At the outskirts of the city, in a field that the same year had been sown with wheat, the cornerstone of St. Paul's Chapel was laid on May 14, 1764. The church was opened two years later, and the steeple added in 1794. It fronted the river which came up then as far as to where Greenwich Street is now, and a grassy lawn sloped down to a beach of pebbles. During the days of English occupancy, Major André, Lord Howe and Sir Guy Carleton worshipped there. Another who attended services there was the English midshipman who afterwards became William IV.
The Washington Pew in St. Paul's
President Washington, on the day of his inauguration, marched at the head of the representative men of the new nation to attend service in St. Paul's, and thereafter attended regularly. The pew he occupied has been preserved and is still to be seen next the north wall, midway between the chancel and the vestry room. Directly opposite is the pew occupied at the same period by Governor George Clinton.
Back of the chancel is the monument to Major-General Richard Montgomery, who fell before Quebec in 1775, crying, "Men of New York, you will not fail to follow where your general leads!" Congress decided on the monument, and Benjamin Franklin bought it in France for 300 guineas. A privateer bringing it to this country was captured by a British gunboat, which in turn was taken, and the monument, arriving safe here, was set in place. The body was removed from its first resting-place in Quebec, and interred close beside the monument in 1818.
In the burying-ground, which has been beside the church since it was built, are the monuments of men whose names are associated with the city's history: Dr. William James Macneven, who raised chemistry to a science; Thomas Addis Emmet, an eminent jurist and brother of Robert Emmet; Christopher Collis, who established the first water works in the city, and who first conceived the idea of constructing the Erie Canal; and a host of others.
The Actor Cooke's Grave