The Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church is a

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

congregation in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which has had a variety of church buildings and now exists in the form of four component bodies: the

Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, Middle, West End and

Fort Washington Collegiate Church Fort Washington Collegiate Church is a Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church located at Magaw Place and 181st Street (Manhattan), 181st Street in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York Ci ...

, all part of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Churches of New York. The original congregation was established in 1628.Congregation History
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History

First church

Peter Minuit "had Kryn Frederick, the Company's engineer, build a solid fort ... called

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently th ...

. 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

facing the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

, to replace services held in lofts, was a simple timber structure with a gambrel roof and no spire. The lofts described probably indicate the premises provided by Kryn Frederick. Other sources claim a "second church" was built was located just outside 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 probably describing the Pearl Street premises of 1633. "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 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."Hemstreet, Charles
"Chapter V: William Kieft and the War with the Indians"
''The Story of Manhattan'', (New York City:

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan R ...

, 1901) on

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

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 Willem Kieft's administration during

Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Ne ...

Shorto, Russell, ''The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America''.

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

, 2004. – which was probably the reason the church was moved into the fort in the first place – and where the banished shipwreck survivor

Cornelis Melyn Cornelis Melyn (1600 – c. 1662) 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. Ea ...

returned and caused a writ from the States General to be presented to

Petrus Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Net ...

on March 8, 1649. As Burton describes the confrontation: The old Sugar House & Middle Dutch Church, Liberty St

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 (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from th ...

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, 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.Dunlap, p.145 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. Middle Collegiate Church NYC

Fort Washington Collegiate Church Parish Hall 07

1839 Second Middle Collegiate Church, or Middle Dutch Church

The Middle Dutch Church or Middle Collegiate Church, which was built from 1836–1839, was located on Lafayette Place, now Lafayette Street, near La Grange Terrace. 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, perhaps his best work." This church was abandoned in 1887 and is no longer existent. 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

The Marble Collegiate Church was built in 1854 at the corner of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping ...

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 Tuckahoe marble (also known as Inwood and Westchester marble) is a type of marble found in southern New York state and western Connecticut. Part of the Inwood Formation of the Manhattan Prong, it dates from the Late Cambrian to the Early Ordov ...

. The pastor for many years was

Norman Vincent Peale Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book '' The Power of Positive ...

, well known for his book ''

The Power of Positive Thinking ''The Power of Positive Thinking: A Practical Guide to Mastering the Problems of Everyday Living'' is a 1952 self-help book by American minister Norman Vincent Peale. It provides anecdotal "case histories" of positive thinking using a biblical ...

''.

1872 St. Nicholas Collegiate Church

The St. Nicholas Collegiate Church at 600

at 48th Street was built in 1869-72, designed by W. Wheeler Smith in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, 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 between

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

and 7th Streets. When initially built, the church had reading-rooms and a gymnasium. The sanctuary's stained-glass windows were of

Tiffany glass Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a team of other designers, including Clara Driscoll, Agnes F. Northrop, an ...

. It is located within the

East Village/Lower East Side Historic District __NOTOC__ The East Village/Lower East Side Historic District in Lower Manhattan, New York City was created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 9, 2012.Brazee, Christopher D., et al"East Village/Lower East Side Histo ...

, created in October 2012.Brazee, Christopher D., et al
"East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(October 9, 2012) It housed the New York Liberty Bell. A fire in December 2020 significantly damaged the facility.

1892 West End Collegiate Church

The West End Collegiate Church, located at the northeast corner of

West End Avenue West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and West 77th Street was built 1891-92, to the design of Robert W. Gibson.

1909 Fort Washington Collegiate Church

The Fort Washington Collegiate Church at 470 Fort Washington Avenue began as an outreach of the West End Collegiate Church. The church was built in 1908-09 and was designed by the firm of Nelson & Van Wagenen in the Country Gothic style. 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 congregation of the Hamilton Grange Reformed Church and former members of the Harlem Reformed Dutch Church.Dunlap, p.80

References

Notes Bibliography * {{Authority control Churches completed in 1633 Churches completed in 1693 Churches completed in 1729 Churches completed in 1829 Churches completed in 1854 Churches completed in 1891 1839 disestablishments in New York (state) 1887 disestablishments in New York (state) Former churches in New York (state) Churches in Manhattan 1633 establishments in the Dutch Empire Greek Revival church buildings in New York City Closed churches in New York City Demolished churches in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Dutch-American culture in New York City Religious organizations established in 1628 Religious organizations established in 1633 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed churches Former Dutch Reformed churches in New York (state) Reformed Church in America churches 1628 establishments in the Dutch Empire Churches completed in 1769