Grace Chapel on High Street, 1879






<PRE>
Stiles of Brooklyn...

Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, was organized on the 3d of May, 1847 (see
Emmanuel Church, page 668), and the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton called as
rector. The corner-stone of the new edifice, on Hicks street and Grace
court, was laid by the Rt. Rev. William H. De Lancey, D.D., Bishop of
Western New York, on St. Peter's day, the 29th of June, 1847. The church,
designed by Mr. Richard Upjohn, consists of nave and aisles; chancel raised
four steps above the nave and separated from the sacrarium by a rise of
another step and a light metal railing, gilt; a sacristy on the north side
of the chancel with an entrance through a turret, in which is the bell. The
original plans contemplated a south-west tower of effective proportions,
one hundred and sixty-seven feet high, which has not yet been executed. The
style chosen is late middle pointed. The chancel screens, altar, sedilia,
and other furniture of the church are of black walnut, while the
constructive features, the roof and the columns, are pine, painted. The
font is of stone of large size and elaborate design, and stands at the
south-western doorway. The nave has an organ gallery at the west end; and
the space underneath was formerly screened off for a chapel, but has since
been fitted up as a part of the church. The roofs of the nave and chancel
are enriched with polychromatic painting, and the walls in several parts
with texts appropriately executed. 'On Christmas day, 1848, the church,
being entirely freed from debt, was opened for divine services; and on the
26th of June, 1849, it was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. William R.
Wbittingliam, D.D., bishop of Maryland.

The Rev. Dr. Vinton resigned on the 25th of June, 1855, and accepted the
office of assistant minister in Trinity Church, New York. On the 23d of the
following October, the Rev Jared B. Flagg, D.D., was called to the
rectorate, and continued to discharge its duties until the 20th of October,
1863. During his connection with the parish, the rectory was built on
Remsen street. The Rev. Eugene A. Hoffman, D.D., was elected to fill the
vacancy on the 23d of February, 1864. A large and commodious Sunday school
building, with apartments for the sexton in the basement, and for a
parochial school and almonry on the first floor, has since been added at
the west end of the church, the corner-stone of which was laid by Bishop
Potter on the 21st of March, 1865; and the chancel of the church has been
improved by polychrome decoration, and an eagle lectern of brass.

The statistics of this parish for twenty years, from 1848 to 1867,
inclusive, are nine hundred and eighteen baptisms, one hundred and twenty
being adults, seven hundred and ninety-eight infants ; confirmations, five
hundred and ninety-one, marriages, two hundred and five, burials, three
hundred and thirty-one, and the present number of communicants five hundred
and thirty-nine. The contributions for church purposes from 1856 to 1863
inclusive, eight years, were $60,023.32; and from 1864 to 1869 inclusive,
six years, $162,709.17, in all, $222,732.49 for the last fourteen years.
The Rev. Dr. Hoffman resigned in the spring of 1869, having accepted a call
to St. Mark's church, Philadelphia, and was succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin
H. Paddock, D.D., who assumed charge on Trinity Sunday, May 23d.

Protestant Episcopal Church of the Reformation. A parish under this name
was organized, September 20, 1847, by the labors, and under the pastoral
charge of the Rev. Thomas S. Britton, in the vicinity of Atlantic street,
in South Brooklyn. Services were first held in a school room on the corner
of Henry and Atlantic streets. Mr. Britton, however, abjured Episcopacy, in
1848, and united himself with the Brooklyn Presbytery, and the church
became extinct.

St. Michael's Church. In the year 1847, the Rev. Evan M. Johnson resigned
the rectorship of St. John's church, Brooklyn, for the purpose of
establishing a new congregation in the fifth ward of the city, at that time
lamentably deficient in religious privileges, there being but one house of
worship within its limits, and a population of twenty or thirty thousand
souls. Hiring a lecture room in Marshall street, near the Jackson ferry, he
commenced to hold meetings in September of that year.

Such was the success which attended the labors of the Rev. gentlemen, that
this building soon became insufficient to accommodate the congregation, and
he accordingly leased from the city for ten years, the building known as
the Eastern Market, in High street, in the Fifth ward. Services were first
held here on the 5th of February, 1848. Soon this building failed to
accommodate the constantly increasing congregation, and in 1849, the Rev.
Mr. Johnson caused to be built an addition to it, some forty by fifty feet
in dimensions, which made a very comfortable and commodious church edifice.
In 1852, the Board of Education established a primary week day school, for
which the church was used, and where some two hundred children received
instruction.

In the year 1849, the Rev. William T. Webbe was elected assistant minister
of the church for the year. No stronger evidence of his success and the
satisfaction which his labors afforded the congregation and the rector,
need be required than the statement of the fact that he has been, regularly
chosen, from year to year. to that position ever since.

A Sunday school was established in connection with the church at its first
organization, which has been of great service to the locality. It is now,
and has been for years, in a most prosperous condition. The church has been
regularly incorporated, with wardens and vestrymen, etc., and a parsonage
estimated to be worth about $3,500, erected in connection with it. The
church has been maintained by voluntary contributions and collections made
by its support, and is now in a satisfactory and flourishing condition.

From the organization of the church to his death, in 1865, the Rev. Mr.
Johnson labored unceasingly in the effort to establish and firmly maintain
St. Michael's church, and officiated at least once a day during the last
three years of his life.

Lately a new church edifice and rectory of brick, designed by the Mr. Henry
M. Congdon, architect, has been erected in High street, near Gold. Rev. W.
T. Webbe continued as rector until June, 1869.

cassidy@panix.com (Michael Cassidy)

<a href="/Worship/index.html"><font color="blue">Back To WORSHIP Main</font>
<a href="/index.html"><font color="green">Back To BROOKLYN Main</font>