Trinity Church, History & Vintage Images, New York City

The Trinity Church is an Episcopal Parish and a temple located at 89 Broadway, facing Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan. The Episcopal Church is a self-governing faith community affiliated with the worldwide Anglican tradition.

After the English took over New Amsterdam, in 1664, Anglican services were held in the colony’s fort chapel, formerly the St. Nicholas Church, built in 1642 for the Dutch Reformed Church. Later, it was rebuilt of atone.

On January 27, 1696, took place the first known meeting of what later became the Trinity vestry. At this meeting it was proposed to build a church for the Protestants of the Church of England. The site was purchased in the same year from the Lutheran congregation, which had built its first church on the site in 1671, but demolished in 1673. It is the same site where the Trinity Church stands today.

The Trinity Church’s charter was granted on May 6, 1697, by King William III (due to imperfections in the original charter, Trinity Church was reincorporated on June 27, 1704). It became the only church parish and cemetery in the City of New York at the time. As part of the charter, Royal Governor Benjamin Fletcher leased Trinity church a parcel of land, then known as the King’s Farm, along the west side of Manhattan for a term of seven years. This land stretched from today’s Fulton Street north to Christopher Street (in West Village), and from Greenwich Street (which at the time, bordered the Hudson River) east to Broadway. In 1705, at the end of those seven years, Queen Anne, who had assumed the throne during the initial lease, chose to permanently grant that land (215 acres) and it became known as the Church Farm.

On December 25, 1697, Rev. William Vesey, the first rector of Trinity Church and for whom Vesey Street was named, was inducted into office in the Dutch Church in Garden St. (the first Trinity Church was under construction). The Episcopal congregation was given the use of the Dutch Church for about three months, until their temple was ready for use.

The first temple of the Trinity Church was built of stone from March, 1696 to 1698, facing west towards the Hudson River (the current building faces east). The church first opened for service on March 13, 1698. This first temple was enlarged in 1737.

By 1748, the Charity School House was erected on the south side of present Rector Street.

The enlarged first temple was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1776, during the Independence War. The Church housed the first known library in New York City and most books and manuscripts were destroyed in the fire. After the war Trinity Church separated from the Church of England and became an Episcopal Church, although both remain today part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Construction on the second temple began in 1788 and it was consecrated in 1790. St. Paul's Chapel was used while the second Trinity Church was being built. In 1838, the support beams of the Trinity Church buckled and it was demolished in 1839. In the same year, the construction of the new temple was initiated in neo-Gothic style. The architect was Richard Upjohn (1802–1878).

The third temple of Trinity Church was consecrated on May 21, 1846 (Ascension Day). According to the New York Herald (May 22), it was in the presence of about three thousand people. The New-York Daily Tribune announced, on May 2, that the immense clock of the spire would be put up in about a month and it was the largest ever constructed in the United States. The big bell for the spire was received on September 9.

Its steeple allowed for a great view of the city. Total height is 284 feet. It was the tallest structure in New York City until 1888, when it was surpassed by the spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral (329.6 feet).

Since its foundation, Trinity Parish has included a total of eleven different chapels, including the historic St. Paul’s Chapel.