Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive | also 481 Riverside Drive | Morningside Heights | built 1927
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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.
- 1925
Harry Emerson Fosdick accepts the pulpit on conditions that send the church to Morningside Heights
In 1925 John D. Rockefeller Jr. invited the controversial minister Harry Emerson Fosdick to lead the Park Avenue Baptist Church. Fosdick's letter to the trustees set terms: abandon the Park Avenue building for a larger one near Columbia University, open membership to all disciples of Christ, choose ministers for character rather than affiliation, and drop any denomination from the name. He later added a cap of $5,000 on his salary. The congregation met the conditions, and he led his first service on Memorial Day 1925.
- 1927
The cornerstone is laid on the Riverside Drive site while Rockefeller stands in the background
The cornerstone of the new church was laid on Sunday, November 20, 1927, by Edwin L. Ballard, who headed the board of trustees. A service at Union Theological Seminary's chapel came first, followed by a procession to the building site. John D. Rockefeller Jr., the church's chief benefactor, attended but took no public part. The old Park Avenue building was sold to Central Presbyterian Church for $1.5 million in April 1928.
“The cornerstone was laid by Edwin L. Ballard, president of the board of trustees, on Sunday, November 20, 1927.”
- 1930
Riverside Church holds its first service
Funded largely by John D. Rockefeller Jr. for the congregation of minister Harry Emerson Fosdick, the church broke ground on November 21, 1927, and held its first service on October 5, 1930. Architects Henry C. Pelton and Allen & Collens gave it a 392-foot tower, home to the 74-bell Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon, named for Rockefeller's mother. The city made it a landmark in 2000.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
Riverside Church carves Albert Einstein into its entrance doors
When Riverside Church opens in 1930, its wood entrance doors depict an unusual mix of figures alongside Christian saints and angels, including Charles Darwin, Confucius, Buddha, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Albert Einstein. Church leaders, reflecting John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Harry Emerson Fosdick's liberal theology, insist on including a living scientist. Einstein, the only living figure carved, later calls his own likeness 'an oddity.'
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 1946
Harry Emerson Fosdick says farewell, then preaches his last sermon a week later
Harry Emerson Fosdick, who had led the congregation since 1925, announced his retirement after his 65th birthday. A farewell ceremony took place on May 22, 1946, and he preached his last sermon, titled Your Present is the Past of Your Future, a week afterward. Robert James McCracken succeeded him and served until 1967. By May 1946 the congregation had grown to about 3,500 members.
- 1955
Virgil Fox and the New York Philharmonic open the new chancel organ
The chancel organ was replaced in 1953 and 1954 by Aeolian-Skinner under organist Virgil Fox, who is said to have changed his mind about its specifications nearly every other day; the firm reported a loss of $15,000 on the project. It was inaugurated in March 1955 with a concert by Fox and the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra before about 3,000 people. The ceiling over the chancel was sealed to improve its acoustics.
“The chancel organ was opened with a concert in March 1955 with a concert by Virgil Fox and the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, attended by 3000 people.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1961
The church's own radio station WRVR-FM begins broadcasting
WRVR-FM, a public radio station owned and run by the church, began broadcasting on January 1, 1961, and operated commercially from September 1971 until 1976. The church's archive holds more than 3,500 digitized programs, among them Martin Luther King Jr.'s Beyond Vietnam speech, coverage of the 1963 civil rights campaign in Birmingham, and more than 1,000 episodes of Just Jazz with Ed Beach.
Source: trcnyc.org
- 1967
Martin Luther King Jr. condemns the Vietnam War in his 'Beyond Vietnam' speech
At an event organized by Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, with speakers including Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, King told more than 3,000 people at Riverside Church that his conscience left him no other choice but to oppose the war. The reaction was largely hostile: the Washington Post said he had diminished his usefulness to his cause, and the New York Times and the NAACP also criticized him.
Source: kinginstitute.stanford.edu
- 1969
James Forman interrupts Sunday worship to read the Black Manifesto
Civil rights activist James Forman interrupted a Sunday service at Riverside Church to read the Black Manifesto, which demanded $500 million in reparations from religious institutions. Most rejected the demand; by late August 1969 his National Black Economic Development Conference had received only about $22,000. The manifesto still led some churches to give to the organizations it named and to rethink their equal-opportunity policies.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1978
Maranatha, the church's LGBT ministry, is founded
Riverside Church started Maranatha, its LGBT ministry, in 1978, answering rising demand among its gay and lesbian members. The ministry holds workshops and events and marches annually in the New York Pride March. During the 1980s AIDS epidemic it met a backlash, which led the church to start a separate HIV/AIDS ministry offering a support forum, testing, counseling and referrals.
“Riverside Church's LGBT ministry is named Maranatha. It was founded in 1978 in response to growing demand from gay and lesbian congregants.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1989
James A. Forbes Jr. becomes the church's first Black senior minister
In 1989 the congregation chose James A. Forbes Jr. as its senior minister, the first Black person to hold the post. The church's report to the Landmarks Preservation Commission traces the path to that moment: it elected its first Black deacon in 1950, then its first Black minister in 1960 and first Black trustee in 1970. The church describes itself as interdenominational, interracial and international.
“…the congregation elected its first black deacon in 1950, its first black minister in 1960, its first black trustee in 1970, and its first black senior minster, Forbes , in 1989…”
- 1990
Nelson Mandela addresses an interfaith thanksgiving service in the nave
On June 21, 1990, four months after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela attended an interfaith Service of Thanksgiving at Riverside Church. He came into the packed nave with the Rev. James A. Forbes and Jesse Jackson, as Babatunde Olatunji drummed and the crowd applauded. In his address Mandela thanked religious communities, campuses and anti-apartheid groups in the United States for pressing for sanctions against apartheid.
Source: trcnyc.org
- 2011
Riverside shelters Occupy Wall Street protesters and donates tents
Riverside Church took part in the Occupy Faith movement in 2011 and gave tents to Occupy Wall Street protesters. It also gave them shelter in cold and bad weather and after Zuccotti Park was cleared. The church had earlier housed homeless people overnight from 1984 to 1994 and took part in the 1980s Sanctuary movement for undocumented immigrants.
“In 2011, as part of the Occupy Faith movement, Riverside Church donated tents to Occupy Wall Street protesters and sheltered them…”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Riverside ChurchWikipedia
- Riverside ChurchPlace Matters
- Why the glorious doors of Riverside Church depict angels, saints, kings—and Albert EinsteinEphemeral New York
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