Chicago Fire 9x11
In 1823 there were ten bishops and sixteen dioceses, including the Eastern Diocese which embraced the five States of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and Maine. William White, in the 36th year of his episcopate, was Presiding Bishop; [4/5] Alexander Veits Griswold, that stalwart Evangelical, cared for the Eastern Diocese; John Henry Hobart had jurisdiction over the entire State of New York; Richard Channing Moore was sweeping like a flame of fire through Virginia; Philander Chase was evangelizing Ohio and planning for Kenyon College; Thomas Church Brownell was building on the Seabury foundation in Connecticut; James Kemp, the first Suffragan Bishop of the American Church, had succeeded Claggett in Maryland; John Croes, a soldier of the Revolution, was the first Bishop of New Jersey, and Nathaniel Bowen, former Rector of Grace Church, in this city, was Bishop of South Carolina. The year of the founding of St. Thomas's witnessed the consecration of that militant and unconventional churchman, John Stark Ravenscroft, as first Bishop of North Carolina.
Chicago Fire 9x11
The frame building of the second Trinity Church stood at the head of Wall Street, and associated with it were St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels. St. George's, Beekman Street, had been rebuilt after the fire of 1814, and the French Church stood at the corner of Pine and Nassau Streets. Grace Church occupied the southwest corner of Rector Street and Broadway, with Christ Church, Anthony Street, not far away. Zion Church stood in Mott Street; and St. Philip's, the church for colored folk, in Collect Street. Old St. Mark's was on the Bowery and St. Stephen's at the corner of Broome and Chrystie Streets. St. Luke's had been recently built in Hudson Street. Away uptown, 'where some gentlemen had country seats along the East River', St. James' Church had been erected in Hamilton Square, at Lexington Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street. St. Michael's was in the village of Bloomingdale, and on December 18, 1823, the parish of St. Mary's in the village of Manhattanville, was incorporated.
On December 29, 1843, the Rev. Dr. Henry J. Whitehouse, of St. Luke's, Rochester, was elected rector. Shortly after he entered on his work extensive alterations were made to the church at a cost of $14,000. With the removal of Dr. Hawks the congregation had again declined and for a time the rector received as a stipend what remained after [15/16] the payment of current expenses. Just when the difficulties were most acute, the church was destroyed by fire on the morning of Sunday, March 2, 1851. Nothing was left but the walls. Pending rebuilding, services were held in the Dutch Reformed Church at Greene and Houston Streets.
Four years later the noble church was destroyed by fire. With unfaltering courage and faith both rector and Vestry faced the situation. Within sixty days the congregation was worshipping in a temporary Chapel erected amid the ruins. 041b061a72