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today) | dedicated date = October 13, 1851 | pastor = Reverend Bill Grossman | priest = | location = Intersection of East Main and North Streets in Marcellus village, New York | country = United States | phone = }} The Greek Revival First Presbyterian Church of Marcellus is located at the intersection of North Street (New York State Route 174) and East Main Street (also NY 174) in the village of Marcellus, New York, and is the oldest of four churches in the village. Marcellus village was founded in 1794. Local residents with differing religious denominations met in a tavern, until October 1801 when Reverend Caleb Alexander, a missionary active in the central New York area, helped organize the 18-member Church of Christ. A wooden meeting house was constructed two years later. By 1819, the community had built three churches in the environs of Marcellus: the original First Church in Marcellus, its offshoot the Second Church in Skaneateles, New York, and the Third Church on State Road (now U.S. Route 20). In 1851, the present church in Greek Revival style was erected and dedicated. The church would undergo substantial alterations over the next century. In 1948, it was remodelled and dedicated in April 1952. Commentators have found the structure one of the finest examples of Greek Revival church architecture in Onondaga County; however, they have expressed some regret in the loss of several original features. The church celebrated its bicentenary in 2001. == Original church (1803–1851) == The village of Marcellus was founded 1794 with Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists and villagers of other denominations meeting in a tavern for worship services. Tavern proprietor Deacon Rice was permitted to read sermons, not write them, and Reverend Seth Williston, a missionary active in the area as early as 1800 may have provided spiritual guidance. On October 13, 1801, the village's first worship society, the 18-member Church of Christ, was organized through the efforts of Rev Caleb Alexander, another missionary active in central New York. In May the following year, the society was incorporated as the Eastern Religious Society of Marcellus. The church was later described as "Presbyterian in its ecclesiastical relations, and at the same time Congregational in its internal policy and arrangement."〔 On August 12, 1802, the society voted to build a church, and a trustee donated an acre of land at the intersection of Main Street and North Street in the present-day village of Marcellus. In 1803, construction of the fifty-five by forty-eight feet wooden meeting house was completed with a floor, a board pulpit, and slab seats but without a steeple, a bell, stoves, and ceilings. Congregants warmed themselves with foot stoves, squirrel fur, and the "power of the spirit". Itinerant missionaries served the meeting house for its first few years. The church gained its first pastor in 1807, when Rev Levi Parsons was ordained and installed. That same year, the congregation adopted fifteen articles of faith and a covenant, which remained membership prerequisites for one hundred years. In the same year the church affiliated with the Presbyterian Synod of Albany, three years later becoming a charter member of the Presbytery of Cayuga, which, in 1811, became part of the newly formed Synod of Geneva. Mr Parsons served until 1833 when he accepted posts in Tully, New York and Otisco, New York. He returned to Marcellus in 1835, where he remained until 1841 when Rev John Tompkins was appointed.〔 In 1814, a steeple was built, an extension to the church added, and the interior painted at a cost of $4,500 ($ today). The same year, The Female Charitable Society of Marcellus donated $133.34 to the Genessee Missionary Society. By 1819, the church had grown considerably. The Second Church was erected in what is now Skaneateles, New York, and the Third Presbyterian Church of Marcellus was built on State Road (now U.S. Route 20), which, after twenty prosperous years, experienced declining membership following deaths and migrations. In 1830, a shed for horses and vehicles was constructed at the First Church. On April 23, 1833, the name of the society was changed to the Marcellus First Religious Society, and in 1846, a house and lot for a parsonage were secured. In 1849, church land was graded and new horse sheds built.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First Presbyterian Church of Marcellus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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