Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion
13 Governors Island | also 13 Evans Road, 140 Carder Road | Governors Island | built 1900
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1847
John McVickar raises the money for a wooden chapel at Fort Columbus, dedicated as St. Cornelius
The Reverend John McVickar, a Columbia College professor and Episcopal priest, had served as chaplain at Fort Columbus since 1844. With the backing of Major General Winfield Scott he planned a chapel, but the government gave no money, so he collected gifts from Manhattan churchgoers and added a large sum of his own. Bishop William H. DeLancey dedicated this first chapel on April 19, 1847, an earlier building on the site of the present one.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1868
Trinity Church takes over the island chapel after the Army stops supplying chaplains
In 1868 the Army ended its program of assigning chaplains to Governors Island and said local churches should provide the ministers. Trinity Church in Manhattan, one of the nearest parishes, agreed to keep a chaplain on the island if the government supplied his housing and other necessities, and it received free use of the island's first chapel, the wooden building that stood before the present one, for its services. A later parish history called the arrangement unique among Army posts.
“…the church would maintain a chaplain on the island if the government provided housing and other necessities…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1868
Trinity Church takes in the Governors Island chapel as a free chapel of its parish
The first Chapel of St. Cornelius, a small wooden building later replaced by the present chapel, went up through the efforts of army chaplain John McVickar, with continuing support from Trinity Church. By 1866 the War Department had stopped supplying chaplains to the island. Trinity offered to pay for one itself if the army placed the chapel under the parish's control, and in 1868 the chapel joined Trinity Parish as a free chapel.
Source: trinitychurchnyc.org
- 1870
A chaplain who died of yellow fever is remembered in a seat in the chapel sanctuary
Three seats in the sanctuary honor former chaplains of the post. One names James Armour Moore La Tourette, who served from 1865 to 1868 and was praised for his duty during the cholera epidemic of 1866. Another honors the Reverend Alexander Davidson, who was away on sick leave when yellow fever broke out in September 1870, came back to tend the sick and dying, and died of the disease himself.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1905
Bishop Greer lays the cornerstone of Charles C. Haight's new Gothic chapel on Governors Island
Coadjutor Bishop David H. Greer laid the cornerstone on October 27, 1905, for a new chapel designed by Charles C. Haight, whose father had once been an assistant minister at Trinity Church. The cruciform building is faced in limestone, with a square tower at one corner and 35 stained glass windows. The cornerstone carries the inscription A.D. 1905.
“The cornerstone was laid on October 27, 1905, by Coadjutor Bishop David H. Greer of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1906
Bishop Greer consecrates the new chapel, standing in for Bishop Potter after a death in his family
Architect Charles C. Haight designed a replacement for the condemned chapel, and Coadjutor Bishop David H. Greer laid its cornerstone on October 27, 1905. Greer consecrated the finished building on October 19, 1906, substituting for Bishop Henry C. Potter, who could not preside after a recent death in his family. Trinity rector Morgan Dix wrote the sermon, and assistant rector William T. Manning read it at a service attended by Trinity clergy and military officials.
“…the building was consecrated by Bishop Greer in a ceremony attended by both clergy of Trinity Church and military officials…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1906
Charles C. Haight's limestone chapel replaces the wooden one with a turreted tower
The second Chapel of St. Cornelius is a cross-shaped limestone church about 106 feet long, with a three-story tower at the northwest corner that has four stone turrets. Haight gave his neo-Gothic design this military look to suit the post. It has 35 leaded and stained-glass windows, and its cornerstone is marked 1905. It replaced a wood-frame chapel that had served the island since 1847.
- 1907
Veterans present five Mexican War flags to the chapel, which becomes a home for regimental colors
After the dedication, vicar Edmund Banks Smith began decorating the chapel with military flags. In 1907 five veterans of the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers gave it the five flags their unit carried in the Mexican-American War, at a ceremony with representatives of groups such as the Society of the Cincinnati and the Aztec Club of 1847. Cornelius Vanderbilt III was among those present. By 2010 the chapel held 87 battle flags.
“…the church accepted five flags from the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers that had been carried during the Mexican–American War…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1924
Army and Trinity agree that the Army pays the chaplain while the parish keeps up the chapel
In 1924 the Army and Trinity Church changed their arrangement for the chapel. The Army would cover the chaplain's salary, while Trinity would keep maintaining the building. The chaplains were named honorary vicars and counted as part of the parish clergy, a link between the military post and the Manhattan parish.
Source: trinitychurchnyc.org
- 1954
A new agreement lets other Protestant chaplains hold services at St. Cornelius
Under a 1954 agreement, chaplains from Protestant denominations other than Episcopal were allowed to lead services in the chapel. The arrangement lasted until 1966, when the Army turned the island over to the U.S. Coast Guard. After that, the Navy Chaplain Corps became responsible for assigning chaplains to St. Cornelius.
Source: trinitychurchnyc.org
- 1955
The first man commissioned into the Army Nurse Corps receives his commission at the chapel
In 1955 the Army held a ceremony in the chapel for the first man to receive a commission in the United States Army Nurse Corps. The chapel was then run under an arrangement made in 1924, when vicar Edmund Banks Smith retired: the Army supplied an Episcopal priest as post chaplain, and Trinity Church made him an honorary vicar.
“In 1955, the first man was commissioned into the United States Army Nurse Corps in a ceremony at the chapel.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1986
Trinity Church hands the chapel to the government after years of unpaid repairs
After Trinity Church's finances weakened in the 1970s, the chapel fell into disrepair, needing a new roof and organ work, and the church could not easily pay for repairs on government land. From 1980 it leased the building to the government for $1 a year. In March 1986 it agreed to turn over ownership, with the building to revert to Trinity if it stopped being used for worship. It was valued at about $3 million.
“In March 1986, Trinity Church agreed to turn over ownership of the building to the government…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1986
Trinity donates the chapel to the government, with a clause returning it if military use ends
After leasing the chapel to the government for $1 a year from 1980, Trinity Church donated it outright in 1986. The gift carried a condition: ownership would revert to the parish if the government no longer owned the land under the chapel or no longer used the building as a military chapel. When the Coast Guard left the island in 1996, Trinity regained ownership.
Source: trinitychurchnyc.org
- 2009
Creative Time fills the chapel with a light installation by Anthony McCall
The Coast Guard left the island in 1996 and the chapel returned to Trinity Church; the island opened to the public as a park in 2005. In 2008 the building hosted screenings for that year's African Film Festival. In 2009 the nonprofit Creative Time staged a large free art exhibition on the island, in which Anthony McCall installed a light piece inside the chapel and Klaus Weber showed a wind chime outside.
“Creative Time held an expansive free art exhibition on the island. Anthony McCall installed a light art piece inside the chapel…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Jacob Hashimoto fills the chapel with thousands of paper kites for The Eclipse
In 2018 the artist Jacob Hashimoto turned the chapel into the setting for The Eclipse, an installation made of thousands of paper kites hung all through the building. It was one of several arts uses since the island opened: in 2014 Reggie Wilson's Fist and Heel Performance Group staged a production there, when the building was no longer holding regular services and a New York Times critic noticed its crumbling white walls.
“In 2018, the chapel was host to "The Eclipse", an art installation by Jacob Hashimoto that consisted of thousands of paper kites…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Artist Jacob Hashimoto fills the chapel with more than 15,000 black and white paper kites
In 2018 the artist Jacob Hashimoto installed The Eclipse inside the chapel, hanging thousands of circular paper and bamboo kites from the ceiling in black and white layers like waves or clouds. It was the work's second version, after its debut at the Venice Biennale. A companion piece stood outside the chapel, and both could be seen on the island through October 31.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
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