APPENDIX A

SAINT PAUL'S CHAPEL IN NEW YORK CITY

A Monograph by the late CHARLES F. WINGATE, Member of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, copyrighted by him in 1901,

with a few additions by the Secretary of the Society in 1917.

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SAINT PAUL'S CHAPEL

Saint Paul's Chapel of Trinity Protestant Episcopal parish of New York City stands on the west side of Broadway between Fulton and Vesey streets. It faces the west, the main entrance and spire being at the west end and the columned porch in the rear nearest Broadway. It was thus oriented in order that the plan of the church might follow the traditional arrangement which allows the priest, when facing the altar, to look eastward.

The corner-stone was laid May 14, 1764, in a growing wheat field at the corner of what was then called The Broadway and Partition street, the latter now being named Fulton street, opposite the old Boston Road. The existence of wheat-fields at Broadway and Fulton street in 1764 indicates that the frontier of the little old city was just reaching this locality, and so it was; for the New York Gazette says that there were men in town who scrupled not to comment with just severity on the folly of that visionary set of men, the vestry of Trinity Church, who had put so large and ornate a building in a place so remote and sequestered, so difficult of access, and to which the population could never extend."

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The first service was held in the chapel on October 30, 1766, and the 150th anniversary was celebrated with impressive ceremonies on October 30, 1916. (See page 194, ante.)

The location of St. Paul's was exceptionally fine. The grounds sloped down to the Hudson, and the western porch commanded a sweeping view of the harbor and Palisades. Hanover Square was then the fashionable centre, and Robert Morris tells of walking into the country" from Queen (Pearl) street to see St. Paul's. Groves and orchards surrounded the site, which was not fenced in for some time. Cattle wandered about the graveyard, and one warm Sunday, a stray horse entered the open door of the chapel and proceeded half way up the centre aisle. Later many tall stately elms and chestnuts grew up around the church and cast a grateful shade. When it became necessary

to sacrifice one of these monarchs of the forest because of age and decay, George P. Morris was stirred to write in 1830 his famous verse beginning:

"Woodman, spare that tree."*

At the foot of Vesey street the Dutch forces landed in 1673 to recover New Amsterdam from the English. Washington also passed this way on his first visit to New York in 1775, to take command at Cambridge. A broad beach ran along the water front, and near the foot of Barclay street, Jonathan Edwards, the famous theologian, while temporarily preaching in Wall street, used to take his daily exercise pacing to and fro along the pebbly shore and declaiming, like Demosthenese, to exercise his voice.

St. Paul's was the third " English" church on Manhattan Island, Trinity having been founded in 1696, and St. George's in 1752. The building was planned by McBean, a pupil of Gibbs, the London architect, who built St. Martins-in-the-Fields. It is the oldest church edifice in New York and the only colonial house of worship standing on its original site that is to say, the only original colonial church edifice extant in the city. Trinity Church and St. Marks-in-the-Bowery, for instance, stand on sites longer occupied for church purposes, but the present edifices on those sites are not the original ones. Excepting a short interruption at the time of the Revolution, services have been held in St. Paul's continuously for a century and a half; eloquent divines and laymen have spoken from its pulpit; Lafayette was welcomed there in 1824. Washington, Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland have attended its services. Four American Bishops were consecrated at one time, and many imposing funerals have been held within its walls. Eminent men and women, of every profession and clime, repose within its vaults and grounds, statesmen, soldiers, sailors, clergymen, savants, advocates, physicians, tragedians, sculptors, artisans and inventors; some of noble birth, with many of humble extraction, resting quietly, after life's fitful fever," in an eternal sleep. The inscriptions on their tombs vividly recall the history and achievements of the past.

There is another version of this story. to the effect that it was an old elm on the property of the Striker Bay mansion, at West 96th Street, east of Riverside Drive, that inspired Morris' verse. In 1862, Morris testified that the tree was still standing. E. II. H.

At the time of the Revolution, before the capture of the city by the British on September 15, 1776, services were temporarily suspended because the people objected so strenuously to the reading of prayers for the King by Dr. Auchmuty. The Rev. Mr. Shewkirk's diary, under date of Sunday, July 14, 1776, says: "It was a wettish day and it looked as if all was dead in the town. The English churches were shut up and there was services in none or few of the others." The chapel fortunately escaped destruction by the great fire of September 21, 1776, which destroyed Trinity Church; and 89 years later, in 1865, it was equally fortunate when Barnum's Museum on the opposite side of Broadway was burned. On the latter occasion, a wet cloth was placed over the statue of St. Paul on the west end of the church to save it from injury.

When, in 1790, the Fort at the Battery was demolished to build a mansion for President Washington, the body of Richard, Earl of Bellomont, who died in 1701, was found in a lead coffin in a vault under the first Dutch church, and was transferred to St. Paul's, but its present location is not known. The silver coffin-plate, it is said, was converted into spoons. Bellomont was Governor of the Province of New York just after the Leisler troubles and a business partner of the famous Captain Kidd. In 1794, the authorities ordered the building of the steeple and a few years later a clock and bell were ordered from England. On the bell is the inscription "Thomas Mears of London, Fecit 1797." On the works of the clock was the inscription "Clerkenwell, London, 1798." The old clock works were removed on Monday, April 23, 1917, and replaced by new works. In 1800 it was decided to import an organ, and a little later chandeliers were purchased for the better lighting of the church.

When completed St. Paul's was considered unsurpassed in this country for beauty of design, harmony of proportion, and tasteful embellishment. The galleries are supported by fluted wooden columns with square pedestals. The oak pews are low, broad and comfortable. The pervading dignity and simplicity

impress every visitor.

See our Report for 1916, p. 833, etc.