Marble Collegiate Church



New York City

Notes:
Printed on image: "Copr. Detroit Publishing Co.". 

Digital ID: 801048 
NYPL Call Number: PC NEW YC-Chu-(A-Z)


History of Marble Collegiate Church 

...is the oldest place of worship of the Collegiate Reformed Protestant 
Dutch Church of the City of New York, organized in 1628 under the Dutch 
West India Company when Peter Minuit was Governor of New Amsterdam. The 
first minister was Jonas Michaelius, who appointed Peter Minuit as Elder 
and Bastiaen Jonaz Krol as Deacon.  It is the oldest Protestant organization 
in North America with continuous service for 374 years.

The earliest organized services of the congregation were held in the loft over 
a gristmill on what is now South William Street. The first church building was 
erected in 1633 on what is now 33 Pearl Street.

In 1696, when New Amsterdam was under British rule and renamed New York, 
King William III granted the church a Royal Charter, which was confirmed in 
1753 by the Legislature of the Colony of New York and continued in force by 
the Constitution of the State of New York. It is the oldest corporation in 
America. Its denominational affiliation is with the Reformed Church in America, 
known in earlier days as the Dutch Reformed Church.  The church has served 
under three flags:  Dutch, British and American.... "



Of the Marble Collegiate Church at 1 West 29th Street on Fifth Avenue, the authors 
relate that "Looking like a Romanesque pile of sugar cubes, Marble was designed by 
Samuel A. Warner and built from 1851 to 1854 as the Fifth Avenue Church," adding that 
"Its glistening stones imprinted themselves on the civic consciousness, however, and 
the building material officially gave its name to the congregation in 1906." The church 
is part of the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and describes itself as "the 
oldest Protestant denomination in America with a continuous ministry." "In the 20th Century," 
the authors wrote, "few pulpits and preachers were as intertwined as Marble and the Rev. 
Norman Vincent Peale, one of America's most influential religious figures. Called to 
Marble in 1932, Peale was among the first clergymen to bring psychological counseling 
to his flock, working with Dr. Smiley Blanton, a psychiatrist trained by Sigmund Freud. 
Peale was also a pioneer in the use of radio and television in his ministry. But most 
famously, he was the author of The Power of Positive Thinking."


Back To MANHATTAN CHURCH PHOTOS Main Index
Back To MANHATTAN Main
Back To WORSHIP Main
Back To BROOKLYN Main