First Baptist Church of Tarrytown facts for kids
Quick facts for kids First Baptist Church of Tarrytown |
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West elevation, 2009
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Baptist |
| Leadership | Pastor Nathan Norman |
| Year consecrated | 1881 |
| Location | |
| Location | Tarrytown, NY, USA |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Russell Sturgis |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1875 |
| Completed | 1881 |
| Construction cost | $10,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | West |
| Width | 75 feet (23 m) |
| Spire(s) | 1 |
| Spire height | 125 feet (38 m) |
| Materials | Bluestone, brownstone, slate, wood, metal |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Added to NRHP | July 21, 1983 |
| NRHP Reference no. | 83001829 |
| Website | |
| First Baptist Church of Tarrytown | |
The First Baptist Church of Tarrytown is a historic church building in Tarrytown, New York, United States. It is located on South Broadway, which is also U.S. Route 9. The church is made of stone and was built in the 1870s in the Victorian Gothic style. In 1983, both the church and its nearby rectory (the pastor's house) were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
People who attended the church first started meeting in the 1840s. The first church building on this spot was built in 1847. About 25 years later, a famous architect named Russell Sturgis was hired to design the church you see today. It took five years to build, and it has a very detailed Gothic-style inside. This new church showed that Tarrytown was growing into a popular suburb. Later, John D. Rockefeller and his family moved to the village and joined the church. They helped pay for some of the church's improvements, like its gardens and the rectory.
Contents
Church Buildings and Grounds
The church and rectory share a piece of land at the corner of South Broadway and East Elizabeth Street. This is on the edge of downtown Tarrytown. Across the street is Christ Episcopal Church, which is also a historic building. The area around the church has a mix of shops, other buildings, and homes. The land here slopes down towards the Hudson River.
Church Exterior Design
The church is a single-story building made of bluestone with brownstone details. It has a pointed roof covered in slate tiles. The main part of the church is three sections wide on the east side and many sections long on the north and west sides. A tall tower is attached to the southwest corner.
On the front (west) side, there's a small covered entrance called a porte-cochère. It has brownstone columns and arched openings. This entrance protects the main door. To its south, there's a tall, narrow window called a lancet window. Above the entrance, there's a large round window called a rose window. A narrow double window is at the very top of the pointed roof. A bluestone chimney rises from the south wall.
The back part of the church (the apse) has four windows. Small sheds with asphalt roofs are on both the north and south sides on the first floor. Above these sheds are the only plain glass windows on the building. The north side has a porch with tall, thin columns that have leaf-like designs at the top. Its ceiling has narrow, dark wooden boards.
The tower has four main parts. The bottom part is square and has a lancet window on the west side. The second part has no windows. The third part of the tower becomes eight-sided, with narrow windows on every other side. The tall fourth part has the same windows at its bottom and round-arched windows with slats near the top. These slats are for sound to come out. On top of the tower is a thin, pointed roof (a spire) covered in slate. It has four smaller, copper-roofed windows sticking out. A copper decoration and a cross sit at the very top of the spire.
Church Interior Features
The inside of the church uses a lot of Honduran mahogany wood. This wood is carved with many Gothic-style details. In the main worship area (the sanctuary), mahogany is used for the lower wall panels (wainscoting). It is also used for the exposed wooden beams on the ceiling and the screen around the organ. The stand where the speaker reads (lectern) and the raised platform for the preacher (pulpit) are original. The wooden benches (pews) are also original.
There is a patterned border along the ceiling line and large yellow sunflower designs between most of the ceiling beams. A wooden screen at the back of the church was added later. It has a more classic style, different from the Gothic design. This screen has stained glass panels with dark oak frames. Double doors in the middle of the screen have a triangular top with a clock.
The outside entrance to the bottom of the tower is now closed. You can enter this area from the church's entrance hall (narthex). This space is used for storage. It still has its original narrow-board wooden floor and an old gas chandelier made of brass and frosted glass. A ladder inside leads to the upper parts of the tower.
North of the apse is a room that was called the lecture hall on the original plans. It has dark wooden walls and sliding doors. The ceiling in this room has golden oak curved beams that meet at a decorative center. Other details include angled door frames, wooden slats for the stained-glass windows, and brass door handles.
The Rectory Building
The rectory, or pastor's house, is located south of the church. It is a two-story building made of red brick with wooden trim. It has granite stone lines, window sills, and tops. The windows are double-hung, meaning both parts can slide up and down. The roof is sloped on all sides and covered in red slate tiles. One arched window sticks out from each side of the roof.
A raised porch with a slate roof runs along the front (west) side of the house. There's also a porch on the north side. Both porches are held up by thin, simple columns. The house has other classic details, like a decorative border under the roof with small blocks and brackets. It also has decorative carvings of garlands and a shield-like design on the second floor. Inside, the first floor has two fireplaces made of imported Italian marble. Much of its original woodwork is still there.
On the east side, there's a one-story, two-car garage made of cinderblock. This garage was added later and is not considered part of the historic building. The outdoor areas include a horse chestnut tree and paths made of the same red brick as the rectory.
Church History and Growth
The First Baptist Church has a rich history that can be divided into three main periods. These include its early years and fast growth, the building of the new church and the help from the Rockefeller family, and the years since then.
Early Years: 1840s to 1873
In the 1840s, Tarrytown was growing, and there were enough people to support several different Christian groups. For Baptists, the closest church was about 10 miles north in Ossining. So, a local group of Baptists started meeting in 1843. They were officially recognized later that year as Beekman Baptist Church.
The next year, they hired a minister and rented a building called Beekman Chapel. They soon had to leave it because of money problems. A local Methodist minister offered his church for them to use temporarily. Later that year, they bought land and built their first church for $3,000. This church was then renamed the First Baptist Church of Tarrytown.
Six years after it started, the new church had grown a lot, to 60 members. A religious revival that began in 1857 helped the church grow even more. By the end of the American Civil War nine years later, the church had 172 members.
After a year without a pastor, David Reeves, a veteran of the Confederate Army, traveled all the way from Alabama to take the job in 1867. The 1844 church building was no longer big enough for the growing number of people. After Reeves left in 1870, the church members seriously started thinking about building a new church. Before Dr. George Stone became pastor in 1873, the land for the current church had already been bought.
New Church and Rockefeller Support: 1873 to 1900
By 1873, a building committee had been formed and had raised some money. Russell Sturgis, the architect chosen for the project, was very busy at this time. He had designed two old dorms at Yale University and was also working on another Gothic-style church building there. As a writer, he believed in simple, strong buildings that showed their purpose. The First Baptist Church of Tarrytown would be a good example of his ideas.
Sturgis worked closely with the building committee on his design. Construction had to wait until 1874 because of money problems from a banking crisis the year before. The architect's plan was changed to a five-year project, with different times for building the main church and the spire. By the summer of 1875, enough of the foundation and walls were built for a special ceremony to lay the cornerstone.
The committee started meeting in the new church a year later. By the end of 1876, the church caretaker had moved in. At that time, work began on the spire. The total cost of building the church reached $100,000 when it was officially opened in 1881. Originally, the inside walls were completely covered with painted designs. Today, these designs only remain between the ceiling beams.
At the time, the church stood out in Tarrytown. Broadway was still unpaved, and the buildings around it were much smaller. The First Baptist Church showed that Tarrytown was becoming a popular place for wealthy people to live, away from the city. In 1888, the church received its pipe organ.
Tarrytown became even more famous when John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and one of the richest people in history, built his large estate called Kykuit north of Tarrytown. The Rockefellers were very religious Baptists.
They became members of First Baptist Church, and their support helped the church a lot. The rectory was built south of the church in 1896, thanks to Almira Geraldine Goodsell, who was William Rockefeller's wife (John's younger brother). Other gifts from the family helped the church's religious work and made the building look even better. Around 1900, John D. Rockefeller himself paid for the church's landscaping.
Later Changes: 1900 to Today
In the early 1910s, the church's lighting was changed from gas to electricity. Some of the original gas pipes are still there, and an old gas light fixture still hangs in the base of the tower, though it's not used. In 1936, an electric organ replaced the original pipe organ. The painted designs on the inside walls were painted over in the 1950s, except for the sunflower bands between the ceiling beams, which were too hard to reach. At that time, the rectory was also updated. The first-floor rooms became Sunday school classrooms and offices, and the second floor became the pastor's apartment.
The screen that creates the entrance area (narthex) in the church sanctuary was brought in from another church. It has a more classic design, which is different from the Gothic style of the rest of the church. Two of its eight stained glass windows are thought to be Tiffany glass, which is very special.
Church Beliefs and Programs
The church's statement of beliefs says that the Bible is the final guide for spiritual and everyday matters. It believes in the Holy Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and that Jesus Christ is divine. The church teaches that "all people are sinners by nature and by choice, and their salvation is received only through faith in the death of Jesus Christ." This means they believe that salvation comes only from faith, not from good actions.
The church sees itself as part of the larger Christian Church and also as a local group. It is "made up of people who have believed, been baptized, and joined together to worship." It believes that Christ gave two main practices to local churches: the Last Supper and baptism by immersion (being fully dipped in water). The church also believes in the separation of church and state and that it should be independent and led by its own elders.
Besides holding Sunday services, the church has several groups and activities. There's a hospitality team, doorkeepers, and a nursery program to help during services. Youth and children's groups teach Sunday school and have special Bible study classes for young people. There are also groups for men and women. A missions committee organizes activities that have supported work in places like New York City, Montreal, Argentina, and Japan. Other local programs help a nearby nursing home and foreign students at the EF International Academy.
See also
