St. Paul's Church (Episcopal), Albany, N.Y.
Records, 1823-2016; bulk 1826-1975

SC23629

Quantity:	42 boxes (17 cubic feet)
Access:	Open to research
Acquisition:	Gift of St. Paul's Church (Episcopal), Albany, N.Y., July 2019
Processed By:	Paul Nance, 2022

Historical Note

"St. Paul's Church or Congregation in the City of Albany" was formed in the year 1827 as the city's second Episcopal congregation. The congregation has worshipped in four buildings and in four neighborhoods in the City of Albany.

The parish was organized by Richard Bury, then rector of Christ Church, Duanesburg, N.Y., with the help of two young laymen, Charles Skerritt and John Le Breton. These three saw a need in Albany's rapidly growing South End for an Episcopal church that would be more convenient for some members of St. Peter's (the city's first Episcopal congregation) while also attracting newcomers drawn to Albany by the commerce from the recently completed Erie Canal. The first meetings were held at the southwest corner of South Pearl and Rensselaer streets, in an old wooden building that previously had been used as a schoolhouse. After formal organization in November 1827, the first vestry (as the church governing board is known) decided to build a church, with costs to be paid by the sale of pews, the common method at that time. They chose a lot on what is now the corner of Ferry and Dongan streets and hired Philip Hooker to design a building. The structure was dedicated on August 24, 1829.

From the beginning, the congregation faced financial difficulties. Albany's South End did not continue to grow as expected, and the church remained on the city's outskirts. More importantly, few of those joining St. Paul's were wealthy enough to buy pews.

The congregation barely survived its first dozen years. In December 1838, shortly after the arrival of William Ingraham Kip, the fourth rector in the church's short life, matters reached a crisis. The Supreme Court of New York ordered the Albany County sheriff to seize the building and auction it to pay creditors. Kip and a new set of lay leaders chose to leave the South End. They purchased the Albany Theatre on the west side of South Pearl Street, between Beaver and Hudson streets, in the city's center and renovated it as a church.

The twenty-five years on Pearl Street were happy ones. Situated in an affluent residential section, and with the financial problems resolved, the congregation was able to grow and thrive. The congregation created a Free Mission Chapel on lower Madison Street which, among other programs, provided the first worship services and social support for the deaf in the city.

By 1861 the neighborhood that had once been ideal had changed: the affluent who had once lived there had moved to the western part of the city and Pearl Street was now the city's business district. Plans were under way for a new building, when disaster struck: four Albany banks failed within two weeks, and the church lost its financing for the new building just as it had agreed to sell the former theater. By chance, the crisis also provided a solution. A Dutch Reformed congregation had almost completed construction of a building on Lancaster Street, but, because of the bank failures, could not finish it. St. Paul's bought the building and made its home there for the next century.

America's Gilded Age was a time of prosperity and growth for the congregation. Once again located in an affluent neighborhood, the congregation grew and prospered. With this prosperity and strong lay leadership, the congregation demonstrated a renewed interest in outreach, continuing support of the Free Chapel, founding St. Andrew's and St. Mark's chapels, as well as providing clerical and financial support for Grace Church (Albany) and St. Stephen's (Delmar).

By the turn of the twentieth century, however, there were signs of stagnation and uncertainty about the parish's future. It was only in 1906 that a revival began, with major renovations to the building and a new music program. For its centennial in 1927, the congregation celebrated the creation of an endowment fund which would allow the church to support itself entirely from pledges, rather than relying on the sale of pews.

The years following World War II saw rapid social change in the city of Albany. The Lancaster Street neighborhood declined, and many of St. Paul's members moved to the suburbs. By 1958, discussions began about the possibility of the church making yet another move to follow its members, but relocation was found to be impractical and financially unfeasible. As in 1861, a second crisis created the solution for the first: construction of Governor Rockefeller's Empire State Plaza required that the Lancaster Street building be demolished. While leaving their home of a century was painful, a generous reimbursement from the state and the gift by the diocese of land in the Good Samaritan Center (adjacent to Child's Hospital and St. Margaret's Home), allowed St. Paul's to build a large new building on Hackett Boulevard. On June 4, 2016, St. Paul's celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the church on Hackett.

Sources Consulted

Blanchard, Joseph N. "Sermon Preached by the Rev. Joseph N. Blanchard, D. D., Rector of Grace Church, Madison, N.J., Archdeacon of Morristown, at a Festival Service held November 19, 1912, to Commemorate the 85th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Paul's Church in the City of Albany." In 1912 The Year Book of Saint Paul's Parish Albany, New York. Privately published, 1913.

Brooks, Roelif Hasbrouck. "Men Who Worked for St. Paul's." The Argus (Albany, New York) November 18, 1907.

Clemishire, Thomas H.C. "The History of St. Paul's Church of Albany, N.Y." In 1927 The Year Book of Saint Paul's Parish Albany, New York. Privately published, 1928.

"Grain Once Scattered" (St. Paul's history blog) https://grainoncescattered.org/

Hamilton, Milton W. "St. Paul's Episcopal Church 1827-1977 Albany, New York." Unpublished pamphlet, 1977.

Jones, Kearney L. "St. Paul's Episcopal Church 1827-2002 Albany, New York." Unpublished pamphlet, 2002.

Prall, William. "The Past, Present and Future: A Sermon Preached January 26, 1902." In Commemoration of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Founding of the Parish of St. Paul's, Albany, N.Y. (Albany: Weeds-Parsons Printing Co., 1902)

Reese, J. Livingston. "Historical Sketch of St. Paul's Parish: From a Sermon of the Rector." In The Semi-centennial Services of St. Paul's Church, Albany, N.Y. (Albany: The Argus Company, 1877).

Scope and Content Note

The records of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Albany, New York, provide details on the church's members and organizational activities from its founding in 1827 into the mid-20th century, including the congregation's financial and real estate records and the records of the church's governing board (known as the vestry).

Papers and correspondence from the nineteenth century cover finances, dealings with clergy and musical personnel, real estate transactions, and legal documents related to the congregation's early financial struggles. A collection of pew contracts contains the names of many of those who owned pews in the period between 1830 and 1856. Among later materials are documents from the purchase of lots for the construction of St. Andrew's Chapel (now St. Andrew's Church, North Main Street between Western and Madison avenues, Albany) and records of two cemetery plots (one on the site of what is now Washington Park, the other in Albany Rural Cemetery).

Published documents include sermons by church clergy; an account of the parish's 50th anniversary celebration published in 1877; a congregational history; and parish year books (1892, 1907-1933), which contain reports of rectors, wardens and choirmasters, reports of parish guilds and societies (often with lists of members), photographs, and obituaries.

Scrapbooks, dating from the 1880s into the early 1960s, contain newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera on parish life, including news of parishioners, church groups, social events, weddings and funerals. Grace McKinlay Kennedy (1868-1953), compiler of several of the scrapbooks, was regent of the Tawasentha Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the scrapbooks hold some material about that organization's activities.

Church bulletins describe worship services, the music program and some material on parish activities and events. Newsletters give a view of church programs and activities during the mid-twentieth century.

Minutes of vestry meetings, dating from 1841 to 1949, include information on financial, real estate and personnel matters, the organization of mission chapels, and the church's relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of New York and, beginning in 1868, the Episcopal Diocese of Albany.

Family Record Cards* are an alphabetical name index of parish records, giving the dates of baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial for each family member. With dates from this summary, one can consult the chronologically arranged card files in each of the four categories for full information or go directly to the original parish records. (See next paragraph.)

Parish Records provide a detailed account of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials, chronologically arranged. These may contain some additional information on those named, including home address, later marriage(s) and the date the person left the parish. These materials are best reviewed by first checking the Family Record Cards* and detail cards (see previous).

*Due to the condition of the Family Record Cards, New York State Library staff will handle retrieving the original cards from their containers.

Series Descriptions

I – Parish Records and Correspondence

Pew deeds and records (1830-1896);
church buildings and real estate (1827-1913); ministers, lay leaders and musical personnel, and finances (1827-1898);
and miscellaneous ephemera (mostly 20th century)

II – Published Documents

Printed sermons by St. Paul's rectors; copies of the volume commemorating the parish's
50th anniversary in 1877; copies of the parish's year book (1892, 1907-1931, 1932)

III – Scrapbooks, Newsletters, and Service Bulletins

Scrapbooks, compiled by members of the parish, containing ephemera primarily
from the first half of the twentieth century, and scrapbooks, compiled by the church office,
of service bulletins and newsletters

IV – Parish Records in Bound Volumes

Records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials

V – Parish Records Transcribed on Cards, with Index*

Records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials extracted and transcribed
from the bound volumes, with a name index