Lutheranism is a major branch of Christianity that identifies primarily with the theology of German priest Martin Luther (1483-1546). Lutheranism became formally established in several German principalities in the 1520s and the movement spread to many parts of Northern Europe.
The Lutherans arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1643 or earlier, but they were not officially allowed to practice their religion in the City, at the time. The first Lutheran clergyman Ernestus Gutwasser arrived on July 6, 1657, but he was ordered to depart from New Amsterdam. As he was unwilling to leave the City, he was jailed and deported in 1659.
The English took over the City in September, 1664, and the charter of the Lutheran Church in New York was granted on December 6, that year. In February 1669, Jacobus Fabritius arrived in New York and became the pastor of the Lutherans in New York and Albany.
The first Lutheran Church was built on land now a part of the Trinity Churchyard, outside the City gates (map on the right). The Lutheran congregation built its first temple on this original site in 1671. In August 1673, began a brief Dutch reoccupation, which lasted until October 1674. In October 1673 the Dutch Governor ordered to demolish the church for "lying right under the fortifications [the wall]" and build another temple inside the City gates.
The new site was also on Broadway, south of the present Rector Street (which did not existed at the time), in the garden formerly belonging to the West India Co. The patent for that lot was given on May 22, 1674. The second temple of the Lutheran Church was built in wood on that lot, probably in 1676 (after November 1675 and before 1682).
In 1696, the Trinity vestry of the English Church bought the site the erect the
Trinity Church from the
Lutheran Congregation. This English temple was consecrated in 1698.
The third temple of the Lutheran Church (see illustration on the right) was built of stone on Broadway, near the corner of the present Rector Street. Its construction began in May, 1727, but stopped in October until subscriptions were increased. This situation lasted until the end of 1728. The new temple was consecrated on June 29, 1729, as Trinity Church. It was 30 by 46 feet with a spire 58 feet high and a bell which Queen Anne had presented to the Palatines of Newburg in 1709. The church also had an organ.
The present Rector Street was laid out after 1739, following a petition of the Trinity vestry to the Common Council to extend its churchyard to the south, using the space of an existing alley (see James Lyne's manuscript plan) and laying out a street further south, which was named Robinson Street, later Auchmuty Street and then renamed Rector Street by 1788.
In 1750, some German members withdraw from congregation on the issue of language. They bough a brewery on Cliff Street, which became Christ Church Lutheran and served as their place of worship until 1767.
The Lutheran Church on Broadway was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1776, during the Independence War. This temple was not rebuilt, but it appears however that, its walls being of stone, were left standing at least until 1790, part of the land was used as burying-ground of the Lutherans. By May, 1791, the structure was refitted and leased for a storehouse. The site was sold to Trinity Church in 1805 and the first temple of the Grace Church was completed on this site in 1809.
After the destruction of its temple, the congregation met for worship at the Scotch Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street. On January 7, 1784, after the war, the two Lutheran congregations were reunited under the name The United German Lutheran Churches in New York City. The services were held in the former Christ Church building at Frankfort and William streets, built in 1767.
