Why You Should Visit St. Paul's Chapel - Lower Manhattan's First 9-11 Memorial
By Mark Stuart ELLISON
While imperious billionaires bicker over construction of the Ground Zero Memorial, one already exists. It’s St. Paul’s Chapel. The Chapel, a small, unassuming structure located at Broadway and Fulton Street, is a stone’s throw from the World Trade Center's footprints. And the storied history of St. Paul's now includes 9-11.
For eight months following 9-11, over 14,000 people worked 12-hour shifts at St. Paul’s serving meals, making beds, and comforting first responders and other personnel who toiled at Ground Zero. Medical providers worked tirelessly at the Chapel. Between 2,000 and 3,000 meals were served here each day.
Even before 9-11, St. Paul’s generously provided for the needy. Since 1982 the Chapel has had an on-premises shelter which serves up to 10 men at a time and teaches life-skills for up to nine months.
Today St. Paul’s is a stately shrine to the victims and responders of 9-11. Entering the Chapel, the visitor is struck by a plethora of responders’ patches adorning a giant bulletin board. A bobby’s helmet belonging to a member of the British Transport Police stands out. Large, colorful memorial tapestries donated from around the world hang from the ceiling. A photographic exhibit is punctuated by a picture of a cross made by two surviving Tower beams standing in the rubble.
On display is a collection of ordinary personal items used to provide for the thousands sheltered at the Chapel in the months following 9-11. They look unremarkable, but, if carefully preserved, will grow quaint and take on the status of artifacts after many years. A brunette, thirtyish woman softly cries in front of a video featuring a 9-11 memorial speech by Mayor Giuliani and the mellow tones of Irish tenor Ronan Tynan singing “God Bless America”. Dozens quietly move about the exhibits, which include digitized archives. Some pray in the pews.
Perhaps the most meaningful exhibits are the crayon messages scrawled by visitors - to which I felt compelled to make a contribution - and the handwritten letters posted by schoolchildren. A particularly moving one was from Michelle Marshall, 12, of Ironton, Ohio:
Sometimes when I pray,Sometimes when I’m in my bed,Saying my prayers,I pray for the people that did this to us.We are so loving and supportive to the other countries.Sometimes, I just pray for the people who lost loved ones.I lay down in my room praying that nothing else will happen,that they would stop this and the people who are responsible for the attacks. Sometimes I wonder when this will be over.
The letter is followed by crayon drawings of planes hitting the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. St. Paul’s was nearly destroyed by fire twice. The first instance occurred on September 21, 1776, when a Manhattan fire destroyed over 500 buildings. St. Paul’s was saved by dedicated New Yorkers who doused the Chapel all night with buckets of water.
The second occurred on September 11, 2001, when the Chapel’s modest spire was seen overlooking the black smoke emanating from across the street at Ground Zero. With the exception of an early l9th century organ damaged by dust from the Twin Towers, the Chapel was miraculously unscathed.
St. Paul’s is Manhattan’s only colonial-era church. Its 14 glass chandeliers constitute one of the largest private collections of 18th century American crystal works. Outside, on the porch, is the tomb of Gen. Richard Montgomery, the first officer killed in the American Revolution.
Montgomery’s Tomb was the first memorial commissioned by the U.S. government. The Chapel’s two bells were made at the same London foundry that cast the Liberty Bell.
In the north aisle is George Washington’s Pew Box, where the first President prayed right after his inauguration on April 30, 1789. Washington continued to attend services at St. Paul’s for nearly two years until the nation’s capital was relocated from New York to Philadelphia in 1790. And a memorial service was held for Washington at St. Paul’s shortly after his death in 1799.
History continues to be made at St. Paul’s post-9-11. New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani gave his farewell address here on December 27, 2001.
The Chapel’s doors are open during daylight hours. Concerts are held throughout the year. Admission is free.
For those of us who lived through 9-11, St. Paul’s is a comfort to the soul. And it is a welcoming monument on which all Americans can find common ground.
While imperious billionaires bicker over construction of the Ground Zero Memorial, one already exists. It’s St. Paul’s Chapel. The Chapel, a small, unassuming structure located at Broadway and Fulton Street, is a stone’s throw from the World Trade Center's footprints. And the storied history of St. Paul's now includes 9-11.
For eight months following 9-11, over 14,000 people worked 12-hour shifts at St. Paul’s serving meals, making beds, and comforting first responders and other personnel who toiled at Ground Zero. Medical providers worked tirelessly at the Chapel. Between 2,000 and 3,000 meals were served here each day.
Even before 9-11, St. Paul’s generously provided for the needy. Since 1982 the Chapel has had an on-premises shelter which serves up to 10 men at a time and teaches life-skills for up to nine months.
Today St. Paul’s is a stately shrine to the victims and responders of 9-11. Entering the Chapel, the visitor is struck by a plethora of responders’ patches adorning a giant bulletin board. A bobby’s helmet belonging to a member of the British Transport Police stands out. Large, colorful memorial tapestries donated from around the world hang from the ceiling. A photographic exhibit is punctuated by a picture of a cross made by two surviving Tower beams standing in the rubble.
On display is a collection of ordinary personal items used to provide for the thousands sheltered at the Chapel in the months following 9-11. They look unremarkable, but, if carefully preserved, will grow quaint and take on the status of artifacts after many years. A brunette, thirtyish woman softly cries in front of a video featuring a 9-11 memorial speech by Mayor Giuliani and the mellow tones of Irish tenor Ronan Tynan singing “God Bless America”. Dozens quietly move about the exhibits, which include digitized archives. Some pray in the pews.
Perhaps the most meaningful exhibits are the crayon messages scrawled by visitors - to which I felt compelled to make a contribution - and the handwritten letters posted by schoolchildren. A particularly moving one was from Michelle Marshall, 12, of Ironton, Ohio:
Sometimes when I pray,Sometimes when I’m in my bed,Saying my prayers,I pray for the people that did this to us.We are so loving and supportive to the other countries.Sometimes, I just pray for the people who lost loved ones.I lay down in my room praying that nothing else will happen,that they would stop this and the people who are responsible for the attacks. Sometimes I wonder when this will be over.
The letter is followed by crayon drawings of planes hitting the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. St. Paul’s was nearly destroyed by fire twice. The first instance occurred on September 21, 1776, when a Manhattan fire destroyed over 500 buildings. St. Paul’s was saved by dedicated New Yorkers who doused the Chapel all night with buckets of water.
The second occurred on September 11, 2001, when the Chapel’s modest spire was seen overlooking the black smoke emanating from across the street at Ground Zero. With the exception of an early l9th century organ damaged by dust from the Twin Towers, the Chapel was miraculously unscathed.
St. Paul’s is Manhattan’s only colonial-era church. Its 14 glass chandeliers constitute one of the largest private collections of 18th century American crystal works. Outside, on the porch, is the tomb of Gen. Richard Montgomery, the first officer killed in the American Revolution.
Montgomery’s Tomb was the first memorial commissioned by the U.S. government. The Chapel’s two bells were made at the same London foundry that cast the Liberty Bell.
In the north aisle is George Washington’s Pew Box, where the first President prayed right after his inauguration on April 30, 1789. Washington continued to attend services at St. Paul’s for nearly two years until the nation’s capital was relocated from New York to Philadelphia in 1790. And a memorial service was held for Washington at St. Paul’s shortly after his death in 1799.
History continues to be made at St. Paul’s post-9-11. New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani gave his farewell address here on December 27, 2001.
The Chapel’s doors are open during daylight hours. Concerts are held throughout the year. Admission is free.
For those of us who lived through 9-11, St. Paul’s is a comfort to the soul. And it is a welcoming monument on which all Americans can find common ground.
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