page_title: First Reformed Church of Schenectady
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: First Reformed Church of Schenectady / History
caption_attribution_description: Clark V. Poling
context_page_description: First Reformed Church of Schenectady is located at 8 North Church Street in the Historic Stockade District of Schenectady, New York and is a member of the Reformed Church in America. The church was first organized in 1680 by Dutch settlers and was the first church established in the Mohawk Valley. The church, along with the Stockade District were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and again with a boundary increase in 1984.
context_section_description: The first Dutch Reformed church in Schenectady was built about 1682 on the public square of the stockade at what is now known as the intersection of State, Church, and Railroad Streets. The church building was destroyed by fire during the Schenectady Massacre on the night of February 8, 1690. An Indian war party from Montreal killed sixty villagers including the church minister, Dominie Petrus Tessemacher (Tessachmaecher). Domine Tessemacher was called to Schenectady from the church at Bergen, New Netherland, and was the first minister in the denomination to have been ordained in the new world.
  At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century the church was known as the Reformed Nether Dutch Church, and in 1727 it was changed to Nether Dutch Reformed Church. By the time the congregation occupied its third edifice it has received a charter from King George II in 1734, which allowed the church to operate independently under the name of First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church.
  The second building, located on the same site as the first, was occupied from 1702-1734. Funds for this building were raised from an appeal to Governor John Nanfan to petition for contributions throughout the Province of New York. After thirty years, the size of the congregation, including Indian communicants, had outgrown the seating capacity of the church. For some time after its disuse in 1734 the building was used as a fort. By 1754, it had been removed from the site.
  The third building was located in the middle of what is now the intersection of Union and Church Streets. This building was used from 1734 to 1814. It measured 56 by 80 feet and according to the Dutch custom, men and women worshiped sitting separately. Indians and slaves occupied the balcony. On this building was the chanticleer clock tower and belfry, topped by the cock of St. Nicholas on a weathervane, all modeled after the pattern set in the Netherlands. In the belfry was a 600 pound silver bell, which was cast in Amsterdam in 1732. Contributions of silver coin and plate, donated by the Reformed Church members in Amsterdam, Holland, as a mission contribution, were melted down into the bell. The bell tolled for 116 years until it cracked in 1848. Because of disrepair of the building and the growing congregation, in 1812 the Consistory resolved to sell the sites of the first three churches to the city of Schenectady for 200 acres of land. 
  The fourth building was constructed on the northeast corner of Church and Union Streets, very near the current location of the church. This building housed the congregation from 1814 to 1861. During this time, the church fathers achieved incorporation and the name was again changed to Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schenectady. The building was a plain brick church built with a bell tower and cupola. No longer were worshipers separated by sex, but rather families were allowed to sit together. Pews were rented on a yearly basis and pew position was determined by the renters' status. The first church organ was installed in 1826. The building narrowly escaped a neighborhood fire in 1819, but in 1861 was consumed by a fire which destroyed much of the city also.
  The fifth building was built in 1863, on the same site occupied by the fourth. By 1867 the church became known as the First Reformed Church. The architectural landmark building was designed by Victorian-gothic architect Edward Tuckerman Potter. This building was hit by a fire on Sunday, February 1, 1948. The fire began at 4:45 p.m. and continued through the night destroying the entire structure except for three of the exterior walls, which would be the basis for the current structure. The congregation, with generous assistance from the Schenectady community, restored the edifice to its present form.
  The sixth, and present, building was built in 1950. It was built on the foundation of the fifth building. The three stone walls left standing after the fire were reinforced. The north wall was torn down and the sanctuary was extended twenty feet. To complete the church, an 82 foot spire was hoisted in
caption: Clark V. Poling
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