The sun., 1919-05-25
THE stone church at Market and
Henry streets will be a century

celebration of an import which the
lower East Side. living in a polyglot
present and somewhat given, they say,
10 dreams of red Utopian future, will
perhaps find hard TO grasp.
For the early history of that build
ins is history of the United States of
America, and goes back 10 time when
the worth of the United States OF
America as an institution was quite
plain to jewellers within its borders who
had come Of their own free will. There
used to he an apple orchard on land
adjoining the site, and from one of the
trees, within the memory of men and
women who saw the church erected, a
youth named Nathan Hale, struggling
for the liberty which the lower East
Side now enjoys. had been hanged by
the neck until he was dead.
Galleries Set Apart for slaves.
There is one older church building in
modern Manhattan. St. Paul's chapel.
date 1856 considerably older to be sure
on the outskirt tract which was to be
Cramercy Park, and in the new
church were galleries still to be seen
set apart for the devotions of negro
slaves whose owners worshipped in the
pews below This State abolished
slavery in 1927. Henry Rutgers. who
had given the church site and loathed
slavery lives to see 1t done.
It was then the Market street
church Of the Reformed Protestant
Dutch denomination. 1t continued so
into the SOS. when. the stately house
holds of the Dutch Reformed flock
having moved away uptown. the build
ing was sold, to house IA church for
seamen. and acquired the name it
keeps. of Church of the Sea and Land
Appropriately, in the centennial
year, a history of The Kirk on Rut-
gers Farm" is being published. The
author is Frederick Bruckbauer. the
publisher the Fleming II. Revell Com
pany. To Mr.. Bruckbauer's work THE
Sun is indebted for the material of
this article.
The Dutch family of Rutgers. which
originally settled in America at Albany.
has left its imprint large on the map
Of New York. Rutgers street bears
the name, of course. The Rutgers
mansion stood ON Rutgers place. Di-
vision street was the dividing line be-
tween the Rutgers and De Lancey
farms. Catharine street was named
fer a Catherine Rutgers. Madison
street was once Bancker street,
Bancker having beer "a Rutgers SON
in-law. And the Henry of Henry
street passing the church, was Henry
Rutgers himself.
Rutgers drained the MARSHES " est
o: the Collect Pond. thus retaining
The land that became the L.ispenar I'd
estate; a marriage united the two
families. The draining, by a canal.
gave outlet to the springs that had
Hoaked the marshes. but the springs
still exist and dampen the Broadway
ubNay at Canal street in spite of all
its engineers can do.
Donated Three Church sites.
\ brother OF Henry Rutgers fell in
he Battle of Long Island Henry
fought the Revolution through. dis
nneushing himself AT White Plains.
He survived for an illustrious career
of public service In and out of Office.
including philanthropies. one Of which
resulted in the change of name of
Queens College at New Brunswick.
y. j. to Rutgers College. When
m cut up his Manhattan farm for
building purposes he offered plots
along Henry street for churches and
three denominations accepted and
built. The five lots at the corner Of
Market, once George street, were
decided in 1915.
Tho neighborhood. Mr.. Bruck
bauer observes. was redolent with
historic associations besides those of
tho execution of Nathan Hale. Near
by. on Cherry Hill. in the Franklin
House. the first President of the
United states lived for a time, as did
JoNn Hancock and numbers of Wash
.nstoO's Cabinet on the inauguration OF
The Federal Government In the inn
mediate vicinity was the Walton
House, referred to in Parliament as SO
richly furnished that the colonies need
cd no relief from taxation.
Close by the church lands, on July
- 1870, Rutgers on his own grounds
Fsrsded the militia before President
Washington, Gov. Clinton and visiting
Indian chiefs, and thereafter he was
Co.. Rutgers Gilbert Stuart painted
WashinGton's portrait at that time. and
II Vas n priced possession Of the Rut-
gers mansion.
lust north on the Bowery was the
I'D Bulls Head Tavern, the last stop
before entering town On the evacua-
Tor Of New York. Washington and his
officers rested here before reoccupying
Tho city. In Cherry street
hundred years ago a sea captain and
MS wife made the first American flag
o. the present type. thirteen stripes
end an ever expanding starry field. At
me loot Of Pike street.-the river then
was nearer the church than now
Eonert Fulton built his first steamboat
IN 1907. and in May. 1919. just one
hundred years ago, the Savannah
oeoked in the same place, after the
nTst steamboat trip across the ocean,
made in twenty-five days"
With the NC-4 safe at the Azores, it
looks AT the present writing as il this
centennial month OF the Savannah's
'rlp would he historic as the month of
man first crossing Of the ocean in the
air
Henry Rutgers not only gave the
ana for the Market Street Church, but
$50 gave a large sum, naming the