Sea and Land Church

61 Henry Street | also 15 Market Street | Two Bridges | built 1900

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1819

    June 27

    A Dutch Reformed congregation dedicates its fieldstone church on Henry Street

    Built between 1817 and 1819 of fieldstone, mostly Manhattan schist, this Dutch Reformed church was dedicated on June 27, 1819. Colonel Henry Rutgers donated the land and funds and joined its governing consistory. The architect is unknown, but the Georgian building's Gothic window openings came before the Gothic Revival became fashionable for New York churches.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1866

    May 1

    Merchant Hanson K. Corning buys the church for a mission to sailors

    With its members gone uptown, the church was sold on May 1, 1866, to shipping merchant Hanson K. Corning for $36,500. It became home to the Presbyterian Church of Sea and Land, which ministered to the mariners on the East River wharves. The First Chinese Presbyterian Church later shared the building, and after Sea and Land dissolved in June 1972, the Presbytery gave it to the Chinese congregation in 1974.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1869

    Rev. Edward Hopper becomes pastor and writes a lasting hymn

    In 1869 Edward Hopper took over as pastor of the Church of Sea and Land, ministering largely to sailors and dockworkers near the East River. He wrote the hymn "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me," which the Sailor's Magazine published in 1871 and congregations still sing today. Hopper served the church until his death in 1888.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1966

    January 18

    New York City designates the Sea and Land Church a landmark

    On January 18, 1966, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the fieldstone church at 61 Henry Street an official New York City landmark. Fourteen years later, on April 9, 1980, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, recognized as one of the city's oldest surviving church structures.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1974

    The presbytery gives the church to the First Chinese Presbyterian congregation

    The Sea and Land congregation dissolved in June 1972 after more than a century worshipping in the fieldstone building, ending years of sharing the sanctuary with the First Chinese Presbyterian congregation. Two years later, in 1974, the presbytery donated the property outright to the First Chinese Presbyterian Church.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 43 buildings with stories in Two Bridges