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Not too long ago, I answered my wife’s query of “Where are you going today?” with the simple answer of “Newtown, the center of Newtown.” She’s used to puzzling archaisms at this stage of the game, so she asked “Elmhurst?” and I said, “Yes, Elmhurst.”

Off I went and before long one arrived at the navel, as it were, of ancient Queens.

From “Historic Churches of America” by Nellie Urner Wallington, courtesy Google Books:

Of the Dutch Reformed families in early New York many removed from time to time beyond the limits of New Amsterdam securing for themselves broader sections of land for tillage and among them a number of such families settled in Long Island where they formed the hamlet of Newtown. Unable to support a minister and to maintain a church building of their own they joined hands with others of the same faith at Flushing and for a number of years worshipped there until December 2 1731 when a meeting of the resident members in Newtown was called to form plans for the establishment of a church organisation of their own and to devise means for the erection of a house of worship upon land contributed by Peter Berrien.

More after the jump…

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Just the facts: the original structure was built in 1731, but most of what we see here today started in 1831. A “Historic Place,” there were later additions (a chapel, I’m told) added on in the 1850s (which was repositioned on the lot at least once).

It’s on Broadway, at Corona Avenue.

You can’t miss it, as it’s the giant white thing on your left as you head east. The Internet makes some big deal out of the church offering Chinese language services, as well as English, but if you live in Queens you know that sort of thing is usual, and not strange or unique in the slightest.

From “Three Years in North America” by James Stuart, courtesy Google Books:

Mr. Schoonemaker is the minister of the Dutch Reformed church at Newtown, a very respectable person, who had succeeded his father in the ministry of the same church. The Dutch clergy in the neighbourhood of New York still retain the original appellation of Dominie, and Mr. Schoonemaker was, I observed, generally called in conversation the Dominie, or Dominie Schoonemaker. There was also an Episcopalian church at Newtown, and the number of carriages waiting during the period of divine service at this trifling village of 600 or 800 people, was probably as great as at all the churches in Edinburgh put together; but no one coming from the country to the village ever thinks of walking. I remember mentioning to a lady in Long Island, how different were the habits of people in Great Britain in this respect, on which she remarked, that before she had children she used to walk; but upon questioning her how far she used to walk she admitted that a mile was her limit.

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It also wouldn’t be Queens if there wasn’t a graveyard nearby, and the Newtown Reformed has (I’m told) around 111 people in their ground. There’s some pretty famous and historic names from the colonial era associated with this church – Duryea, Bragaw, and Luyster are amongst them.

The first baptisms were performed here on April 27th, 1736. Ceremonies were performed upon and for Janetie Kounoven Luyster and Abram Luyster Lent, who seem to have been cousins.

Everybody seems to have been cousins back then, of course.

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Interesting Newtown Trivia is offered the original church building was used as a gunpowder store by His Majesty’s troops during the American Insurrection and Mutiny of the 1770s. Much ado was raised by the colonists at the decision to do so, and appeals to the military Governance from His Majesty’s subjects pled that the explosives be moved from the church, citing that fear of a lightning strike or fire might ignite the stockpile and explode the church.

Check out this wonderful piece from an April 2nd, 1928 edition of the “The Daily Star” found over at fultonhistory.com for similar bits and pieces, and the perspectives of a century ago.

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Anyway, that’s what that big white thing on Broadway in Elmhurst is.

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Back to the day to day and ho hum.

From nycago.org:

The Reformed Church of Newtown was founded in 1731 by Dutch-speaking farmers and tradesmen. New York had originally been “New Amsterdam,” a Dutch Colony, and although the early members of Newtown were from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, they held their services in the Dutch language still common in the community then called “Newtown.” Later, some developers changed the name of the area to Elmhurst, but the church retained its original name, a name still carried also by the local high school and subway station. Some things did change, though. The original Federal-Greek Revival building, completed in 1735, had survived the struggles of the colonial days and the disruptions of the Revolutionary War days (during which the British seized it for use as an armory), but it was replaced in 1832 by the present Georgian-style sanctuary. On the church grounds is a historic cemetery. In 1975, the church was cited by the New York Historical Trust, and in 1980, the church was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.


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