Annals of St. Michael's ; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807-1907 ;, Part 12

Author: Peters, John Punnett, 1852-1921, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, London, G. P. Putnam
Number of Pages: 578


USA > New York > New York City > Annals of St. Michael's ; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807-1907 ; > Part 12


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The successive year books give a detailed history of the parish, showing the gradual organization of various institutions which are still effective. A young men's association with twenty-nine members was organized in 1880, preparing the way for the chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, which was estab- lished in 1887. In 1888 the Misses Eastman and Law- rance organized the Boys' Guild, still in existence. About the same time appears the Twenty-Minute Society, out of which had grown by 1890, St. Agnes's


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Deaths of Vestrymen


Guild. This method of talking to the parish, reporting the work, and explaining the need of more work, proved so effective that by 1890 it seemed desirable to commence the publication of a parish paper, the St. Michael's Messenger, which continues to this day.


It has already been stated that when Dr. Peters became rector of St. Michael's he was supported by an unusually strong body of vestrymen. Long before the changes which have been noted were completed, these had all passed away or left the parish. In 1859 the Vestry records the death of their fellow member, Thomas A. Richmond. In 1862, appears a minute on the death of Dr. A. V. Williams "for thirty-three years member of this Vestry, twenty-seven years Junior Warden of St. Michael's Church; and twenty-two years Clerk of the Vestry." Not only is the customary reference made to his Christian character and his ser- vices to the church as such but also to his "public life," and the "debt of gratitude" which the Vestry "as citizens" owe to him "for his unceasing activity in the cause of general education and mental advancement."


In 1865 is recorded the sudden death of Mr. Albert McNulty; in 1867 the death of H. W. T. Mali; and in 1870 the death of James Punnett. Of the latter the minute says that, "having learned from Christ 'who' was his neighbor, his unfailing liberality knew no bounds of race or creed. His charities, un- ostentatious, and yet too widely dispensed to be all concealed, have endeared his name to those among whom he has for years ceased to dwell and will long continue precious in the memories of the poor."


In 1874 appears a minute on the death of James F. DePeyster, vestryman and treasurer of the church since 1818, and warden since 1830, expressing the


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Annals of St. Michael's


Vestry's deep sense of the obligations of St. Michael's Church to its late treasurer, "to whose prudent and vigilant care of its finances the present prosperity of the church is largely due," and noting also the evi- dences of "his increasing affection through the whole course of a long life, in the church of his younger days; an affection which the removal of his residence did not abate and which survived the departure from earth of all his early associates," and the Vestry further directs that in memory of his long service to the church the lectern shall be draped in mourning for the space of thirty days.


All these were men who had rendered services of es- pecial value to the church, and all of whom had also supported Dr. Peters in his various missionary enter- prises. Others of Dr. Peters's most valued friends and supporters, like Mr. von Post and Mr. Schwab, had removed from the neighborhood and ceased their con- nection with St. Michael's, although continuing to co-operate with Dr. Peters in his missionary and institu- tional enterprises. There follows a period when it was extremely difficult to find in the parish of St. Michael's Vestry material, that is, religious men, actual members of the Church, who were also conversant with affairs and competent to be entrusted with the management of business interests. In 1873 Mr. W. R. Peters became acting treasurer and in 1874 treasurer, in succession to Mr. DePeyster. In 1877 Mr. E. L. Tie- mann became acting clerk and in the following year clerk of the Vestry, succeeding Dr. Brown. These two men turned their endeavors to improving the busi- ness side of the Vestry and of the church work. Heretofore as a rule there had been but one regular Vestry meeting a year, with an occasional special


WILLIAM RICHMOND PETERS,


JAMES FERGUSON DEPEYSTER


1818-1874


TWO TREASURERS OF ST. MICHAEL'S


1874-


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Financial Development


meeting as need arose. Now meetings become more frequent, and finally regular meetings are held each month except during the summer. The reports of committees become more systematic and the minutes of the Vestry begin to furnish an accurate and de- tailed account of the affairs of the church. Finally in 1886 vestry by-laws are adopted and the whole organ- ization and method of action of the Vestry and its committees carefully systematized. The debt of the church, incurred at its construction, is paid off. They, with the rector, become also a committee on the cemetery, which they undertake to turn into a profit- able property financially. This requires much time and close attention, and the records of the Vestry show the results. In the next few years immense improvements of and additions to the cemetery are reported, of which a further account will be given in a separate chapter. Finally by 1890, the financial situation of St. Michael's has become such that a paid assistant to the treasurer is required, and Mr. Tylee W. Parker is engaged at a salary of $50 a month to collect the rents, oversee the repairs of buildings, and in general assist the treasurer in everything but keep- ing the books.


Already in his annual sermon of 1872 Dr. Peters had called the attention of the congregation to the need of more liberal contributions. The total amount contributed for parochial purposes at that time was $1268.54; for the poor, $248.24; towards the support of various charitable purposes, $551.01 ; for missionary objects, $713.35. It appears that in that year con- tributions had fallen off over $800 from the preceding year and that the offerings for the poor, taken chiefly from the Communion alms, were altogether insuffi-


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cient to meet the "pressing necessities of our own communicants." The offerings for charities in proportion to the means of the congregation were very good, and owing to the introduction of mission- ary boxes in the homes of the parishioners, the missionary offerings were also creditable; there had been an increase in the offering for the Sunday School but for the general support of the church work a falling off of $100 in the weekly envelope collection for current expenses is noted. Those offerings amounted all told to about $800, while the music, the sexton's salary, and the cost of heating the church amounted to about $2000 a year. The matter of increasing the receipts is taken up in repeated vestry meetings. Circulars are prepared and issued to members of the congregation and an effort is made to obtain from each individual in the congrega- tion a systematic contribution towards the support of the church. It must be confessed that the results of these appeals were not altogether satisfactory. Contributions were increased, it was true, and a larger number brought to contribute systematically towards the support of the work of the church, but the endowment still remains its principal source of maintenance.


In 1883 Dr. Peters was given a leave of absence for ten months for his health, which he used in a trip around the world with his brother, E. D. Peters. His son, Rev. John P. Peters, was put in charge of the church during his father's absence. At that time at least one-half of the baptisms, marriages, and burials performed at St. Michael's were in German. There was a large German population of poor people in the neighborhood and no German church. In


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The Advent Mission


addition, therefore, to the German services at Beth- lehem Chapel, Rev. John Peters preached once a month in German in the parish church. After his father's return, in 1884, and his own removal to Philadelphia, he was appointed assistant for the pur- pose of continuing these German services in St. Michael's and to preach once a month in English.


It was during Dr. Peters's absence that Bishop Horatio Potter becoming incapacitated by increas- ing infirmities, his nephew, Henry C. Potter, then rector of Grace Church, was elected Assistant Bishop of the Diocese. To emphasize his sense of the im- portance of missionary activities within the Diocese he commenced his Episcopal functions by officiating in the Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. Then came the effort to stir up and revive the spiritual life of the Church in New York, culminating in the great Advent mission of 1885, in which St. Michael's took part. Preparation for this mission was made for months in advance by a house to house visitation and by the careful training of choirs to sing in the daily services. The missioner at St. Michael's was Rev. Dr. Van de Water, now rector of St. Andrew's Church. What the result of the mission was in the Church at large the present writer cannot say, but, so far as St. Michael's Church was concerned, it is difficult to determine from the record of vital statis- tics whether any very great impression was produced. At about that time the normal increase in communi- cants, confirmations, and the like had already become very large.


Before this time the neighborhood had changed its character, and as a result great changes were taking place in the church. In the report to Convention


e


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Annals of St. Michael's


in 1880, reference is made to the fact that the congre- gation of Bethlehem Chapel is much broken up by the construction of wooden dwellings west of 8th Avenue. With the erection of the Elevated Railroad the squatter settlement, to serve which Bethlehem Chapel had been erected, began to be removed to make place for buildings of a new sort, the poor German population moving across the river to Gutenberg, or farther down- town to the neighborhood of 60th Street and roth Avenue, but still continuing for many years to regard themselves as members of St. Michael's and to appeal to its clergy for help and for the rites of the Church. A constantly diminishing mission work was continued at Bethlehem until about 1886, the clergy of St. Michael's and some of the members of the parish giving their services to maintain that work as before. Then St. Matthew's Church was organized to take the place of Bethlehem Chapel and minister to the new population which had moved in, and with the organization of that church the responsibility for that neighborhood which had rested upon St. Michael's was felt to be removed. At the same time a new work was begun to the north- ward. A large population was moving in to the terri- tory north of Central Park and east of Morningside, a region which was not provided for by any other church. Accordingly, Rev. Montgomery H. Throop, Jr., was engaged as assistant for the special purpose of organizing a parish in that neighborhood, and, at the Rector's request, a number of members of the congregation joined themselves with him as workers in what was at first called St. Michael's Annex. Out of this work grew, by 1889, the Church of the Arch- angel, a brief sketch of the history of which is given elsewhere in this volume.


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An Annual Sermon


But in spite of this continued hiving St. Michael's had long ere this become inadequate for the accommo- dation of its increasing constituency. New houses and apartments were going up everywhere; services were multiplied but still there was no room in the church for those who desired to attend. Other churches of other denominations were springing up all around, and it was felt that St. Michael's must do its part toward meeting the new conditions of its own immediate neigh- borhood. First of all, in 1886, it was proposed to en- large the church, and a committee was appointed for that purpose. It was soon realized, however, that this would be useless, and that a new and vastly larger church must be built. On October 10, 1887, the Vestry decided to make application to the courts for leave to sell the land between 102d and 105th streets, in the old school-house lot, and apply the proceeds to the payment of debt, the improvement of the cemetery, and the building of a new church. At first it was proposed to build the new church on part of the old school land, but careful consideration resulted in the determination to retain the present site, and on November 12, 1889, the committee on site was discharged. The sale of the school land to procure funds for the new church began in that year, and in his annual sermon Dr. Peters set before his congregation the changed conditions of the parish and the necessity of a new church building :


St. Michael's as a rural parish, no longer exists. The beautiful suburb of Bloomingdale, with its villas lining the river and the winding shady road which gave access to them, remain only in the memory of those who once made part of that obliterated life. With here and there an exception the old-fashioned mansions are destroyed and their former


II


.. S f t e rs ut h- en


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Annals of St. Michael's


residents sleep with their fathers in the tomb. Pastor and people lie in their long rest at our very door.


The expanding city has invaded our quiet precincts, and an ever growing population fills the buildings which have crowded into the old gardens and devastated the sylvan shades.


A reference to the parish register, dating from early in this century, sets before the eye the names of families of whom not a single member remains now connected with the parish. The inscriptions upon the tombstones in our churchyard recall familiar faces to very few of those who fill this house to-day. Two generations have passed away, leaving less than half a score to represent them in our wor- ship and councils.


The full attendance of early years was succeeded by the smaller congregation which remained to us when rural Bloomingdale began to decay. A steady growth for twenty years from that lowest ebb, and a rapid one for the decade last past have filled these seats once more, but not with the descendants of those who laid the first foundations. The worshippers, like the neighborhood, are new.


The first meeting-house-like place of worship disappeared thirty-five years ago in a sudden destruction, and this more churchly structure, with double the seating capacity, was built with reference more to coming than to immediate wants of the Parish. It was constructed of perishable ma- terial, because it was even then evident that when a genera- tion should have passed a larger building would be demanded by the inevitable growth of the city.


Another change worthy of remark is in the manner of conducting the worship here and the greater frequency of services. One service on Sunday sufficed at the first. The church is opened for five separate congregations now. Her bell, which in early times rang out its summons on an occasional Holy Day or other week day has, for these past twenty-four years, called to daily prayer.


The plain and simple service prevailing three-quarters


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استقد


BUILDING OF THIRD CHURCH


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Lyceum Hall to Left, Second Church Behind


.


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Changed Conditions


of a century ago would be bald and unsatisfactory were we now to return to it. The chants were all read respon- sively and the singing of one psalm in metre and one from a collection of about fifty hymns, was the only customary music.


These former things are passed away. The more complex and ornate life of the household has naturally brought improved taste into the house of God, and a higher culture has not been content unless its worship was in harmony with its home life.


We may claim for our parish a good record in keeping well forward in the ranks of reverent progress in its appoint- ments and worship.


St. Michael's was, I believe, the very first church in the city to add a proper chancel1 with the altar at its end preach- ing of the great sacrifice, and to banish the lumbering pulpit and reading desk which a century ago were deemed indis- pensable even in the smallest church. This was also one of the earliest congregations to introduce a boy choir, now so generally employed.


At the same time the spirit which seeks sensation in bringing in always some new thing has been checked (if indeed it ever existed) by a proper conservatism.


Whatever has been added, has been done with that reverence and devotion which bear in mind that the desire for God's honor and glory, not man's gratification should influence us in all that pertains to public worship. There is nothing here for which we cannot give the reason, and the object of every advance has been either to proclaim more distinctly the great truths of Christianity, or to bow down the pride of the human heart before the Lord and Author of life.


Individually I am not fond of change for the mere sake of variety, and yet am ready to welcome a new which is


The recess chancel seems to have been added to the first church in 1822, and presumably the other changes here referred to were. made at the same time.


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Annals of St. Michael's


better than the old, and may make our earthly service ap- proach more nearly to the sublime worship of heaven, as described in the Revelation of St. John.


While thus, in many respects, the former things have passed away, we say thankfully that there is much which remains still as it ever has been.


St. Michael's, from its earliest day, has sought to give widely to others the blessings enjoyed at this centre and has become, in pursuance of this course, the mother of many children.


This past also will, perhaps, never return. The out- reaching of St. Michael's, apart from charities and missions, must henceforth take the shape of home expansion. With the new chapel of Trinity Church at Ninety-second Street on the south, and the Cathedral at Iroth Street on the northern portion of our district, the necessity of another church for our own people will hardly again arise within the curtailed bounds remaining to us.


There confronts us now another task, which can perhaps be more fully impressed upon the members of the Parish after laying before you, according to a long prevailing custom, the statistics of a twelvemonth.


The number of families now on our Parochial list is 509 and the number of persons connected with the parish 1989.


During the year 133 have been baptized, 60 confirmed, 33 couples joined in matrimony and the funeral service has been said 107 times.


We number now 560 communicants connected with the church, not including 22 in the House of Rest.


In the course of the year 536 children have attended the Sunday School, not reckoning the children of the four Institutions connected with the parish.


We come now to our delayed subject, the new task which confronts us. We cannot longer postpone the building of the larger church, which was two years ago proposed as a pressing need. The house in which we now worship cannot so much as seat at one time all whose names are on the roll


165


Need of New Church


of communicants. We have sought by the five Sunday services to give opportunity to all to find room at some time of the Lord's day in the Lord's house. Not a little complaint has been made of want of accommodation at the chief service, which the larger number find it convenient to attend.


A few strangers, owing to the uncertainty of securing a seat, have sought room elsewhere instead of casting in their lot with us. This difficulty will continue to increase, as houses with many apartments are rapidly added to those already existing.


This fair fabric must also pass away that on its site a spacious and sufficient edifice may be built.


We desire to erect here a church which shall be our proper offering to God, and which shall freely dispense the glad gospel with its sacraments to as many as can be brought within reach of the human voice. It should be a large building to answer its full purpose. It must be no mean structure, but rather the very best offering which grateful children can give their Heavenly Father, and ransomed subjects present to the King of kings and Lord of lords.


Upon this work it is proposed soon to enter. It will try our faith and tax our liberality to build, and pay as we build it, such a church as all desire to see here. We must add also a proper and spacious Parish House to receive our large and ever-growing Sunday School and provide rooms for all parochial work. Let us lay the foundation broad. We shall not all live to see the purpose carried into full effect and the new church completed and furnished and adorned as becomes the place of worship of this old and ever-active parish. Let us enter on this task, nevertheless, with a will and a heart which shall so stimulate our efforts, that our commendation may be like that spoken by our Blessed Lord to the Mary who annointed His feet at Beth- any, "She hath done what she could."


The old must pass away; let us mightily strive to make the new better.


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Annals of St. Michael's


From the report of the Committee on site, it appeared that the title to a half of the old Bloomingdale Road, closed in 1868, belonged to the church only in front of the original property deeded for the purposes of a church by Oliver H. Hicks and his wife in 1807. For the remainder of the property, which had been secured at a later date, the church had a clear title only to the eastern edge of the old Bloomingdale Road. It may be added that, owing to the contradictory, and, with all due respect to the constituted authorities, let us add the preposterous decisions of the New York courts with regard to this and other similar property, it was many years before a clear title was secured by any one for the property included in old Bloomingdale Road, and that property lay dead and unused, a slanting line of desolation through block after block, for many years, some of it almost up to the present time. How- ever, there was enough property to permit the erection of the church on the old site, if the churchyard with its graves and vaults were included in the church. This it was decided to do and a building committee was forthwithappointed, consisting of the Rector, Ward- ens Chamberlain and Peters and Vestrymen Tiemann and Tripler, and steps taken to procure plans for a church and to proceed to the erection of the same. Mr. Frederick Draper was appointed consulting architect, and a scheme of competition for the plans of the church drawn up. On March 4th, the Vestry accepted the plans presented by Mr. R. W. Gibson and ordered that estimates be at once obtained on those plans.


As is often the case the contractor's estimates on the new church far exceeded those of the architect. The latter had estimated that it would cost $120,000, the lowest bids footed up to $150,000. The amount of


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Plans of New Church


money on hand for the erection of the church was only $116,235.94, but the Building Committee felt confident that the remainder could be raised, and asked and received from the Vestry on July 17th authority to go ahead and build the church. The corner-stone of the new building was laid on St. Michael's Day, September 29, 1890. Subscriptions to the amount of $80,000 were asked for and subscription books issued. On November 18th it is reported that $15,150 has been paid in and $10,000 promised in advance.


The new church was to seat four times as many people as its predecessor, 1600 instead of 400. It covered the site of the old church and churchyard, and the western apse projected on to the part of old Bloom- ingdale Road abutting on the original property. The Chapel of the Angels and the vestry room also en- croached on the old road. The architecture was in general that combination of Romanesque and Byzantine which one meets in Italy. There was a grand campa- nile at the southeastern or street corner and the chancel was a Byzantine half dome, its walls pierced with a mag- nificent series of great windows. It was built of Indiana limestone, but for economy's sake the wall of the western apse, which it was supposed would be hid- den within the block, was finished in brick. Within, the walls were left in plain plaster, with the idea, that "in course of time they should be decorated, and probably paneled up to a considerable height above the floor," and similarly the windows were filled with plain Cathedral glass. There had been in the committee considerable discussion as to the advisability of seating by pews or by chairs, the rector being desirous that if possible chairs should be used, to do away as far as possi- ble with the whole pew-holding idea, but the final de-


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Annals of St. Michael's


cision had been in favor of pews, largely on the ground of expense. It had been planned to consecrate the church on St. Michael's Day, 1891; but it was not ready. Another date was set, with the same result. Finally it was declared to be complete, and on the 15th of December, 1891, it was consecrated by the Right Reverend Henry C. Potter, Bishop of New York, the late Bishop Seymour of Springfield, for many years the friend and at one time a co-worker of the rector, preaching the sermon. The final report of the Build- ing Committee, October 18, 1892, shows that the total cost of the church and appurtenances was $183,032.23, of which $44,548.80 was derived from donations from members of the congregation and outside friends, whose names are recorded in a Book of Remembrance, pre- served in the archives of the church. The daughters of a former Vestryman, Misses Sophia and Clementina Furniss and Mrs. Zimmerman, had presented the organ, which cost $12,000, and some of the guilds of the church, the Rector and members of his family had provided a chime of bells.




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