Middle Dutch Church (New York City)
Encyclopedia
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which has had a variety of church buildings and now exists in the form of four component bodies: the Marble
Marble Collegiate Church
The Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in North America. The congregation, which is part of the Reformed Church in America, is now located at 272 Fifth Avenue at the corner of West 29th Street in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan,...
, Middle, West End
West End Collegiate Church
The West End Collegiate Church is a church on West End Avenue at 77th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It is part of The Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the City of New York, the oldest Protestant church with a continuing organization in America...
and Fort Washington Collegiate Churches, all part of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Churches of New York. The original congregation was established in 1628.
History
First churchPeter Minuit "had Kryn Frederick, the Company's engineer, build a solid fort...called Fort Amsterdam. It was surrounded by cedar palisades, and was large enough to shelter all the people of the little colony in case of danger. Inside this fort there was a house for the Governor, and outside the walls was a warehouse for furs, and a mill which was run by horse-power, with a large room on the second floor to be used as a church...."
1633 church
The congregation's first church building, built on what is now Pearl Street in New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
facing the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, to replace services held in lofts, was a simple timber structure with a gambrel roof and no spire. The lofts described likely indicate the premises provided by Kryn Frederick.
Other sources claim a "second church" was built was located just outside of the fort. In those sources, this claimed as the church that Governor Van Twiller built, which was described as "little better than a barn." This is likely describing the Pear Street 1633 premise. "By this time negro slaves were being brought to the colony from Africa. They did the household work, while the colonists cultivated the fields These slaves did most of the work on a new wooden church which was set up just outside the fort, for the new minister"
By 1638, when Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft was a Dutch merchant and director-general of New Netherland , from 1638 until 1647. He formed the council of twelve men, the first representative body in New Netherland, but ignored its advice...
became director, "the fort was almost in ruins from neglect. The church was in little better condition. The mills were so out of repair that even if the wind could have reached them they could not have been made to do their work properly."
c.1643 church
The second church was located within Fort Amsterdam's walls. The stone church had a spire with weathercock, and was the tallest structure in the city. After the fall of New Amsterdam to the British, the structure was reused as a military garrison church for the Anglican faith.
This church was the site where the Rev. Everardus Bogardus denounced Director-General of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
Willem Kieft's administration during Kieft's War
Kieft's War
Kieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
– which was likely the reason the church was moved into the fort in the first place – and where the banished shipwreck survivor Cornelis Melyn
Cornelis Melyn
Cornelis Melyn was an early Dutch settler in New Netherland and Patroon of Staten Island. He was the chairman of the council of eight men, which was a part of early steps toward representative democracy in the Dutch colony.-Early life:...
returned and caused a writ from the States General to be presented to Petrus Stuyvesant on March 8, 1649. As Burton describes the confrontation:
1693 Garden Street Church
The Garden Street Church, located on what is now Exchange Place, was built to replace the garrison church after its appropriation by the British. The congregation was granted a full charter as the Dutch Church in America by King William III of England
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
on May 19, 1696.
1731 Middle Collegiate Church
The original Middle Collegiate Church was on Nassau Street near Cedar Street, and was built in 1731. During the Revolutionary War
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, it was occupied by the British, who used it at various times as a prison, a hospital and a riding school. It reverted to being a church after the war. From 1844 to 1875, the building was the city's main Post Office. It was torn down in 1882.
1769 North Church
In 1769, to serve the needs of a growing congregation, the North Church was established.
The Middle Dutch Church or Middle Collegiate Church, which was built from 1836-1839, was located on Lafayette Place
Lafayette Street (Manhattan)
Lafayette Street is a major north-south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan, which runs roughly parallel to Broadway to the west. Originally, the part of the street below Houston Street was called Elm Place....
, now Lafayette Street, near La Grange Terrace
Colonnade Row
Colonnade Row, also known as LaGrange Terrace, on present-day Lafayette Street in New York City's NoHo neighborhood, is a landmarked series of Greek revival buildings originally built in the early 1830s. They are believed to have been built by Seth Greer, although the project has been attributed to...
. It was built as the second Collegiate Church congregation continued to move uptown with the population. Nathan Silver in Lost New York describes this structure as "a single-mindedly classic Greek Revival church by Isaiah Rogers
Isaiah Rogers
Isaiah Rogers was a US architect who practiced in Mobile, Alabama, Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, and Cincinnati, Ohio.-Background:...
, perhaps his best work." This church was abandoned in 1887 and is no longer extant. Its bell was relocated to the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, and then went to the New Middle Collegiate Church when St. Nicholas was demolished.
1854 Marble Collegiate Church
Marble Collegiate Church
The Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in North America. The congregation, which is part of the Reformed Church in America, is now located at 272 Fifth Avenue at the corner of West 29th Street in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan,...
The Marble Collegiate Church was built 1854 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 29th Street. Originally called the Fifth Avenue Collegiate Church and sometimes referred to as the 29th Street Church, the church received the name "Marble" in 1906, after its facade made of Tuckahoe marble. The pastor for many years was Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was a minister and author and a progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking".-Early life and education:...
, well known for his book The Power of Positive Thinking.
1872 St. Nicholas Collegiate Church
St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church was a Reformed Protestant Dutch church in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that at the time of its demolition in 1949 was the oldest congregation in Manhattan. The church was located on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth...
The St. Nicholas Collegiate Church at 600 Fifth Avenue at 48th Street was built in 1869-72, designed by W. Wheeler Smith
W. Wheeler Smith
William Wheeler Smith, AIA, professionally known as "W. Wheeler Smith," was an American architect and developer active in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New York City. His home office was located at 17 East 77th Street, New York City...
in the Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, which critic Montgomery Schuyler called "Gothic gone roaring mad". Before being named after St. Nicholas, it was known as the Fifth Avenue Church and the Forty-Eighth Street Church. The church was demolished in 1949.
1891 New Middle Collegiate Church
The New Middle Collegiate Church, built in 1891-92 and designed by S.B. Reed, is located on Second Avenue
Second Avenue (Manhattan)
Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic runs only downtown. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th...
between 6th and 7th Streets. When initially built, the church had reading-rooms an a gymnasium. The sanctuary's stained-glass windows are of Tiffany glass
Tiffany glass
Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios, by Louis Comfort Tiffany....
.
1892 West End Collegiate Church
West End Collegiate Church
The West End Collegiate Church is a church on West End Avenue at 77th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It is part of The Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the City of New York, the oldest Protestant church with a continuing organization in America...
The West End Collegiate Church, located at the northeast corner of West End Avenue
West End Avenue
West End Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, not far from the Hudson River.West End Avenue originates at West 59th Street; the continuation of the street below 59th Street is called Eleventh Avenue. It runs from 59th Street to its...
and West 77th Street was built 1891-92, to the design of Robert W. Gibson. The church's complex includes the Collegaite School, which was established in 1628.
1909 Fort Washington Collegiate Church
The Fort Washington Collegiate Church at 470 Fort Washington Avenue was built beginning in 1908-09, designed by the firm of Nelson & Van Wagenen. In 1916, it became a full member of the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, along with the Marble, Middle and West End Collegiate Churches. It incorporates the congregations of the Hamilton Grange Reformed Church and the Harlem Reformed Dutch Church.