Located at 31 Bedford Road in Katonah, NY, the First Presbyterian Church was constructed in 1900. Designed by George Kramer, the church replaced an older church built in 1874 and demolished due to the creation of the Croton Reservoir. Designed in the Gothic Revival style, the church features wall and corner buttresses, lancet windows, and a square crenellated tower with louvered opening. The exterior is dressed with cut Brewster granite with a red slate roof.

The Presbyterian denomination has been present in Katonah since 1871. The original members of the church held their worship sessions on the third floor of Avery’s hardware store in Old Katonah before their house of worship was constructed. It was dedicated on December 21^st, 1874 on Church Street in Old Katonah and served as the home of the Presbyterian congregation until 1891.

During this time, the church’s first pastor was John Eastman, who served as pastor for 20 years. His tenure saw a growth of the church, with a manse being constructed on River Road in 1880, and a Sunday School in 1892.

In 1891 that the village was forced to move in order to make way for the new Croton Dam which was constructed to provide water to New York City and the local area. The Presbyterian church was presented with a dilemma: move or dissolve. The congregation decided to move to its current site on 31 Bedford Road in the center of the new Katonah Village. Like many buildings from the old village, the manse was lifted from its original foundation and moved to a new site in 1898. The original church building was sold and scrapped.

After the move the church had a quiet history, but additions were made over time. In 1950, a new manse on Edgemont Road was purchased, and the original manse became a school building for the church. An addition connecting the original manse and the church was designed and built by Bruce P. Helmes. Further renovations were done during the tenure of Reverend Bruce R. White, the twelfth pastor of the church. He would oversee renovations of the interior of the church in which the chancel was moved back and the ceiling of one of the church rooms was raised. In these renovations, the pews were replaced by chairs.

[1] “New York SP Katonah Village Historic District.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, August 12, 1983. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323077.

[2] “Our History.” Katonah Presbyterian Church. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://katonahpresbyterian.org/our-history/.

[3] Sanchis, Frank E. American Architecture, Westchester County, New York: Colonial to Contemporary. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press, 1977.

[4] Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Elmsford, NY, NY: Westchester County Historical Society, 2003.