View source for Saint Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery

'''St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery''' is a parish of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] located at 131 [[10th Street (Manhattan)|East 10th Street]], at the intersection of [[Stuyvesant Street (Manhattan)|Stuyvesant Street]] and [[Second Avenue (Manhattan)|Second Avenue]] in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]] in [[New York City]]. The property has been the site of continuous Christian worship for more than three and a half centuries, making it New York City's oldest site of continuous religious practice. The structure is the second-oldest church building in Manhattan.

==History and architecture==
In 1651, [[Petrus Stuyvesant]], Director General of New Netherland, purchased land for a bowery or farm from the [[Dutch West India Company]] and by 1660 built a family chapel at the present day site of St. Mark's Church. Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel.<ref name="virtour">[http://www.stmarksbowery.org/virtual-tour.html Virtual tour] on the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery website</ref><ref name="dunlap">Dunlap, David W. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0JVmnJdqKYoC&pg=PA224&dq=cabrini%2BChurch%2Bnew+york%2BDunlap&hl=en&ei=A3BRTasMj7e2B6ia0cIJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship]''. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.) p. 224.</ref>
[[File:St.-Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie exterior HABS NY,31-NEYO,3-1.jpg|thumb|left|The church in 1936 <br /><center>([[Historic American Buildings Survey|HABS]] photo)</center>]]

Stuyvesant's great-grandson, Petrus, sold the chapel property to the [[Episcopal Church in the United States|Episcopal Church]] for $1 in 1793,<ref name=nycland /> stipulating that a new chapel be erected to serve Bowery Village, the community which had coalesced around the Stuyvesant family chapel.<ref name=gotham389>{{cite gotham}} p. 389</ref> In 1795 the cornerstone of the present day St. Mark's Church was laid, and the fieldstone [[Georgian architecture|Georgian style]] church, built by the architect and [[Masonry|mason]] [[John McComb Jr.]], was completed and consecrated on May 9, 1799. [[Alexander Hamilton]] provided legal aid in incorporating St. Mark's Church as the first Episcopal parish independent of [[Trinity Church, New York|Trinity Church]] in New York City. By 1807 the church had as many as two hundred worshipers at its summer services, with 70 during the winter.

[[File:St Marks Church - New York.jpg|thumb|View of the spire]]

In 1828, the church steeple, the design of which is attributed to [[Martin Euclid Thompson]] and [[Ithiel Town]], in [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival style]], was erected. More changes came about beginning in 1835, when John C. Tucker's stone Parish Hall was constructed,<ref name=virtour /> and the next year (1836) the church itself was renovated, with the original square pillars being replaced with thinner ones in [[Egyptian Revival architecture|Egyptian Revival style]]. In addition, the current [[cast iron|cast-]] and [[wrought iron]] fence was added in 1838; these renovations are credited to Thompson.<ref name=virtour /><ref>{{cite gotham}} p. 467</ref> At around the same time, the two-story [[fieldstone]] Sunday School was completed, and the church established the Parish Infant School for poor children.

Later, in 1861, the church commissioned a brick addition to the Parish Hall, which was designed and supervised by architect [[James Renwick Jr.]], and the St. Mark's Hospital Association was organized by members of the congregation. Outside the church, the cast iron [[portico]], was added around 1858; its design is attributed to [[James Bogardus]], who was an early innovator in cast iron construction.<ref name=virtour />

At the start of the 20th century, leading architect [[Ernest Flagg]] designed the rectory. Overall, while the 19th century saw St. Mark's Church grow through its many construction projects, the 20th century was marked by community service and cultural expansion.<ref name="Nichols-on-Guthries">{{cite magazine|author=Nichols, Kimberly|title=The Brothers Guthrie: Pagan Christianity of the Early 20th Century|magazine=Newtopia Magazine|date=April 16, 2013|url=https://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/the-brothers-guthrie-pagan-christianity-of-the-early-20th-century|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217114705/http://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/the-brothers-guthrie-pagan-christianity-of-the-early-20th-century|archive-date=December 17, 2014|access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref>

In 1966, the [[Poetry Project]] and The Film Project, which later became the Millennium Film Workshop, were founded. Furthermore, in 1975, the [[Danspace Project]] was founded by [[Larry Fagin]]; the Community Documentation Workshop under the direction of [[Arthur Tobier]] was established; and the Preservation Youth Project expanded to a full-time work training program, which undertook the mission of the preserving St Mark's landmark exterior under the supervision of artisan teachers.<ref name=virtour /> On July 27, 1978, a fire nearly destroyed the church. The Citizens to Save St Mark's was founded to raise funds for its reconstruction and the Preservation Youth Project undertook the reconstruction supervised by architect [[Harold Edelman]] and craftspeople provided by preservation contractor [[I. Maas & Sons]]. The [[Landmark Fund]] emerged from the Citizens to Save St Mark's and continues to exist to help maintain and preserve St. Mark's Church for future generations. The restoration was completed in 1986, with new [[stained-glass windows]] designed by Edelman.<ref name=aia />

==Usage==
[[File:St. Mark's Church Solon Borglum Inspiration and Aspiration.jpg|thumb|"Inspiration" and "Aspiration" by [[Solon Borglum]]]]
[[File:William Harris (priest).jpg|thumb|The Rev. William Harris, Rector of St. Marks, 1801–1816]]

[[William Norman Guthrie|Rector William Guthrie]] was known to incorporate Native American, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahá'í ceremonies and guest speakers into services.<ref name=Nichols-on-Guthries /><ref>{{cite news|title=Do we need a new world religion to unite the old religions?|newspaper=[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|location=[[Brooklyn, New York]]|page=7|date=March 26, 1921 |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/4729852/talk_by_kahlil_gibran_with_bahais|access-date=March 25, 2016|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref><ref name=Nichols-on-Guthries /><ref>{{cite news|title=Rector will continue in Church fight|newspaper =[[Arizona Republic]]| location=[[Phoenix, Arizona]]|page=6|date=January 12, 1924 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4822220/william_guthrie_of_st_marks_in_the|access-date=April 4, 2016|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie's latest row is over the "Body and Soul Clinic"|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|location=[[St. Louis, Missouri]]|date=July 24, 1932|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4823634/st_marksinthebouweries_called_a 54], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4823618/st_marksinthebouweries_called_a 55]|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref>

Today, the rectory houses the Neighborhood Preservation Center,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org|title=Join Our Mailing List|publisher=Neighborhood Preservation Center|accessdate=2017-03-31}}</ref> the [[Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation]] and the Historic Districts Council, as well as other preservation and community organizations such as the Poetry Project, the Millennium Film Workshop, and the Danspace Project.<ref name=virtour />

Over the years, several Dutch dignitaries visited the church while they were in the United States. In 1952, [[Queen Juliana of the Netherlands]] visited the church and laid a wreath given by her mother, [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Queen Wilhelmina]], at the bust of Petrus Stuyvesant, which had been given to the church by Wilhelmina and the Dutch government in 1915.<ref name=virtour /> Later, in 1981 and 1982, [[Princess Margriet of the Netherlands|Princess Margriet]] and [[Queen Beatrix]], both of the Netherlands, also visited.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

===The arts===
St Mark's has supported an active artistic community since the 19th century.

In 1919 poet [[Kahlil Gibran]] was appointed a member of the St. Mark's Arts Committee, and the next year, the two prominent Indian statues, "Aspiration" and "Inspiration" by sculptor [[Solon Borglum]], which flank the church entry, were unveiled. Gibran also presented readings of his famous written works,<ref name=Nichols-on-Guthries /> some of which became annual affairs for a while,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Rev. Dr. William Norman Guthrie… |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=11
|date=October 24, 1931 |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/4730680/memorial_for_kahlil_gibran/|access-date=March 25, 2016|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> as well as an exhibition of his drawings.<ref>{{cite news |title=St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie… |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=16 |date=November 8, 1919 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4729792/exhibition_by_kahlil_gibran_at_st/|access-date=March 25, 2016|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> [[Isadora Duncan]] danced in the church in 1922, and [[Martha Graham]] in 1930. In 1926, poet [[William Carlos Williams]] lectured at the St. Mark's Sunday Symposium, which over the years featured such artists as [[Amy Lowell]], [[Edward Steichen]], [[Houdini]], [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]], [[Ruth St. Denis]] and [[Carl Sandburg]].

Theatre Genesis was founded by director [[Ralph Cook]] in 1964 and, in the same year, [[Sam Shepard]] had his first two plays, ''Cowboys'' and ''Rock Garden'' produced at the church. In 1969, St. Mark's innovated a fusion of [[liturgy]] and [[experimental rock]] music, the ''Electric Liturgy'' given by the [[Mind Garage]], which was the first work of its kind to be nationally televised.

St. Mark's hosts modern artistic endeavors, including the Poetry Project,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryproject.org |title=Home |publisher=The Poetry Project |date= |accessdate=2017-03-31}}</ref> and Danspace Project,<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.danspaceproject.org |title=Danspace Project |publisher=Danspace Project |date= |accessdate=2017-03-31}}</ref> which stage events throughout the year.  A November 1971 Poetry Project reading by [[Patti Smith]], accompanied by [[Lenny Kaye]] on guitar, launched their rock and roll careers and marked the founding of the [[Patti Smith Group]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://poetryproject.org/program-calendar/patti-smith-w-lenny-kaye-janet-hamill-2.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-12-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914172636/http://poetryproject.org/program-calendar/patti-smith-w-lenny-kaye-janet-hamill-2.html |archive-date=2011-09-14 |df= }}</ref>

In addition, [[Richard Foreman]]'s avant-garde [[Ontological-Hysteric Theater]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ontological.com |title=Ontological-Hysteric Theater |website=Ontological.com |date=2015-11-30 |accessdate=2017-03-31}}</ref> was also housed there in its own space from 1992 until 2010.<ref>[http://www.ontological.com/news.html "Ontological-Hysteric Theater leaves St. Mark's Church"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717044000/http://www.ontological.com/news.html |date=2012-07-17 }} Ontological-Hysteric Theater website.  Accessed August 12, 2012.</ref>{{clear left}}

==Notable burials==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2016}}
Both the church's East and West Yards have under them stone burial vaults, in which many prominent New Yorkers were interred. Although it no longer does full body burials, the church still does cremation burials in the church vault under the West Yard.<ref name=virtour />

[[File:Petrus Stuyvesant vault cover.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Cover of the burial vault of [[Peter Stuyvesant]]]]
* [[Charles Anthon]] – [[classical scholar|scholar of the classics]]
* Joseph S. Brasuell - Lower East Side community leader who served as warden and vestry member of the Church
* [[John C. Colt]] – convicted murderer and brother of [[Samuel Colt]] – of [[Colt Revolver]] fame – was interred in 1842 after his suicide in [[The Tombs]] jail.<ref>{{cite journal|title=That Was New York The Tombs--I|first=Meyer |last=Berger |date=30 August 1941 |journal= The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1941/08/30/1941_08_30_022_TNY_CARDS_000186815|accessdate=8 October 2011}}</ref>
* [[Miriam Friedlander]] (1914-2009) – was a Bronx born American politician who represented the city council district in New York City's Lower East Side and Chinatown from 1974 to 1991.
* [[Augustus Van Horne Ellis]] – lawyer, sea captain, and a brevet brigadier general in the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]; killed in action at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]]
* [[Thomas Addis Emmet]] – lawyer and politician who served as [[New York State Attorney General]]
* [[Nicholas Fish]] (1758–1833) – [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]] soldier, who later served as adjutant general of New York State; father of [[New York Governor]] and [[United States Senator]] [[Hamilton Fish]] (1808–1893).
* [[Josiah Ogden Hoffman]] – lawyer and politician
* [[Philip Hone]] (1780–1851) – merchant and [[Mayor of New York]].<ref name="SMHLF">[http://www.smhlf.org/TheSite.htm St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery], St. Mark’s Historic Landmark Fund. Accessed April 7, 2016. "Today, along with that of Peter Stuyvesant are visible on vault markers such familiar names as Beekman, Fish and Tompkins.  Other notable New Yorkers buried on the site include two Mayors of New York City:  Gideon Lee, Vestryman and Treasurer of St. Mark's Church and Philip Hone, known as a chronicler of the city’s social life of his time. "</ref>
* [[John Brooks Leavitt]] – attorney, [[Churchwarden|Senior Warden]] of St. Mark's<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/05/26/100623441.pdf "St. Mark's Fights for Church Name"], ''[[The New York Times]]'' (May 26, 1913)</ref>
* [[Gideon Lee]] (1778–1841) – [[Mayor of New York]] and [[United States Representative]].<ref name=SMHLF />
* Commodore [[Matthew C. Perry]] – famous for his role in the [[bakumatsu|"opening" of Japan]]; his body was later moved to [[Island Cemetery]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]].
* [[Alexander Turney Stewart]] (1803–1876) – wealthy New York merchant, whose body was stolen two years after his burial and held for ransom.<ref>Bryk, William. [http://www.nypress.com/at-stewarts-grave-was-robbed-his-body-snatched/ "A.T. Stewart's Grave Was Robbed, His Body Snatched"], ''[[New York Press]]'', October 30, 2001, updated February 17, 2015. Accessed April 7, 2016. "Stewart's funeral was held at the Episcopalian Church of St. Mark's-in-the-Bowerie at the northwest corner of 2nd Ave. and E. 10th St. The church was jammed with mourners, representing 'the foremost men in law, literature, commerce, [and] politics,' according to the Times. The body was placed in the Stewart family vault in the churchyard."</ref>
* [[Peter Stuyvesant]] (1612–1672) – Secretary-General of the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]].<ref name=SMHLF />
* [[Daniel D. Tompkins]] (1774–1825) – [[Vice President of the United States]] under President [[James Monroe]] and former [[Governor of New York]].<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=t000306 "TOMPKINS, Daniel D., (1774–1825)"], ''[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]''. Accessed April 7, 2016. "interment in the Minthorne vault in St. Mark's Churchyard, New York City."</ref>

==See also==
* [[St. Mark's Historic District]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, ''Memorial of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery: containing an account of the services held to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the church on May 9, 1799''. New York: Published by the Vestry, 1899

==External links==
{{Commons category|Saint Mark's Church in-the-Bowery}}
* [http://www.stmarksbowery.org/ St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery website]
* [http://smhlf.org/documents/St_Marks_Self-Guided_Tour.pdf Self-Guided Walking Tour]
* [http://www.thevillager.com/villager_343/dutchremember.html The Villager: Dutch remember Stuyvesant in ‘Year of the Hudson’]
* [http://www.lespi-nyc.org/ Lower East Side Preservation Initiative]

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, New York City}}
[[Category:Churches completed in 1799]]
[[Category:20th-century Episcopal church buildings]]
[[Category:Churches in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Episcopal church buildings in New York City]]
[[Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan]]
[[Category:1698 establishments in New York]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1690s]]
[[Category:East Village, Manhattan]]
[[Category:Federal architecture in New York City]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in New York City]]
[[Category:Anglican congregations established in the 17th century]]
[[Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Stone churches in New York City]]
[[Category:18th-century Episcopal church buildings]]
[[Category:John McComb Jr. buildings]]