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ST. PAULS CHAPEL is on Broadway between Vesey and Fulton streets, just below the City Hall Park and the Post Office. Curiously enough, the Broadway end of the building is the rear, for the church was built fronting on the river; and in the old days a pleasant lawn sloped down to the water's edge, which was then on the line of Greenwich Street. One effect of St. Paul's thus looking away from Broadway is to give us at the portal an increased sense of remoteness from the great thorough-fare, and of isolation from its strenuous life, so that all the more readily we yield to the pervading spell of the churchyard's peaceful calm.
St. Paul's Chapel is a cherished relic of Colonial days. Built in 1766 as a chapel of Trinity Parish, it is the only church edifice which has been pre-served from the pre-Revolutionary period. After the burning of Trinity in 1776, St. Paul's became the parish church; here worshipped Lord Howe and Major Andre and the English midshipman who was after-ward King George IV.
After his inauguration at Federal Hall in Wall street, President Washington and both houses of Congress came in solemn procession to St. Paul's Chapel, where service was conducted by Bishop Provoost, Chaplain of the Senate, and a Te Deum was sung. There-after, so long as New York remained the Capital, the President was a regular attendant here; his diary for Sunday after Sunday contains the entry: "Went to St. Paul's Chapel in the forenoon." WASHINGTON'S PEW remains to-day as it was then; it is midway of the church on the left aisle, and is marked by the Arms of the United States on the wall. Across the church is the pew which was reserved for the Governor of the State, and was occupied by Governor Clinton; above it are the State Arms. The pulpit canopy is ornamented with the gilded crest of the Prince of Wales, a crown surmounted by three ostrich feathers. It is the only emblem of royalty that escaped destruction at the hands of the Patriots when they came into possession of the city in 1783.
In the wall of the Broadway portico, where it is seen from the street and is observed by innumerable eyes daily, is the MONTGOMERY MONUMENT, in memory of Major-General Richard Montgomery, of Revolutionary fame. It consists of a mural tablet bearing an urn upon a pedestal supported by military accoutrements. General Montgomery commanded the expedition against Canada in 1775, and on Dec. 31 of that year, in company with Colonel Benedict Arnold, led the assault upon Quebec. Just after the exclamation, "Men of New York, you will follow where your General leads !" he fell, mortally wounded. Aaron Burr bore his body from the field, and the Englishmen gave it soldier's burial in the city. Forty-three years later, in 1818, Canada surrendered the re-mains to the United States.
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