s ago a sea captain and his wife made
the first American flag of the present type: thirteen stripes and an
ever-expanding starry field.

[Illustration: First Presidential Mansion]

At the foot of Pike Street,--the river then was nearer the church than
now,--Robert Fulton built his first steamboat in 1807, and in May, 1819,
just one hundred years ago, the Savannah docked in the same place, after
the first steamboat trip across the ocean, made in twenty-two days.

Not quite so pleasant a memory is the fact that Market Street was the
new name for George Street, of not very favorable repute, until the
quiet Quakers built fine little houses there, surrounded by gardens,
driving out denizens of a less sedate disposition.

A fine story is told of an old lady, who was advised not to go to the
Market Street church because of the neighborhood it was in. She replied
that Colonel Rutgers was going there "and where Colonel Rutgers goes any
lady can go."

In 1819 wolves were still killed on the "outskirts," that being the
present Gramercy Park.

After the establishment of the Franklin Street church in 1807, no
further attempt was made by the Dutch church to extend its work until in
1817 the offer made by Henry Rutgers was taken up. About the same time
the Houston Street and Broome Street churches were added.

[Illustration: Tablet in Church Vestibule]

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| FOUNDED _A. D._ 1817, |
| |
| Completed & Dedicated to the Worship |
| of Almighty God, the 27th _day of June |
| A. D._ 1819: |
| |
| _on ground generously presented for the Site of a_ |
| |
| _REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH by |
| Col. HENRY RUTGERS;_ |
| |
| to the Rev. Philip Milledoler, D.D., the Rev. James |
| M. Matthews, Peter Wilson, LL.D., Isaac Heyer, |
| Matthias Bruen, Peter Sharpe, and William |
| B. Crosby, _Trustees_; |
| |
| _Under whose Superintendence it was erected._ |
+-------------------------------------------