HISTORY TOPICS: HOUSES OF WORSHIP
ST. THOMAS, RAVENSWOOD
St. Thomas Church
The congregation was organized in 1849. The first church was a small
Gothic building on the northeast cor. of 38th Avenue & Vernon Ave. It was enlarged
in May 1853. This original building burned down on Dec. 4, 1867. A new church was
begun in 1868 and opened in 1869. St. Thomas was the fashionable church for
the rich who lived in their mansions along the East River shore. As the area became
commercialized after 1875, the church lost its congregation and was unable to support
a resident minister. Services then became intermittent but the church did reopen
on Feb. 24, 1889. The parish limped along until 1918 by which time the area had
become completely industrialized. The second church burned down on June 15, 1922. The
congregation reached a peak of 200 members in 1904 but had dwindled to 75 by 1918. The ministers have been:
1850-1851
E.R.T. Cooke
1874-1879
William J. Adamson
1851-1856
J.M.W. Waite
1880
Dr. J. 0. Drumm
1856-1864
Samuel W. Sayres
1880-1881
Horatio Southgate
1864-1867
John Cornell
1889-1903
W. H. Weeks
1867-1868
W.W. Batteshall
1903-1907
J. W. Gill
1869-1870
Charles H. Vandyne
1909-1912
H. E. Covell
1871-1873
Dr. S. B. Newby
1912-1918
A. G. Roberts
1873
Dr. Osgood
Text from '300 YEARS
OF LONG ISLAND CITY 1630-1930' by VINCENT F. SEYFRIED
