Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site
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St. Paul's Church National Historic Site
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| Location | Eastchester, Mount Vernon, New York |
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| Coordinates | 40°53′34″N 73°49′33″W / 40.89278°N 73.82583°WCoordinates: 40°53′34″N 73°49′33″W / 40.89278°N 73.82583°W |
| Area | 6 acres (24,281 m²) |
| Built | 1765 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Visitation | 13,869 (2005) |
| Website | Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000580 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHS | July 5, 1943 |
Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located at 897 South Columbus Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York, just north of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The site was authorized in 1978 to protect Saint Paul's Church from increasing industrialization of the surrounding area. Saint Paul's Church is one of New York's oldest parishes and was used as a military hospital after the American Revolutionary War Battle of Pell's Point in 1776. The 5-acre (20,000 m2) cemetery surrounding the church is also within the historic site and contains an estimated 9,000 burials dating from 1704.
The parish that founded Saint Paul's Church was established in 1665. The first church at the site was a small, square, wooden structure built in 1695 and was known as the Church of Eastchester. The present day church was built in 1764, but its name was not changed to Saint Paul's Church until 1795.
The election for an open seat in the New York assembly, held on the Village Green in Eastchester, Westchester County on October 29, 1733, is one of the better known political events in colonial America. Two hundred and seventy five years after the contest, historians continue to cite the election to advance various arguments about colonial life. One recent student used the election to argue for the persistent importance of monarchy in the outlook of colonists, while another scholar treated the voting as an important point in the development of political awareness among New York artisans. Many writers address the election, held at what is today St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, in Mt. Vernon, as part of the story of the printer John Peter Zenger, whose acquittal in a seditious libel case in 1735 is seen as a foundation of the free press in America. The first issue of Zenger’s New York Weekly Journal carried a lengthy report on the famous election, producing one of the few complete accounts of a colonial election available to historians.
On October 18, 1776, the Revolutionary War Battle of Pell's Point was fought less than a mile from the church, and the church served as a hospital for the British Army following the battle. The church's tower contains a bell that was cast in 1758 at the same London foundry as the Liberty Bell. As the fighting began to move closer to the church, George Washington ordered the parishioners to bury the bell to prevent the British from melting it down and using it for ammunition. The bell still hangs in the tower today.
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