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Description of Pictures: St Paul's was used as a main station for rescue and recovery workers after September 11.
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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
STPAUL_031007_48.JPG: October 4
Cross Found at Ground Zero a Sign of Hope
Amid the mountains of rubble at the World Trade Center site, a giant cross formed from steel beams of the north tower becomes a symbol of faith and hope for rescue and recovery workers. A Franciscan priest blesses the cross with holy water while workers stand by singing "God Bless America."
STPAUL_031007_50.JPG: September 12
Digging Out and Cleaning Up
Though St Paul's survives, the building and churchyard are covered in inches of dust from the Twin Towers' collapse. It's unclear whether the chapel is structurally sound. Engineers inspect the building and pronounce it fit for occupancy, and the digging out begins.
Slowly at first, rescue workers, police and fire-fighters stop by to rest and wash up. Since there is no electricity, the chapel is lit by candlelight and flashlight, until Verizon and Con Ed set up crude lamps to shed light on the fledgling ministry. Volunteers begin to call; among the first to arrive is a group from St Hilda's and St Hugh's Episcopal School in Manhattan.
STPAUL_031007_51.JPG: September 12 [2001]
St Paul's Survives with Nary a Scratch
The Rev Lyndon Harris arrives at St Paul's, expecting major damage, and is amazed to find that the 235-year-old church, where George Washington prayed after his inauguration, is standing without even a pane of glass broken. A giant sycamore, uprooted by the force of the explosion, takes the brunt of the force, saving the building.
Harris had been charged with developing new liturgies at St Paul's, now the chapel will indeed have a new ministry, unlike anything Harris envisioned.
Wikipedia Description: St. Paul's Chapel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Paul's Chapel, at 209 Broadway, is an Episcopal chapel located on Church Street between Fulton and Vesey Streets, opposite the east side of the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan in New York City.
History and architecture:
A chapel of the Parish of Trinity Church, St. Paul's was built on land granted by Queen Anne of Great Britain, and Andrew Gautier served as the master craftsman. Upon completion in 1766, it stood in a field some distance from the growing port city to the south. It was built as a "chapel-of-ease" for parishioners who lived far from the Mother Church.
Built of Manhattan mica-schist with brownstone quoins, St. Paul's has the classical portico, boxy proportions and domestic details that are characteristic of Georgian churches such as James Gibbs' London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it was modelled. Its octagonal tower rises from a square base and is topped by a replica of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (c. 335 BC).
Inside, the chapel's simple elegant hall has the pale colors, flat ceiling and cut glass chandeliers reminiscent of contemporary domestic interiors. In contrast to the awe-inspiring interior of Trinity Church, this hall and its ample gallery were endowed with a cozy and comfortable character in order to encourage attendance.
On the Broadway side of the chapel's exterior is an oak statue of the church's namesake, Saint Paul, carved in the American Primitive style. Below the east window is the monument to Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who died at the Battle of Quebec (1775) during the American Revolutionary War. In the spire, the first bell is inscribed "Mears London, Fecit [Made] 1797." The second bell, made in 1866, was added in celebration of the chapel's 100th anniversary.
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.,,
Early history:
George Washington, along with members of the United States Congress, worshiped at St. Paul's Chapel on his Inauguration Day, on April 30, 1789. Washington also attended services at St. Paul's during the two years New York City was the country's capital. Above Washington's pew is an 18th-century oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States; adopted in 1782.
The chapel contains several monuments and memorials that attest to its elevated status in early New York: a monument to Richard Montgomery (hero of the battle of Quebec) sculpted by Jean-Jacques Caffieri (1777), George Washington's original pew and a neo-Baroque sculpture called "Glory" designed by Pierre L'Enfant, the designer of Washington, D.C. The pulpit is surmounted by a coronet and six feathers, and fourteen original cut-glass chandeliers hang in the nave and the galleries.
September 11, 2001:
After the attack on September 11, 2001, which led to the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, St. Paul's Chapel served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site.
For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12 hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and others. Massage therapists, chiropractors, podiatrists and musicians also tended to their needs.
The church survived without even a broken window. Church history declares it was spared by a miracle sycamore on the northwest corner of the property that was hit by debris. The tree's root has been preserved in a bronze memorial by sculptor Steve Tobin.
The fence around the church grounds became the main spot for visitors to place impromptu memorials to the event. After it became filled with flowers, photos, teddy bears, and other paraphernalia, chapel officials decided to erect a number of panels on which visitors could add to the memorial. Estimating that only 15 would be needed in total, they eventually required 400.
Rudolph Giuliani gave his mayoral farewell speech at the church on December 27, 2001.
The Chapel is now a popular tourist destination since it still keeps many of the memorial banners around the sanctuary and has an extensive audio video history of the event. There are a number of exhibits in the Chapel. The first one when entering is "Healing Hearts and Minds", which consists of a policeman's uniform covered with police and firefighter patches sent from all over the country, including Iowa, West Virginia, California, etc. The most visible is the "Thread Project", which consists of several banners, each of a different color, and woven from different locations from around the globe, hung from the upper level over the pews.
Services:
St. Paul's Chapel is a very active part of the Parish of Trinity Church, holding services, weekday concerts, occasional lectures, and providing a shelter for the homeless.
On the evening of September 10, 2006, St. Paul's Chapel hosted a memorial service that was attended by President George W. Bush, Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor George Pataki, and Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani., with the chapel holding additional services on the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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