St. Thomas Episcopal Church (New Windsor, New York) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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St. Thomas Episcopal Church
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Church in 2020
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| Location | New Windsor, New York, United States |
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| Nearest city | Newburgh |
| Built | 1846—1848 |
| Architect | Owen G. Warren |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 06000566 |
| Added to NRHP | July 12, 2006 |
St. Thomas Episcopal Church is a historic stone church located in New Windsor, New York. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. This beautiful old building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, which means it's recognized as an important historical site.
Contents
The Story of St. Thomas Church
The church community, also called a congregation, of St. Thomas Episcopal Church started around 1728. At first, they met in a local store owned by Colonel Thomas Ellison. The official church group, known as a parish, was created in 1818. The very first church building was built on land given by Thomas Ellison. Later, a house for the church's priest, called a rectory, was built in 1859, but it was sold a few years later in 1864.
Interestingly, another church, St. George's Episcopal Church in Newburgh, actually grew out of New Windsor's St. Thomas Church.
Building a New Church
In 1845, a fire sadly destroyed the first church building. This left the church members without a place to worship for a while.
A man named Reverend Dr. Henry J. Morton visited his brother Charles, who had married into the Ellison family. Reverend Morton shared his experiences helping to plan another church, St. James the Less Church in Philadelphia.
Thomas Ellison IV, a member of the Ellison family, was very inspired by Reverend Morton's ideas. He started a list to collect money from church members to build a new church. They managed to raise almost two thousand dollars, which was a lot of money back then!
Ellison then went to New York City. He talked with an architect named Owen G. Warren about Reverend Morton's ideas for the new church. Warren was a director at the Mechanic's Institute of the City of New York. He had also worked with a famous architect named Alexander Jackson Davis.
Construction on the new St. Thomas Church began in late 1846. The inside of the church took longer to finish than expected. In December 1847, the interior was still being worked on. A. J. Downing, another important figure, liked Warren's idea to use a new type of liquid wood stain to make the wooden beams look much older. Finally, on September 14, 1848, the new church building was officially ready for services.
Church Design and Art
The design for St. Thomas Church was inspired by a much older church in England called St. Michael's Church, built in 1230. St. Thomas Church became known as the "first Medieval Gothic Church in the United States."
Owen G. Warren, the architect, made St. Thomas Church a little smaller than St. Michael's. For example, St. Michael's is about 49 feet long and 31 feet wide, while St. Thomas' is 47 feet long and 33 feet wide.
Building Materials
The stone used to build the church came from Breakneck Mountain, which is nearby. This stone was blasted out to create a tunnel for the Hudson River Railroad.
Beautiful Windows and Murals
The church has some very special windows. In 1906, a beautiful Tiffany Studios window called "Calvary" was added. Other windows were made by D. Maitland Armstrong, an artist from Newburgh who was friends with the Chrystie family, who were members of the church.
In 1914, an artist named Lee Woodward Zeigler created a large painting for the altar, called "Christ's Ascension." This painting shows life-sized images of saints, martyrs, and angels gathered beneath a golden cross. Zeigler had married in the church five years earlier and had a summer home not far from the church.
