In the New York Gazette of May 14, 1764, appeared this notice concerning St. Paul’s Chapel:

“We are told that the Foundation Stone of the third English Church which is about erecting in this City, is to be laid this day. The church is to be 112 by 72 feet.”

For two years those who passed the corner of Broadway and Partition (Fulton) Street watched the progress of the building. On October 30, 1766, it was ready for the first service.

On the opening day there was no steeple, no organ, and no stove. But those who entered the doors were abundantly satisfied with the work of the architect, who is said to have been a Scotchman named McBean, a pupil of Gibbs, the designer of St. Martins-in-theFields, London, to which church the interior of St. Paul’s Chapel bears a marked resemblance. In the account of the opening the New York Journal and General Advertiser said that the new church was” one of the most elegant edifices on the Continent.”