Historical Timeline
1862: Deacon James Smith, of General Seminary, begins holding services in this neighbourhood, in private homes
1863: Father Smith goes to the Civil War, as chaplain to the Seventh Regiment
1865: He returns to his congregation, worshipping now in a warehouse on the Westside of Third Avenue, between 76th and 77th Streets
1866: Purchase of four lots on East 74th Street, between Fourth Avenue & Lexington
1868: Cornerstone of the new church laid 16th November
1869: Church opened in a service conducted by Bishop Horatio Potter on June 5th
1880: James O. Tuttle Smith, our rector, awarded honorary D.D. by Columbia
1888: Father Smith retires, is designated Rector Emeritus (first in this diocese)
1888: Ralph Wood Kenyon, who had been assistant, is elected Rector
1889: Unspecified “troubles” arise, the Bishop is consulted, Father Kenyon resigns
1889: Bishop Henry Potter suggests Thomas Patrick Hughes as next Rector. Dr Hughes, an English priest, had been a missionary in India for 20 years in Calcutta and Peshawar, author of Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam
1902: Merger with the Church of the Archangel, West 116th Street, considered and rejected. St James’, Madison Avenue, attempts to take over the Church. Dr Hughes refuses his consent, based on the founding principles of Dr Smith, who was still alive and made his opposition known. Resurrection was a “free church” with no pew rents; St James’ rented its pews to wealthy members and had few “free sittings”
1902: Dr Hughes resigns and retires from the active ministry
1902: Walter E. Bentley elected the next Rector
1902: Father Bentley proposes the change of name to the Resurrection, carried by Vestry. Loss of 177 communicants reported to the Diocese of New York. Alfred Duane Pell offers to become Rector without salary. As with Dr Smith, Resurrection was his only parish.
1907: Change of name approved by the Supreme Court in Albany
1912: Father Pell takes an extended leave in Europe, returns after the beginning of the Great War in 1914
1914: The Rector returns from European extended leave and takes up his duties again. He begins to exhort all parishioners to take “the pledge” and become tee totallers. Father Pell divides his time between his Fifth Avenue townhouse and country house in Tuxedo.
1920: Father Pell retires at the age of 56 in poor health. He dies in 1924 at the age of 60. He never drew any salary.
1920: Resurrection reported 110 communicants, and 65 Sunday school students. The balance forward for that year was sixty-five cents. There were ten celebrations of mass that year. Trinity Church, Wall Street, offered to buy the property, for a trial of three years as a mission. If it proved unsuccessful, Trinity would demolish the buildings after the trial period. St James’ Church, alarmed by the resources of Trinity Church operating so closely, blocked the plan.
1920: Edward Russell Bourne, an English priest, accepts the Vestry’s invitation to become Rector. The complete Anglo-Catholic life of the parish begins. In the boom of the 1920s, many improvements were made to the building and the congregation grew.
1930: Father Bourne became ill with an unspecified illness, probably multiple sclerosis. Father Charles Pardee, secretary of the House of Bishops, became full time assistant to help.
1935: Father Bourne resigns in ill health. Chaos ensues and only forty pledgers remain. The Church of the Epiphany at Lexington Avenue & 35th Streets, proposes a merger. Resurrection insists on continuance of Catholic Faith & Practice. The Standing Committee approves, but the plan is scuttled by Bishop Manning, who believes in adding parishes, not closing them. Epiphany builds at 74th & York, and Resurrection remains a distinct parish.
1935: Father Gordon Butler Wadhams, a convinced Anglo-Catholic, is elected Rector. The parish grows by leaps & bounds, and full Catholic privileges are instituted.
1949: Father Wadhams, along with Father Liggett, his curate, become Roman Catholics.
1949: The Vestry elects Father Albert Chambers of St Peter’s Church, Auburn, N. Y. to be Rector
1950s: A period of remarkable growth and success, both spiritually and financially
1957: The Church, finally free of debt, was consecrated by Bishop Donegan, on February 3rd.
1959: The six-story hospital building next door was vacated and offered for sale.
1961: The new Parish Hall building opened and blessed by Bishop Chambers
1962: Father Chambers elected Bishop of Springfield, Illinois. Father Leopold Damrosch elected new Rector. Liturgical change and experimentation in worship adjustment to new church realities, beginning of westward facing celebrations.
1971: Father Damrosch resigns as Rector, replaced by Father James H. Cupit, of the GoodShepherd, Rosemont, Pa.
1991: Major renovation of the nave. New stained glass, old stained glass uncovered.
1991: Father Cupit retires, is designated Rector Emeritus. Father Allan Warren, senior curate of the Church of the Advent, Boston, is elected Rector. Moves to consolidate parish, adding members & strengthening its position. Eastward celebration returns, along with more traditional rites. A period of growth for the parish.
1999: Father Warren elected Rector of the Church of the Advent and returns to Boston.
2001: Father Swain elected twelfth Rector, instituted 2 October by Bishop Mark Sisk.
2008: Renovation of the church including new floor, painting, and plaster repair
2009-10: Installation and voicing of the new organ