By Joan Brown Wettingfeld
All Saints Episcopal Church in Bayside will host a special occasion on April 20th, the celebration of a new ministry, the institution of their 14th rector, the Reverend Kent William Johnson. It seems an appropriate time to relate some of the highlights of the history of one of the oldest churches in the area, which can claim to be the first in the village of Bayside.
According to an old saying, in the mid-19th century there were “thirteen saloons and no churches” in town, but many of the saloons were hotels that served the farmers who trekked by horse and wagon to the markets in the city; Bayside was a convenient resting place on the way.
All Saints Church traces its history to the 1860’s when the missionary society of historic St. George’s Church in Flushing, called The Brotherhood of St. George’s, sponsored a Sunday school in Bayside’s old District Schoolhouse, the only religious mission in the area. By the 1870’s, the Sunday school met in Literary Hall and was augmented by lay services. For a time lay services were interrupted, but later resumed.
It took several years to gather funds to build the church, but by 1890 a growing community in Bayside was able to add significant subscriptions. The Ladies Guild was founded to assist in 1891, and in 1892 Bayside had a “parish,” the first Christian parish to have a completed building in the village. In July of 1891, Mrs. Frederick Lawrence donated four lots on Montauk Avenue (now 40th Avenue) as a site for the new church. Plans to build ensued.
In October of 1891, an article appeared in St. George’s Bulletin describing the proposed “chapel” for the mission, and featured a drawing of the proposed new church by the architect J. King James, a member of St. George’s Brotherhood, in Flushing. The early plans called for a “country chapel” which might be described today as eclectic country Gothic with some Tudor influence. The sketch is quite charming.
Ground was broken in March of 1892 and the cornerstone of the building was laid on April 2, l892. George Bartow was named deacon and appointed Minister in Charge, a post he held until September, 1893. The Reverend P.S. Mesny was named the first Rector that year.
The young parish grew in the early part of the next century and in 1903 a rectory was built. In 1910 a parish house contiguous to the church building was constructed. In the 1940’s, despite the restrictions and hardships of a world war, a new parish house was built under the leadership of William Johns, who donated the building site and provided significant funding. By 1962 the church entered the last phase of its building project with an addition to the front of the church.
All Saints Church is known for its beautiful stained glass windows. The church’s first stained glass window, above the altar, was given by the Lawrence family in 1893 in memory of their two deceased children. It depicts the Madonna and Child in a garden. Though no reliable authentication exists, it has been attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany. The church has one authenticated Tiffany window, donated by Senior Warden Armstrong as a memorial to his daughter, Julia. It portrays an angel standing in a beautiful field of lilies, suggesting the Resurrection. The face of the angel is believed to be Julia’s portrait.
Six other stained glass windows were installed in the 1960’s and were made in the Cathedral yard at Exeter, England in keeping with the naming of the church. They illustrate the Communion of Saints. To mark its 75th anniversary, All Saints Church installed a new stained glass window on the south wall, which was presented in memory of departed members of the church.
I recently came across a reference to the church’s weathered cross at the top of the steeple which had stood for 94 years and was known as “the old rugged cross.” It was replaced when it was discovered it was too insecure and could not support new lightening rods.
Looking back on the past and looking forward to the future All Saints parishioners and their neighbors and friends in Bayside can truly say, “How lovely is thy dwelling place.”
Joan Brown Wettingfeld is a historian, free-lance writer, and a member of the Borough President's History Advisory Committee. E-mail: JB BAY@aol.com. Web Site: member.aol.com/tmpnyc/bayside.htm
