soon this business reached the annual sum of 143,000 guilders. At one time Minuit built a six hundred-ton vessel and sent it to Holland, laden with valuable furs. He also cultivated friendly relations with the settlers in New England. He wrote to Governor 10 an (J) o 7i H X m > r m o > 2 > ^ > z H X m ^ m > H -< CD m m m z Q O < Z c > z D r > z o X m > CD O 2 £ z m (/) III "ill' I'l' :v''^!i';(.:u;ii' : H:i'!SU Bradford, of the New Plymouth colony, reminding him of the amity existing between the mother countries across the sea, and proposing commercial reciprocity as mutually advantageous;. Bradford replied in a similar spirit, and expressed gratitude for the hospitality shown to the Pilgrim Fathers in Holland, for which he declared that "they and their children would be forever thankful/' But while temporal affairs were thus prospering, and the population growing by natural increase as well as by the arrival of new settlers, the higher spiritual interests of the people were not neglected. At first laymen called "Krankenbezoekers," or visitors of the sick, maintained the ordinances of worship, but early in 1628, Jonas Michaelius, a pious and carefully trained clergyman, came over from Holland. He was full of zeal and good works, not only preaching in Dutch and French, but endeav- oring to teach the gospel to the Indians in their native tongue. In the summer he established a church* which has continued in unbroken succession to this day. It was organized according to the custom of the Reformed in Europe, with two elders. One of these was the honorable director himself, and the other was his brother-in-law, Jan Huyghen, both of whom had served as office bearers in the Dutch church and in the French at Wesel on the Rhine. At the first administration of the Lord's Supper full fifty Walloons and Dutch sat down at the table. Minuit is said to have erected the horse mill, the upper story of which was used as a place of worship until a church building was put up. For about four years Minuit continued in office, commend- ing religion by his own personal and official example, when, through circumstances for which he was in. no way responsible, he was recalled to Holland. The difficulty arose from a sort of feudal system which the West India Company established in New Netherland. Certain wealthy persons called "patroons" were allowed to possess large tracts of land, provided they intro- III' WW— Wi I ■ W illi m *Now known as the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church of New York. 11 duced each at least fifty colonists who, for ten years, should be exempt from all customs and taxes, but could not leave the ser- vice of their feudal chief without his written consent. Mean- while, the company reserved to itself the right to control all trade and manufactures. It was inevitable that trouble should arise between the company on one hand and the new colonial proprie- taries on the other, since their interests would conflict. Of this Minuit was the victim, 'The upright man and faithful officer was ground as it were between the upper and nether millstones, and compelled to withdraw from New Netherland after six years of prosperous administration." It has been said of him: "His integrity as an officer seemed to raise up against him a host of enemies, and hence he was recalled." But this was not the end of his career. In 1636 he was chosen by the government of Sweden to establish a colony on the west bank of the South River, as the Delaware was then called. Owing to a prolonged illness he did not set out till late in the autumn of 1637, and arrived in New Sweden in March, 1638. Here he organized a Christian government, dealt fairly with the Indians, and within three months put the settlement in a condi- tion to repel any assault. Then he sailed to the West Indies to secure a valuable return cargo to old Sweden. He accomplished his object and was ready to return, when he accepted an invita- tion to visit a Dutch vessel, and, while enjoying the hospitalities of his host, a violent hurricane arose which drove all the vessels in the harbor of St. Christopher out to sea. Both of his own ships outrode the storm, but the Flying Deer, on which the gov- ernor was, was never heard of again. Minuit's influence remained behind him, and the legislature of Delaware appointed a memorial service to be held at Dover, on the 23rd of April, 1895. At this service the Rev. Dr. Cyrus Cort, of Wyoming, Del., the chaplain of the Senate, delivered an inter- esting address, from which most of the preceding sketch has been derived. It may be that Peter Minuit shines by contrast with his successors in office, the incompetent Van Twiller, the cor- 12 rupt Kieft and the irascible and tyrannical Stuyvesant, but all the information attainable represents him as an intelligent and God- fearing man, with executive ability, and entirely incorruptible. His name should not be allowed to remain in obscurity, but be tenderly cherished as the first governor of New Netherland, a man not surpassed in wise administration of affairs by any of the long line of statesmen and patriots who, for the greater part of three centuries, have been the executives of the Empire state. "The glory of children are their fathers,'' the wise man tells us, and special pains should be taken not to let the memory of able and faithful men who adorned their high station perish from the earth. Talbot W. Chambers. Sot Qh^ ^' FAC- SIMILE OF SIGNATURE OF PETER MINUIT The following is the inscription on the tablet erected in his memory in the Collegiate Church, Second Avenue and Seventh Street, TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORV OF PETER MINUIT HIRST DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NgW NETHERLAND. A, D. 1626 AND THE FIRST ELDER OF THIS CHURCH, A. 0. 1628 AN INTELLIGENT AND GOD-FEARING MAN, WITH GREAT EXECUTIVE ABILITY, AND ENTIRELY INCORRUPTIBLE A MAN NOT SURPASSED IN WISE ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS BY AI^Y OF THE LONG LINE OF "STATESMEN AND PATRIOTS WHO, FOR THE GREATER PART OF THREE CENT- URIES HAVE BEEN THE EXECUTIVES OF THE EMftRE STATE **THE GLORY OF CHILDREN ARE THEIR FATHERS. " *'tHIS SHALl BE WRITTEN FOB THE GENERATION TO COME." *'TELL YE YOUR CHILDREN OF IT. AND LET YOUR CHILDREN TELL THEIR CHILDREN. AND THEIR CHILDREM ANOTHER CtFNERATlON." ERECTED A. 0. 1000, BY A SUCCESSOR IN HIS ECCLCGIAtTICAL OFFICE, IN DEVOUT RECOGNITION OF THE^TRUTH THAT, **A GOOD NAME Ift RATHER TO Bf CHQSEN THAN GREAT RICHE8.*' 13 The First Religious Teacher in Manhattan. t^e t^utc^ of l^oeeanb* A Missionary Church. 15 II (§iXBii(Xtn 3 unbroken testimony for the truth and order of God's House. ''Many a wave of error has rolled over this land. Many a subtle heresiarch has unfurled his ban- ner and bid defiance to the old faith. Foreign wars and civil wars have left their bloody tracks on the face of the country. Inventions of all kinds have revolutionised the courses of trade and the processes of agriculture ; and the great changes in secular things have often suggested similar changes in things sacred. But none of these things have moved the old Collegiate Church. She has maintained, throughout all, her doctrine, order and life!') 1623-1628 The Dutch and Walloon immigrants who formed the first settlement in New Netherland first held their religious meetings for a number of years in a spacious room in a loft above the first horse-mill erected on the Island. The location of this mill is approximately 20-22 South William Street. It was here that the 63 Church was organized in 1628. In the year 1913, the Consistory acquired four of the old millstones which had been in use in the mill and these stones are de- posited in the basement of the Church of St. Nicholas, Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street. 1633 I. A Wooden Building on the East River, the first church edifice. This was erected in 1633 in the year in which the Rev. Everardus Bogardus came out from Holland. This was a plain wooden building situated on the East River in what is now Broad Street, between Bridge and Pearl Streets. Hard by a parsonage with a stable attached was put up for the use of the Domine. 1642 II. The Stone Church in the Fort. In 1642, during the rule of Governor Kieft, the Colony had so far increased that a new church was imperatively needed. It was built of stone with a roof of heavy split oaken shingles. It had a conspicuous tower, which was surmounted with a weathercock. On one of the old houses. No. 4 Bowling Green, near the Battery, was once a large bronze table with the following inscription: "The Site of Fort Amsterdam, Built in 1626 Within the Fortifications Was Erected the First Substantial Church Edifice on the Island of Manhattan."^ This church was 70 feet long, 52 feet wide and 16 feet high, with a peaked roof and tower. "The Church in the Fort," as it is often called, was then known as "St. Nicholas Church.'' It accommodated the people 64 for over fifty years, its stone walls often serving as a rallying place and refuge in many an alarm of Indian foray and massacre. On the front of the church was a stone tablet with this inscription : "An. Dom. MDCXLIL, W. KiEFT Dir. Gen. Heeft de Gemeente Dese Tempel Doen Bouwen.^' "A. D. 1642, W. Kieft being Director- General, has caused the congregation to build this temple." In 1790, when they were taking away the edifice of the fort at the Battery to make way for the Govern- ment House on the site of what is now Bowling Green, this stone was found among the ruins. It was removed to the basement of the church in Garden Street, where it remained until the building was destroyed in the great fire of December, 1835. On the bell which hung in the church tower was inscribed : "DULCIOR E NOSTRIS TINNITIBUS RESONAT AER. P. Hemony me fecit 1674."* This bell was made in Holland and was the first of the kind used in this city. Its silver tones had struck with admiration even the ears of the native Indians. 1693 III. The First Garden Street Church. (After the erection of the church in Nassau Street (IV) this church took the name of "Old Church'' and that in Nassau Street mas desig- nated as the ''New Church'' and when the ''North Church (V) was erected, the "Garden Street Church" took the name of the "South Church") *"The air resounds sweeter from our ringing. P. Hemony made me." 65 The building in the fort being required for use by the English garrison the Dutch people determined to erect another. This was built in Garden Street, now Exchange Place. The land on which the edifice was erected was adjacent to the orchard and flower garden of the widow of Domine Drisius. The structure was an oblong square with three sides of an octagon on the east side. Its windows consisted of small panes of glass set in lead, most of them having the coats-of- arms of those who had been elders and magistrates, curiously burnt on the glass by Gerard Duyckinck. In front was a brick steeple on a square foundation, large enough to permit a room over the entrance for the meetings of the Consistory. The bell, pulpit and fur- niture of the Stone Church in the Fort (II) were transferred to this church. For plate, the people con- tributed silverware and money, which was sent over to the silver workers of Amsterdam, who hammered out for them a communion set and a large baptismal basin. The first church organ used in New York sounded its notes within these walls, for in 1720 Governor Burnet brought one over and presented it to the Con- sistory. It is a memorable fact that the Rev. William Vesey, the first Rector of Trinity Church, was in- ducted into that office in this building, Trinity Church not being yet completed. At the request of the Eng- lish Governor two Ministers from the Dutch Church assisted in the service. This Church continued in active use until 1766, when it was enlarged and repaired. A generation later, in 1807, having stood a hundred and fourteen years, it was taken down and a more commodious edifice erected on its site (VI). 66 1729 IV. The Old Middle Church. (This church was first designated as the '^New Church'' and after the erection of the ''North Church'' (V) it took the name of the ''Middle Church" and the churches mere then designated as foUozvs: The "First Garden Street Church" (HI) as the "South Church" and the church in Nassau Street (IV) as the "Middle Church" and the church in William Street (V) as the North Church") Of the Collegiate Churches, the "Middle Church'' plays the most important part in history. This was erected in Nassau Street, between Cedar and Liberty Streets. It was 100 feet by 70 feet within the walls. It was built without a gallery, the ceiling being entirely arched unsupported by pillars, until 1764, when altera- tions were made, in view of the larger attendance from the introduction of services in the English tongue. The spacious edifice possessed admirable acoustic qualities and was kept in use until the year 1844. It had a tower at the north end in which was hung the famous bell referred to in this monograph (IV, New York's Liberty Bell). The spire as usual was surmounted by a weathercock. Here it was that preaching in the English language was first introduced in the Dutch Church. During the Colonial days the services were conducted in the language of the Netherlands; but in April, 1764, a change was made in response to the request of a large number of those who worshipped in this church. The first sermon in English was preached by the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, a grad- uate of the University of Edinburgh, who had just been installed as one of the Collegiate Ministers. On September 16th, 1776, as a result of the Bat- tle of Long Island, the British took possession of the 67 city. One of their first acts was to seize the churches, despoil them of their furniture and turn them into hospitals, riding schools, barracks or prisons. This was due to the loyalty of the Dutch to the Continental cause. The entire interior of the Middle Church was destroyed, leaving only the bare walls and the roof. It was then used as a prison and afterward as a rid- ing school by the British dragoons. After the Revolu- tion it was restored and refurnished and services were resumed. (July 4th, 1790.) On the corner of Nassau and Cedar Streets, a bronze tablet marks this historic spot. It is thus in- scribed : ''Here Stood the Middle Dutch Church Erected 1729 Made a British Military Prison 1776 Occupied by U. S. P. O. 1845-75 Taken Down 1882." This edifice as well as the other churches had pews appointed for the use of the Governor, Magistrates, etc., and the City and State arms formerly embellished its walls. It was leased to the general government for secular purposes in 1844 and in 1861 they received a conveyance of the fee. The building was used as a post office until 1875 and in 1882 was sold to the Mutual Life Insurance Company, who took it down entirely to make way for another structure. 1769 V. The North Church. The growth of the congregation demanded a new building, which was erected on what was called Horse and Cart Lane, now William Street. It had the same dimensions as its predecessor in Nassau Street. This church was the first one erected exclusively for Eng- 68 lish service. While it stood it was, therefore, a memorial of the great transition which the community made from the tongue of Grotius and William the Silent, to that of Milton and Hooker, and the metallic plate mentioned below, which is now in possession of Mr. William Leverich Brower, has the same sig- nificance. The church was a large edifice in the Roman style of architecture. The ten Corinthian pil- lars which supported the ceiling were noticeable; at the top of each of them were carved and gilded the initials of the generous contributors to the erection of the church. In this church were two large square pews surmounted by a canopy, one at the right of the pulpit for the Governor and the other on the left side for the Mayor and Aldermen. The great bell, which for many years summoned the people to service, now ornaments the church on Fifth Avenue and Twenty- ninth Street. During the Revolution, the British took posses- sion of this church also; removed its furniture and turned it into a hospital and prison. It is believed that during the war the pulpit was taken to England, for there is in a parish church there one which was brought from America and strongly resembles that which once stood in the "Old North Church.'' After the English evacuated the city the church was restored and reopened for worship, and was not again closed until 1875, when the ground was leased for business purposes and the church edifice was removed. During its removal an interesting relic, a facsimile of which is given below, was brought to light. Under the pillar which supported the gallery, and nearest the pulpit, was found a metallic plate, twelve inches square. Upon this was stamped, letter by letter, 69 a brief history of the church and the projectors, con- cluded with two verses which were taken from the fifth stanza of Watt's version, in common meter, of Psalm CXXII. Mr. Garret Abeel, who prepared the plate, was one of the Deacons and a member of the committee appointed to erect the building. •die £i *j> THIS CHURCH "WAS BVILTBY THE COKGRB GATIOIT BEr2. fecih^ 1807 VI. The Second Garden Street Church. The first Garden Street Church edifice (HI), having been removed, was replaced by a second edifice in 1807. This was 66 feet long and 50 feet wide with a circular end. It continued only a short time under the Collegiate Consistory, being set apart as an inde- pendent organization in 1812. It was burned to the ground in the disastrous fire of December, 1835. 70 This fire also destroyed the stone tablet and the bell mentioned in connection with the Stone Church in the Fort (II) and the First Garden Street Church (III), both of which objects had been preserved in this edifice, having been taken from the former edifice on this site. The following description from an eye witness of the burning of the Garden Street Church in 1835 will be found interesting. The description is that of Mr. Samuel Swartwout, who was Collector of the Port ot New York in 1835 : "The fire was very appalling. God knows it was a ter- rible night. I saw the Old Garden Street Church on fire, I saw the steeple tottering and staggering and reeling Hke a mighty giant struggling in its last extremity. I heard the old Church bell toll its requiem — that bell which had so con- stantly invited under the consecrated roof beneath it, the old and the young, the prosperous and the broken-hearted, the powerful and the friendless to commune with that Beneficent Power in whose sight all are equal — that same old bell which had seen generations come and pass away, which so often had merrily tolled its peals on the marriage day and for so long a time had murmured its solemn dirges over the de- parted dead. I stood and looked at the yielding steeple. Its last hour had come, and as it swayed and rocked and fell, I heard its last knell strike, saw it disappear forever, with the Church whose constant companion it had been for so many years." 1839 VIL The Middle Church^ Lafayette Place and Fourth Street. (When this church was erected it was usually designated as the ''Lafayette Place Church'' or the "Fourth Street Church" until 1854, when the church at Fifth Avenue and Twetny-ninth Street was opened for worship {VIII). The churches at that time were the ''North Church" at Fulton and William Streets (V), this church at La- 71 fayette Place and Fourth Street^ and the one just alluded to at Fifth Avenue and Twenty- ninth Street, Consequently, this church began to be known as the "Middle Church!') The edifice 70 feet by 120 feet was built of granite and adorned with twelve Ionic columns, each a monolith.'^ The building resembled the Temple of Erectheus at Athens. A steeple terminating in a lofty and well proportioned spire was erected at first on the building. This was at a later date removed. The interior was very effective. Its beautiful pulpit of statuary marble, white, chaste and simple was famous. It was always regarded as a fair outward expression of the purity of life and doctrine which they who used it were expected to set forth. It now graces the "New Middle Church" at Second Avenue and Seventh Street (XIV). In the year 1887, the edifice was taken down, the last service being held on the 27th of February in that year. 1854. VIII. The Fifth Avenue and Twenty-ninth Street Church^ later known as the Marble Church. {For a time this church was known as "The Fifth Avenue Church'' or, as it was more often termed, "The Twenty-ninth Street Church," In igo6 the Consistory officially desigmted this church to be known as the "Marble Collegiate Church/') This edifice was opened for public worship in October, 1854. It is built of Hastings marble, in the Romanesque style of architecture. It has a massive *An interesting account of these monoliths is recalled by the editor of this monograph, having been furnished to him in his younger days by his father, who was long a member of the Consistory of the Church. They were hewn of Quincy granite, brought to New York on floats through Long Island Sound and the East River and each one was conveyed to the place of erection by the use of twenty teams of horses. It is further recorded that one of the monoliths was, through accident, sunk in the East River. 72 clock and bell tower, terminating in a spire two hun- dred and fifteen feet from the ground, which is sur- mounted by a weathercock (six feet six inches high), after the custom of the earlier churches. The interior has several times undergone thorough repairs and redecorating. In 1878 a most interesting service took place in this building on the occasion of the celebration of the Quarter-millennial Anniversary of the Collegiate Church, when the clergy from the Episcopal, Meth- odist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches brought gatherings and congratulations. In the court-yard stands the bell cast in Amster- dam in 1795 for the old "North Church" on Fulton Street. 1861 IX. The DeWitt Chapel, 160 West Twenty-ninth Street. In the year 1861 a substantial edifice was erected at 160 West Twenty-ninth Street, which served the use of the Day School of the Church and afforded convenient rooms for the Mission Sunday School which had for some years been sustained in that neighborhood, and also contained a spacious chapel for preaching services. The congregation worshiping here was consoli- dated in 1895 with the congregation of the church in Thirty-fourth Street, west of Eighth Avenue, there- after worshiping in the Thirty-fourth Street building, which was then designated as the "Thirty- fourth Street Reformed Church.'' The property at 160 West Twenty-ninth Street was sold by the Consistory in 1897. 73 1865 X. The Knox Memorial Chapel. This organization had its beginning in a Sunday School which was organized on May 15th, 1858, and was named in memory of the Rev. Dr. John Knox, Senior Minister of the Collegiate Church, who died in 1858. It was removed to various locations until 1866, when a house was built by the Consistory on Ninth Avenue above Thirty-eighth Street for the Knox Memorial Mission School. This served an excellent purpose for a while, but then proving to be too small was removed in 1868 to a new building also erected by the Consistory at 514 Ninth Avenue, and that building was first used for worship in 1869. It remained at this location until 1898, when a new build- ing was erected at 405-409 West 41st Street for its accommodation. 1869 XL The Seventh Avenue Chapel, Seventh Ave- nue and Fifty- fourth Street. In 1869 lots were acquired on Seventh Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, upon which a commodious edifice was built, which was used until 1880, when it was enlarged and remodelled. In 1885 the congrega- tion was organized into an independent body known as Grace Reformed Church. 1869 XII. The North Church Chapel. In 1869 the old Consistory building at the west end of the "North Church" was taken down. Upon its site a large structure was erected which was so arranged that while the front and rear were devoted to secular purposes, a fine chapel in the interior was secured on the second floor. On this site the well known Fulton Street Prayer Meeting had its birth and has here since been continued. 74 1872 XIII. The Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street Church. (For a generation this church was known as the ''Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street Church" or, as it was sometimes called, the ''Forty-eighth Street Church/^ In ipo6 the Consistory officially designated this church to be known as "The Col- legiate Church of St. Nicholas/') The ground on which this edifice is erected was purchased from Columbia College, 1857. Upon the rear of the lot a convenient edifice was erected and was opened for worship on Christmas day, 1866. In July, 1869, the cornerstone of the church was laid, but many hindrances retarded the work and it was not dedicated until November, 1872. The dimensions are 70 feet by 100 feet. The style is the decorated Gothic of the 14th Century. Its buttress projections offer a fine play of light and shade and the stone carv- ing is rich, chaste and simple. The material is of Newark sandstone. The rose window in front is 20 feet in width and 33 feet in height. The stone carving is worthy of admiration, being in complete harmony in design, which is chaste and simple in character, the representations being of various plants, both natural and conventionalized. The late Dean Stanley of the Church of England when visiting this country exam- ined this church and pronounced it the finest piece of parish architecture which he had seen in this country. 1892 XIV. The Middle Church, Second Avenue and Seventh Street. (In Jpo6 the Consistory officially designated this church to be known as "The Middle Collegiate Church/') When the Middle Church at Lafayette Place and Fourth Street (VII) was taken down in 1887, the 75 Consistory provided for the work of that congregation by leasing a house at 14 Lafayette Place, which was fitted up for church purposes. The Congregation re- mained here until the Consistory determined to build a church and parish house on the east side. The cor- nerstone of this structure was laid on Whitsun Day, May 17th, 1891, and the edifice was opened for public worship on June 26th, 1892. In the afternoon of that day it was formally set apart to the service of the Triune God according to the office set forth in the Liturgy. The interior of the church is strikingly pleasing in its proportions and finish in which the deli- cate lines of Gothic workmanship prevail. A unique feature of the church architecture, it is well to note, are the eight beautiful memorial windows which re- ceive their only light by means of electricity, this being at that time the largest attempt of its kind which had been made. The quaint coat-of-arms of John Harpendinck is preserved in this church, which object is now over 151 years old. The parish house connected with this church is very commodious and complete, it being the first instance of the kind where the Consistory has erected a parish house in conjunc- tion with the church. 1892 XV. The West End Church, West End Avenue and 77th Street. {In ipo6 the Consistory officially designated this church to be known as the 'West End Collegiate Church'') This church was dedicated to the worship of the Almighty God on the afternoon of Sunday, November 20th, 1892. The style of architecture is Dutch, modelled upon the old buildings of Haarlem and Amsterdam. This style has the picturesque qualities of the Gothic with more originality, and is historicallv 76 very appropriate. The materials are long thin brick of a Roman pattern and brown in color, trimmed freely with quoins and blockings, etc., of buff terra cotta. Some very picturesque panels carved with the coats- of-arms of the church and of past benefactors are also in terra cotta. The pulpit is of large size and of octa- gon shape. Its handsome base is of carved oak, the panels showing the coat-of-arms of the Reformed Church and the seal of the church. The carved oak pulpit chairs are rich examples of the old Dutch style. 1898 XVI. The New Knox Memorial Chapel, 405-409 West Forty-first Street. The cornerstone of this edifice was laid November 28th, 1897 (Advent) and was opened for public wor- ship on October 30th, 1898. This edifice, erected by the Consistory for the accommodation of its work, which has had an unbroken and prosperous existence since 1858, is beautiful and complete. 1909 XVIL The Fort Washington Church, One Hun- dred and Eighty-first Street and Fort Washington Avenue. This edifice was publicly dedicated on Sunday afternoon, March 28th, 1909, the first service of public worship having been held on Sunday, February 28th, 1909. This church was a development of the enter- prise which was started by the "West End Church" February 10th, 1907. During the spring of 1913, the erection of a church house by the Consistory was com- pleted. In 1924, the Consistory greatly improved the building and grounds of this church, so that it is in keeping with the importance and dignity which has always been maintained by the Collegiate Church in this city, and serves to furnish a kindly welcome to the surrounding neighborhood. 77 The following buildings were erected by independent con- gregations, and title thereto subsequently acquired by the Col- legiate Church : The Ninth Street Church^ 1836. This building stood on the ground now covered by the large establishment of the successors to A. T. Stewart & Company and had been put up a short time previously by an independent or- ganization of our denomination. Here an intelligent and active congregation was gathered and the Collegiate Ministers regularly officiated until the year 1855, when the building was relinquished as being no longer required. The Thirty-fourth Street Reformed Church, 1860. In the year 1895 the congregation of the church worshiping on this site in Thirty-fourth Street, west of Eighth Avenue, hav- ing conveyed their real estate to the Collegiate Church Corpora- tion, it was determined by the Consistory to consolidate the con- gregation worshiping in DeWitt Chapel (IX) with that of this church. This arrangement having been perfected, the church was thereafter officially designated by the Consistory to be known as the "Thirty- fourth Street Reformed Church." The work was continued under the care of the Consistory until January 1st, 1920, when, owing to the change in character of the neighborhood, the Consistory deemed it no longer advisable to maintain a sep- arate congregation there and the property was therefore sold, but arrangements were happily made whereby the congregation was cared for with the other congregations of the Collegiate Churches. The Bethany Memorial Church, Fifth Avenue and Sixty-sev- enth Street, 1917. This property was acquired by the Consistory after an agree- ment had been entered into between the Consistory of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, to which the property belonged, and the Consistory of the Collegiate Church. The responsibility for 78 the future administration of the work there carried on being assumed by the Collegiate Church under certain terms and con- ditions. While still continuing as an ecclesiastical entity, being an independent church duly constituted, a measure of control is exercised by the Consistory of the Collegiate Church. In addition to the above, the Consistory in the year 1902, purchased a site of ground at Convent Avenue and 149th Street on which they erected a beautiful and commodious church build- ing. This is occupied by the Hamilton Grange Reformed Church, an independent body. 79 VIL of ©fb Qlett? ^orfi AND OF OTHER HISTORICAL PLACES AND PERSONS INSTALLED IN 50 Seventh Street, New York City [The Collection of William Leverich Brower] This collection comprises one hundred and fifty prints and photographs of persons and places chiefly identified with the earlier history of the City and Nation, The collection, in the opinion of one of the prominent print dealers of this City, is one of the most extensive in the City and is noted for its general arrangement and classification and for lucid description in the catalogue of the several objects. This collection will be opened to the public during the Ter- centenary Celebration and will be in charge of a competent person who will pay every attention to visitors. Due notice of the dates will be given later. 81 VII. ^ C