Christ's Church, Rye
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Christ's Church, Rye (formerly Grace Church), is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York, located next to the
Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...
(
U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...
) in
Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
in
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...
. Established in 1695, the parish is one of the oldest in the United States of America. Construction of the first church began in 1706; the present building, dating from the 1860s, is the fourth to be erected on the site.Elizabeth W. Field, ''Blessed by God: The History of Christ’s Church, Rye, New York, 1695–2000'' (Phoenix Publishing, 2001).Charles W. Baird, ''Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York, 1660–1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788'' (Anson D. F. Randolph and Co., 1871).Christ’s Church, Rye, website
Accessed on 22 December 2021.


History of the parish

In the late 1600s Rye, then part of the
Colony of Connecticut The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritan congregation of settlers ...
, was served by
Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...
and
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
ministers elected by taxpaying households. In 1682 Rye was ceded to the
royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...
Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...
, raising the possibility of forming an
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the town. The
Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...
,
Benjamin Fletcher Benjamin Fletcher (14 May 1640 – 28 May 1703) was colonial governor of New York from 1692 to 1697. Fletcher was known for the ''Ministry Act'' of 1693, which secured the place of Anglicans as the official religion in New York. He also built ...
, seeking to make the Church of England the established church in the province, passed the Act for Settling a Ministry in 1693, which enabled justices of the peace to organize a meeting of landowners for the purpose of choosing churchwardens and vestrymen whose task it would be to appoint a minister. A meeting was convened in Rye on 28 February 1695 by Captain Joseph Theall at which two churchwardens and eight vestrymen were elected. After a period of political turmoil during which Rye briefly rejoined Connecticut, Colonel Caleb Heathcote, a local landowner who had previously helped to establish Trinity Church in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and other parishes in the area, turned his attention to Rye. In 1704 the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...
sent the Rev. Thomas Pritchard to be the first
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
clergyman to serve as rector of the area covering Rye,
Mamaroneck Mamaroneck ( ), is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Villag ...
and
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
. Pritchard died the following year and was succeeded by the Rev. George Muirson, a Scotsman, who helped the town to raise taxes for the construction of a church building. Until then services had been held in various private residences, including the home of Timothy Knapp. Begun in 1706 on the site occupied by all subsequent churches, the church was made of stone and wood from parishioners’ properties. Known as Grace Church, it was a modest structure – 50 ft long, with no steeple or pews. Queen Anne provided gifts for the congregation, including a
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
, a
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
and silver communion ware. The church's growth during the eighteenth century was interrupted by the unrest brought about by the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, which tested the loyalties of Anglican clergymen. On 5 November 1776 the body of the rector, the Rev. Ephraim Avery, was found dead, his throat having been cut, and three years later the church burned down. For several years parishioners gathered for worship in each other's homes, and no vestry meetings were held between 1776 and 1785. In 1788 work began on a new church, built of wood in the Federal style. Peter Jay, father of the first
Chief Justice of the United States The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...
,
John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
, served as the first senior warden after the revolution and in 1794 presented the church with a new seal that he had designed. In 1796 the church's name was changed from “Grace Church” to “Christ’s Church at the Town of Rye in the County of Westchester and State of New York”, later shortened to “Christ's Church, Rye”. In 1837 three acres of land were donated to Christ's Church for the establishment of a cemetery. Known as the Union Cemetery of Rye, it contained an area to be used as a public burial ground as well as plots set aside for the ministers of Rye churches and their families. As the population of Rye grew during the nineteenth century, especially after the arrival of the railroad, it was decided to replace the 1788 edifice with a new church, built of stone in the
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style. Designed by the firm of Frank Wills and Henry C. Dudley, it was erected in 1854–1855 at a cost of approximately $18,000 and consecrated on 15 March 1859 by the Rt. Rev. Jonathan Wainwright, Bishop of New York. The third church was destroyed after a fire broke out on the evening of 21 December 1866. The fourth – and present – church was designed in a similar Gothic Revival style by Florentine Pelletier and consecrated on 19 June 1869 by the Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, Bishop of New York. In the late nineteenth century, a mission chapel known as Grace Chapel served as an outpost for Christ's Church parishioners living on Milton Point in Rye. Renamed Rye Meeting House, it later served as a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
meeting house A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...
and was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2011. In the 1800s Christ's Church also founded a chapel (later St. Peter's Church) in neighboring
Port Chester Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populati ...
.


Buildings and architecture

Christ's Church consists of a number of buildings, including the church, parish hall, rectory and nursery school. The church was constructed with
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
and
brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...
, with a
rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...
and 100 ft clock tower at the west end. The stained glass window in the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
was designed by
Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is associated with the art nouveauLander, David"The Buyable ...
in the 1890s, around the same time that a new altar, reredos and organ were acquired. The organ was replaced by
Clarence Watters Clarence Everett Watters American Guild of Organists, FAGO Master of Music, MMus (February 26, 1902 − July 26, 1986) was an American organist, choirmaster and teacher who specialized in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach as well as 19th and 20th c ...
in the 1920s with a Wangerin instrument, on which
Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré (; 3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Early life and education Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré ...
played the dedicatory recital, and again in the 1960s with an instrument made by
Austin Organs Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...
of
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. Adjoining the church are the parish hall, built in the 1920s, and the Chapel of Thanksgiving, which was added in 1952. The nursery school wing, designed by the firm of Rogers & Butler, was added in 1957–1958 and contains classrooms for Christ's Church Nursery School and offices for clergy and staff.Christ's Church Nursery School, website
Accessed on 22 December 2021.
The rectory was built in 1878 by the
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
architects McKim, Mead & Bigelow (later
McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...
).


The church today

Christ's Church offers weekly services, which are also livestreamed, with music provided by both children's and adult choirs, and its outreach programs serve communities in Rye,
Port Chester Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populati ...
and elsewhere. Since 1942 Christ's Church has held a joint commemorative service with St Mary's Church in
Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


Rectors

The following have served as Rector of Christ's Church: The Rev. Fleming Rutledge, one of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church of America, served as curate at Christ's Church in the 1970s.


References

{{reflist Rye, New York Churches in Westchester County, New York Episcopal church buildings in New York (state) Religious organizations established in 1695 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Churches completed in 1868