St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Introduction
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Images
St. Thomas Episcopal Church Front
St. Thomas Episcopal Church Parish House
Backstory and Context
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Founded in 1823, St. Thomas Episcopal church has had two previous church buildings. Caleb Heathcote, the first lord of the manor of Scarsdale, initially founded a church in the Rye neighborhood which is where most of the members from Mamaroneck attended church. After several years, the residents of the Mamaroneck decided to build their own church. The first building was a modest structure constructed of wood and included a Sunday school in 1834 and a rectory in 1837.
Following the death of Henrietta Arnold Constable in 1884, the Constable family built a new church as a memorial to her. Her husband, James Constable was a warden of the church. St Thomas was consecrated on June 10, 1886; during this time the Parish Hall was also built. It was in the Norman-Gothic style and designed by architect Bassett Jones. The Constable family had a summer home in Mamaroneck and were the proprietors of the Arnold Constable department store in New York.
What is now the Parish House initially served as the church’s rectory. The rectory was re-purposed to make space for parish activities and a new rectory was built. Churches faced increasing demands upon their mission to provide charitable and educational services to their communities.
The church's community house named the Heathcote Hall was added to the complex in 1925. The St. Thomas Church has served the Mamaroneck community and remains an important center of both worship and community service.
Sources
1.National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, St.Thomas Episcopal Church, Westchester County Historical Society Archives, Accessed December 22, 2020
2.Sanchis, Frank E. American Architecture: Westchester County, NY. North River Press: Valhalla, NY, 1977
3.Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Elmsford, New York. Westchester Historical County Historical Society, 2003.
Picturing Our Past
Picturing Our Past