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Our History
Established in 1628 in the tradition of Reformed Protestantism, our ministries - each distinct in music, worship style, programming and outreach - reflect the great diversity of the people of New York City.
Meeting New Yorkers "where they are", our ministries in Manhattan address the spiritual challenges of today, welcoming all as beloved members of the people of God.
Continue scrolling to learn more about our almost 400 years of rich history.
Our History
As the oldest church with a continuing worship service and oldest corporation in the United States, Collegiate Church has been a steady presence in the City of New York for nearly 400 years – reflecting the values, history, and great diversity of the city.
Today, Collegiate’s four distinct ministries are beacons of progressive Christianity where all are welcome and social justice is at the heart of the Church.
Early Beginnings
In the early 1600s, with religious wars over the Protestant reformation raging in Europe and encouraged by Henry Hudson's reports of bountiful lands and the friendliness of its Native and Indigenous inhabitants, the Netherlands established New Amsterdam (later New York) at the tip of the Manhattan island and declared Reformed Protestantism as the official religion of the colony.
Soon, Dutch and other European settlers arrived, alongside enslaved Africans brought by the Dutch West India Company to meet the labor needs of the new colony.
Worship in the Mill
Without a church building, Dutch settlers initially worshipped in the gristmill of the colony. Early members of the congregation included the colony's directors Peter Minuit and Peter Stuyvesant - the former infamously known for establishing the policy of "purchasing" the island from the Lenape, the latter an ardent supporter of expanding the colony's slave trade. Stuyvesant's efforts to prohibit other religions was unsuccessful and the Dutch Protestants shared the mill's worship space with a Jewish congregation.
Three of the original millstones from the early 1600s are still in the possession of Collegiate Church and can be seen at West End Collegiate Church. Two other millstones are on display at Congregation Shearith Israel, the Jewish congregation that grew out of the early worshipping community in the mill.
A Church Is Founded
In 1628, the Dutch West India Company sent over the first ordained minister, Jonas Michaëlius, thereby establishing the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Shortly after, New Amsterdam’s first schoolmaster arrived and the future Collegiate School was formed, marking the beginning of Collegiate’s commitment to education until the school became independent in 1940 and beyond.
After worshipping in the colony's mill, a church was built inside the fort and, in 1693, after the English had taken over the church in the fort, a new church building was opened on Garden Street (now Exchange Place). As the congregation grew and more churches were built, additional ministers were installed and became "colleagues" within one unified church - thus the term "Collegiate Church" was born. As America became independent, so did the Dutch Church, and in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, leaders such as the Rev. Dr. John Henry Livingston established the structure and doctrines of the denomination known since 1867 as the Reformed Church in America. Today, Collegiate Church is dually affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in America.
Bearing Witness
Collegiate Church’s archival materials are one of the few records of early life in New Amsterdam until the English took over the colony in 1664.
With religion and politics being as intertwined as they were under Dutch rule, scholars from all over the world travel to use Collegiate's archives today to research names, baptisms, marriages, occupations, business transactions, and legal troubles of the early church members.
Rights and Responsibilities
In 1696, with "New York" now under English rule, Rev. Henricus Selijns, the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York, successfully petitioned King William III of England to grant a charter of incorporation to "The Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York," establishing Collegiate as an independent entity and protecting its properties and assets.
The Collegiate charter marks a significant step toward American religious liberty and remains a fundamental document of Collegiate's independence.
The Will of 1722
When Jan Harberdinck, a successful shoemaker and tanner in New Amsterdam and New York, died, he bequeathed a large portion of valuable land known as "Shoemakers Lane" to Collegiate Church in what is now the Financial District of downtown Manhattan. His will, alongside other similar bequests, established the Church's historic endowment that has helped support the Church's ministries for nearly 400 years and allowed Collegiate to build houses of worship all over Manhattan.
One of Collegiate's former churches was St. Nicholas Collegiate Church near Rockefeller Center - a church that was known as "the Protestant Cathedral of New York."
Tolling for Liberty
New York's Liberty Bell from 1731 was donated to Middle Collegiate Church (then the New Dutch Church on Nassau Street) and has pealed upon the reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, announced the inauguration and death of every American president, and tolled in remembrance of the lives lost on September 11, 2001.
Collegiate is honored to preserve this symbol of liberty and justice at its newly opened Middle Collegiate Church on 7th Street after a devastating fire in December 2020 destroyed the original church building. Miraculously, the three-hundred-year-old bell survived unscathed.
Reparations and Reconciliation
Collegiate Church acknowledges its role and responsibility in colonization and slavery. Members of the early Church were deeply involved in the systematic and violent disenfranchising of Native and Indigenous inhabitants of New York and ardently supported the institution of slavery and the development of New Amsterdam into a central port for the slave trade in North America. Recognizing that the roots of our 400-year-old Church are inseparably linked to the atrocities at the beginnings of this country that to this day perpetuate harm and injustice, Collegiate Church is committed to taking reparative actions. Reparation Task Forces at both Middle Collegiate Church and Marble Collegiate Church and archival research projects aim to center the stories and lives of those harmed by the Church and identify ways for Collegiate Church to advance justice, healing, and restoration.
At a historic healing ceremony with members of the Lenape people in 2009, Collegiate publicly apologized for its part in the suffering at the hands of Dutch settlers and continues to advocate for Indigenous rights and protections. For Collegiate’s 400-year anniversary commemoration in 2028, restorative justice elements will be a central part. In the past and still today, theology and religion are instrumentalized to legitimize the dehumanization of entire peoples. Collegiate Church categorically rebukes and rejects these practices and stands for a progressive form of Christianity that centers equality, dignity, and a shared humanity.
400 Years and Counting
As Collegiate Church prepares for its 400-year anniversary in 2028, the “Lily Among Thorns” idea of graceful perseverance in the face of harsh calamity encourages us to remain the Church for all people and share a vision of Christianity and society in which all are loved and cared for.
The Collegiate Church
of
New York
Our Churches
729 W 181st Street
New York, NY 10033
Phone: 212-568-4741
1 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-686-2770
50 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003
245 W 77th Street
New York, NY 10024
Phone: 212-721-1411