Bethesda Church Early History: A Fateful Encounter
An unknown traveler staying at the famous Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York in the early 1800s vanished in the dead of night. It was rumored that he had no way to pay for his room, but no one knows for certain the cause of his disappearance. All that was left behind in his room was a trunk with some clothes and a book. After it became clear that the traveler would not return, Rockwell Putnam, son of Gideon Putnam, founding father of Saratoga Springs and creator of the Grand Union Hotel, took the book home as payment for the abandoned room. That book, some claim, may have been a copy of the book The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered, written and published by bishop William White in 1782, or a copy of the Book of Common Prayer, an Anglican holy text. Whatever the book was, Rockwell immediately became enthralled. It inspired Rockwell and his wife to commission the creation of an official Episcopal Church in Saratoga, and thus Bethesda was born. Authorized by the New York diocese, the Bethesda congregation was allowed to expand. The congregation’s first official incorporation was in 1830, with weekly meetings in a chapel believed to have been located on the corner of Congress Street and Putnam Street. According to an 1871 business directory, the Bethesda congregation moved to its permanent home on Washington Street in 1847, where it remains today near the Universal Preservation Hall, First Baptist Church, and other religious establishments. Rockwell Putnam selected the lot of his former home for the site of the new chapel, which would be built in 1841. The Bethesda website states that the construction occurred between 1842 and 1844, and the first service in the sanctuary is recorded in 1844.
Creating a Church
"Bethesda Church" Churchman, c. 1870
The church building was designed by the famous New York architect Richard Upjohn, who is particularly known for his design of the Trinity Church in Manhattan, among the dozens of other churches connected by his trademark Gothic-revival based style. In 1841 the vestry requested Upjohn to draw up plans for a church, and he willingly obliged; these became the plans that Bethesda was to be modeled on for the next half century, although Upjohn and the parish later disputed the fee. By 1871, after many major renovations and additions, the church seated 600 people and the congregation was 400 people.
The church has undergone several renovations, including two major enhancements, in 1858 and in 1887, to expand the space inside the church and add Tiffany stained glass windows, generously paid for by the Trask family. Since those early renovations the church has not changed much physically except for the new entrance added in 1995 to accommodate those with disabilities. While time has not noticeably altered the outside of the structure, inside its walls Bethesda Church members are uncovering the almost 200 years of history of its ever-changing congregation.
The church has undergone several renovations, including two major enhancements, in 1858 and in 1887, to expand the space inside the church and add Tiffany stained glass windows, generously paid for by the Trask family. Since those early renovations the church has not changed much physically except for the new entrance added in 1995 to accommodate those with disabilities. While time has not noticeably altered the outside of the structure, inside its walls Bethesda Church members are uncovering the almost 200 years of history of its ever-changing congregation.
An Important Date: Nearly 200 years in existence
Brass Eagle Lectern.
photo by A. Shreffler
Bethesda draws a group of dedicated members to its congregation and recently some have been hard at work preparing to celebrate the bicentennial of their church, marking the occasion with the publication of a book about 200 years of Bethesda’s history, to which several church members are contributing. The volunteer-based organization helps to collect and sort through the church archives, uncovering along the way a treasure trove of forgotten documents, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs. The group is continuously discovering new and exciting facts to share with the larger congregation, including the surprising information that although all of the past church anniversary celebrations used 1814 as the founding date, the formal incorporation of the church was not until 1830. Led by SUNY Albany's Professor Jane Agee, this team will continue to organize and investigate every scrap of paper they find, ranging from a history of the church choir, Schola Cantorum, to the women who worked tirelessly behind the scenes during the early days of the church's foundation. Due to their work, woven into the ongoing relocation and transformation of the church building is the narrative of the church’s soul: the congregation that gives this space, Bethesda, true sacredness.
Listen to an Interview with Doug Housten, a member of the Bethesda community and vestry for over 40 years.
A: When did you start going to Bethesda?
D: Uh, end of August 1966. I've always been Episcopalian, born to an Episcopal family, baptized, confirmed. wherever we went we always went to the episcopal church and so you might say tradition...just look at the building. you know immediately its an episcopal church. Its that structure, that architecture...and perhaps you know there's that window, above the high alter, that's rather an attractive piece, something you can connect with in terms of the healing process. The other thing was at that time, uh the civil rights movement didn't come along until a few years later and yet here was a church where it was open to everyone. the teacher for the Sunday school for our children was a black lady, Mary Moore. So it was, uh, a nice niche to be in, a nice nest to find comfort in. Uh, and now we have the same thing with issues of sexuality. There is a very vocal but small group who are extreme conservatives who want to shut there doors, from my point of view, to a group of people and to me, that's unchristian. But we'll probably survive this too.
I think my whole attitude though, about Bethesda, is that its been part of my life - more than half my life, so that's more than forty years, and its been there no matter if its been a good time or a bad time. Trying to think of a good time, you know getting up and reading Paul's letter to the Corinthians at my grandson's wedding. Burying people that you've known for years. One of the problems you face too is that people want that kind of thing, but they want to be able to look at it from the outside and they don't participate. They go there and they get what they want then leave, and part of our problem or part of our function, I think, as vestry members, as active church members, is to convince people to pitch in. You wanna be a cheerleader? Then fine, be a cheerleader! Just don't sit on the sidelines and be a taker and not a giver.
D: Uh, end of August 1966. I've always been Episcopalian, born to an Episcopal family, baptized, confirmed. wherever we went we always went to the episcopal church and so you might say tradition...just look at the building. you know immediately its an episcopal church. Its that structure, that architecture...and perhaps you know there's that window, above the high alter, that's rather an attractive piece, something you can connect with in terms of the healing process. The other thing was at that time, uh the civil rights movement didn't come along until a few years later and yet here was a church where it was open to everyone. the teacher for the Sunday school for our children was a black lady, Mary Moore. So it was, uh, a nice niche to be in, a nice nest to find comfort in. Uh, and now we have the same thing with issues of sexuality. There is a very vocal but small group who are extreme conservatives who want to shut there doors, from my point of view, to a group of people and to me, that's unchristian. But we'll probably survive this too.
I think my whole attitude though, about Bethesda, is that its been part of my life - more than half my life, so that's more than forty years, and its been there no matter if its been a good time or a bad time. Trying to think of a good time, you know getting up and reading Paul's letter to the Corinthians at my grandson's wedding. Burying people that you've known for years. One of the problems you face too is that people want that kind of thing, but they want to be able to look at it from the outside and they don't participate. They go there and they get what they want then leave, and part of our problem or part of our function, I think, as vestry members, as active church members, is to convince people to pitch in. You wanna be a cheerleader? Then fine, be a cheerleader! Just don't sit on the sidelines and be a taker and not a giver.