Christ Church of Oyster Bay

Christ Church of Oyster Bay was founded in 1705 making it one of the oldest parishes in Long Island.

Church Buildings on this Site

1. Built 1707 (ca). Served as town hall and church.
2. Built 1750, occupied by British and Hessian forces during Revolutionary War, demolished 1801.
3. Built 1844.
4. Built 1878, original wood structure with wood trusses still visible inside, enlarged and encased in stone in 1925, stained glass windows added.

Rector's of Christ Church

1. Reverend John Thomas, rector, 1704-1724, inducted at Hempstead on December 26, 1704.
2. Reverend Robert Jenney, rector, 1726-1742, ggraduated from the University of Dublin, former chaplain in the Royal Navy.
3. Reverend Samuel Seabury, rector, 1742-1764, graduate of Harvard, a convert to Anglicanism, from Connecticut.
4. Reverend Leonard Cutting, rector, 1766-1784, went to Eaton, taught Greek and Latin at King's College, now Columbia University, before entering the priesthood. Forced to leave by patriots because of Tory sympathies.
?. Reverend Richard G. Hutton, rector, in 1844. [Journals of the conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York (1844)] ?. Henry De Koven, assistant rector, 1845-1848 [The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Rossiter Johnson, John Howard Brown (1904)]
?. Foggo, Edward A., rector, in 1876?
?. George Roe Van Dewater, rector, 1876-1880, married Cornelia Townsend Youngs on April 24, 1879 in Oyster Bay [Cornell University: A History, Waterman Thomas Hewett, Frank R. Holmes, Lewis A. Williams (1905)]
?. Reverend Mr. Geer, in 1887 [CHURCH CONTROL OF SCHOOLS.; THE PROPOSITION SUBMITTED AT AN EPISCOPAL DIOCESAN CONVENTION, New York Times, May 26, 1887]
?. John Ryan Washburn, rector, in 1890 [Married at Oyster Bay, New York Times, September 3, 1890] , in 1908 [History, by Yale University Class of 1905, Yale University, Class of 1924, Class of 1932, Class of 1956 (1908)]
?. Reverend George Talmage, rector, in 1914 [miss M.D. Bowers Bride, New York Times, October 2, 1914] , in 1916 [Notables attend Perkins Wedding, New York Times, September 24, 1916]
?. Reverend John N. Warren, rector, 1943-1970 [Rev.John Warren, Rector Of Christ Church on L.I., New York Times, July 14, 1970]
25. Bruce D. Griffith, rector
26. Reverend Dr. Peter Frasius Casparian, rector

History and Backround

Services were first held in the "Town-House" in 1702. the town common was the present church proprety, and the town hall was located about where Christ Church stands today. A second town hall, authorized in 1707, was designed with seating for church purposes, and in 1750 a true church building was erected. Thus the town hall had morphed into a church, and in due time the town gave the common and the building to the congregation of Oyster Bay.

Then came the American Revolution. After many decades of growth and forward movement, the Church of England in America was stopped in her tracks. Disestablishment to the Anglican Church meant an end to any tax support. The church in Oyster Bay was damaged by Hessians who used the building as barracksm and was such a deteriorated state that it had to be demolished in 1801. The rector of Oyster Bay, Leonard Cutting, was a Tory and eventually forced to leave the area by patriots.

Thereafter, Oyster Bay was only served by occasional visiting clergy until the 1830's. In short, it took about fifty years for the Anglican congregation in Oyster Bay to recover from the Revolution. [How Firm a Foundation, The Anglican Church in Oyster Bay, New York & Colonial America, John Allen Gable (2002)]

A third building was constructed in 1844. This was removed to make way for a new building in 1878, portions of which remain visible today. These include the wood trusses in the nave and a small section of pews used by the Theodore Roosevelt family who worshiped here. Following the death of Theodore Roosevelt a simple funeral service was held here before he was laid to rest in nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery. A renovation in 1925, encased the wooden 1878 building in stone. Several stained glass windows by local artisan Oliver Smith were added at this time, modelled after the Chartres Cathedral in France.

The congregation remained active over the enusing years. A renovation of the 1802 rectory and addition of a pipe organ to the sanctuary were completed in the 1980s. In the 1990s a renovation of the church interior occurred. A campaign to renovate the Parish Hall came to a completion in 2008 when improvements were made to both the hall, and the area surrounding it.

References