New York City – Calvary Church

The first church to be built near the Park was Calvary Church, at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 21st Street which was erected in 1846, from the designs of James Renwick; and the rectory was built at the same time. The Church had previously occupied a site on Fourth Avenue near 30th Street, having been organized in 1836. The Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., was the first rector of the Church in its new edifice and during his incumbency the Church increased greatly in numbers and strength. He was succeeded by the Rev. A. Cleve-land Coxe, D. D., who resigned to accept the Bishopric of Western New York, and the Rev. Edward A. Wash-burn, D. D.,’ of Philadelphia, was chosen as Rector. Upon his death, in 1881, the Rev. Henry Y. Satterlee, D. D., was called to the Rectorship, which he held until 1896, when he became Bishop of the Diocese of Washington. Dr. Satterlee was well described by Theodore Roosevelt as a “practical idealist; he preached realizable ideals, and then practised them. He not only helped in the reform movement for the City as a whole, but he was a power for good in his immediate neighborhood.” During his rector-ship of fifteen years he infused new life and activity into the Church, greatly increased the attendance, which included many of the Park residents, and established extensive missionary work on the East side. His personal charm and fine devotion to his calling made him greatly beloved by his parishioners and a power in the Church at large. It is one of the distinctions of the Park that it has produced two Bishops and been the home of a third, for Bishop Greer was for several years one of its residents.