The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-01
OLD TRINITY CHURCH.
1t Is About to Celebrate It's Second
Centennial.

On May old Trinity church, New York
| is to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary
! of its establishment and the event is to be
| marked by one Of the most interesting cere-
monies which the Protestant Episcopal
| church Of this country has ever taken part
| in. The programme is being arranged by
| Rev. DR.. Morgan Dix, who for many years
! has occupied the Trinity pulpit. Although
! the details have not yet been arranged, there
| will be a great gathering of distinguished
! divines of the denomination from all parts Of
! the country.
Trinity church has long been one Of the
| show sights of the metropolis for visitors
and a landmark for New Workers. When the
| parish was established by a royal decree, the
! site of the original structure was designated
| as being located without the north gate of
! the city," AT that time the graceful spire
| lowered far above every other ediice on the
! island, and the waters of the North river
| Tapped close to the western boundary of. the
| churchyard. 5-.-. J' -..iS
But3in the two centuries which have gone
the city has not only caught up with the
! church, which was once on its outskirts, but
has Outstripped it so thoroughly that now its
northern gate" is nearly a score of miles
| from Trinity. Even the river has been
| pushed back until it is three blocks to the
| westward. Trinitys sp:re is just as tall to-
| cay as it ever was, but the great bulwarks
| of commerce with which the southern part
| of the island is fortified dwarf it almost into
| inSgnifcance.
1t will be interesting to note whether or
not the early history Of Trinity church is re-
| vived in detail. The present generation of
| New Workers have almost forgotten that for
| many years Trinity church was well hated
! by their ancestors. The unpopularity Of the
! parish began when the English governor gen
| eral Of New York undertook to make the
| Church Of England the established church
| with Trinity parish as the acknowledged head.
! But the colonial assembly stoutly resisted this
| attempt. Every service in Trinity, however
| was opened with prayer for George III I'M
! til the beginning of the Revolution and would
have been for years after mad not file of
colonial soldiers closed the doors. They were
| opened again when the British captured New
| York, and for weeks after that the services
| were guarded by the bayonets of British red
! coats. An incendiary fire which burned the
! church stopped this. but the British retail
! ated by using other churches as prisons for
| patriot soldiers.
Even when the revolution was over a
| minister of Trinity refused to recognize the
| fact and was sent out Of the country. In
| 1884 Trinity was still a Tory church and was
! disestablished Then it was reorganized with
! an American bishop and a number of patriot
] vestrymen, beginning its second century as
! an American parish.
The opposition which the church has en-
countered since then has been chiefly the
result of jealousy of its great real estate
holdings with perhaps a tinge of ancient
prejudice. For years the epithet that Eng
/ lish church" stuck to it, and as late as 1853
| the New York board Of aldermen attempted
! to cut a street through its property
That old churchyard, with its quantity let
| tered tombstones and its bits of grass. is one
! of the unique sights of lower Manhattan.
Beneath the turf there rest the bones of
more than 100 900 individuals representing the
aristocratic flower Of many generations of
| Knickerbocker society. The monument to
the heroes of the Revolution whose dust is
! there, too marks the trench into which were
! unceremoniously dumped the bodies of 15,-
COO patriot soldiers who died in British pris-
! OnS.
But the memory Of all these things passed
! away a generation or ago, and Trinity is
now remembered only as the mother church of
! the Protestant Episcopal denomination in this
country. At the present time Trinity gives
| aid to twenty-four congregations which il
! still regards under its wing, and maintains
seven chapels. Besides this the parish con-
ducts variety Of church enterprises such
as workingmen's clubs industrial schools, en-
| ployment and relief bureaus and the like.
The wealth of the parish is estimated at
from SO, 900 to $50, 600 600, and is all due
to the original grant by which a tract of
! land known the Kings farm was given
TO the parish This land is now the most
valuable Of any in this country, and although
! Trinity retains but small portion Of the
farm it is one Of the richest parishes in
| America.