Classical Greek Revival architecture is on display at the former Centre Presbyterian Church in Windham, NY, which now houses the Windham Public Library and serves the community as a civic center for concerts, lectures, public events and meetings.
“This Indenture made the twenty seventh day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty four between Bennet Osborn of the town of Windham county of Greene and state of New York of the first part and Abijah Stone Clark Finch & William S. Robinson trustees of the Centre Presbyterian society of Windham and their successors in office of the second part witnesseth that the said party of the first part in consideration of the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars to him in hand paid by the said parties of the second part the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged hath granted bargained sold released and conveyed and by these presents doth grant bargain sell release and…”
Greene County, New York - Book T of Deeds, Page 360
The history of the Centre Church property located in the Town of Windham, Greene County, New York cannot be understood without first looking at its roots, which date back to the late 1700s.
A Congregational Church was built in 1799, or perhaps a year or two earlier, on land now occupied by Pleasant Valley Cemetery in the neighboring Town of Ashland, which at that time was still part of Windham. It was designated as the First Society of the Town of Windham when it was incorporated on October 24, 1808. Around 1826 when its first pastor, Rev. Henry B. Stimson, retired from the ministry, this Congregational Church became a Presbyterian Church.
By the early 1830s the parishioners decided to split apart and build Presbyterian churches within the hamlets of Ashland and Osbornville, as the hamlet of Windham was then called, it having been named for its first postmaster, Bennet Osborn, who was appointed to that position in 1831.
The Centre Church property was sold by Bennett Osborn, of the Town of Windham, on June 27, 1834, for the sum of $250, to Abijah Stone, Clark Finch and William S. Robinson, Trustees of the Centre Presbyterian Society of Windham, and recorded in Greene County, NY on June 30, 1834 in Book T of Deeds on Pages 360 and 361. The deed stated in part:
“…containing one acre & 19 rods of ground be the same more or less for the use and benefit of the said society…to build and erect a house for public worship sheds session house and burying ground reserving the session house now built upon the ground for the use of the proprietors of the same and the land for the burying ground if they do not occupy it for that purpose for myself and heirs and assigns and the remainder of the ground when it shall cease to be occupied for the above special purposes…”
The following statements were set forth in 1884 when J. B. Beers & Company published the History of Greene County, New York, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men:
“The Center Presbyterian church of Windham was organized on the 29th day of April 1834, with the following constituent members who received letters of dismission [sic] from the first Presbyterian church of Windham for the purpose of organizing this church…The present house of worship was dedicated January 1st 1835.”
The First Presbyterian Church of Windham, mentioned in the previous paragraph, referred to the former Congregational Church in the Town of Ashland.
Quoting again from Beers:
“In the spring of 1834 Bennet Osborn donated to the Presbyterian church the site it now occupies for a burial ground. Several interments were made here, but owing to the water from the creek pouring into the newly dug graves the ground was abandoned for burial purposes.”
Note that the word “donated” had replaced the word “sold” to describe this transaction.
Bennet Osborn died in Hudson, Columbia County, NY on February 4, 1841, at the age of 56. He was interred in the old burying ground adjacent to the former Congregational Church, beside his wife, Aurelia Squire, who had passed away in 1833. Bennet was survived by at least three adult sons, Schuyler, Luman and Albert Osborn, all of whom resided in Otsego County, New York; possibly other children whose names have yet to be discovered, and by most of his nine siblings.
Bennet Osborn's gravestone in Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Ashland, Greene County, New York.
Photo taken by Lorna Puleo.
History was literally rewritten in 1934 when the church celebrated its centennial. According to the commemorative booklet published for the occasion, the land for the Centre Presbyterian Church had been donated by Bennet’s brother, Merritt Osborn. This error was further compounded when two of Merritt’s great, great-grandchildren, Dr. Edwin Graham Mulbury and his sister, Margaret (Mulbury) Dickopf, transferred ownership of the property to the Town of Windham.
Front cover of the Centre Presbyterian Church’s 1934 centennial booklet from the collection of Patricia Morrow.
The Centre Presbyterian Church congregation merged with the Windham United Methodist Church in 1972, leaving the former building vacant for several years. It was slated for demolition until The Committee to Preserve the Centre Church Building, Inc. was formed in 1978, and not-for-profit corporation papers were filed with the New York State Department of State in 1981 so that money could be raised for its restoration.
Postcard of the Presbyterian Church, Windham, N. Y. from the collection of Patricia Morrow.
The horse sheds are visible at the rear of the property. Church Street, connecting Main Street and South Street, is on the left.
The building in the background, on a hill overlooking the hamlet, is Crest Park, which was built in 1900.
The Centre Presbyterian Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 7, 1979. After undergoing extensive renovations, and subsequent repairs following Hurricane Irene in 2011, the church has been used by local civic groups for meetings and various public functions.
A time capsule was buried on the property in 1998 during the town’s bicentennial.
The former kitchen and Sunday school rooms at the rear of the building now accommodate the Windham Public Library, which provides books, periodicals, computer and Internet access, as well as adult and children’s programming for both residents and seasonal visitors.
The annual Civil War Music Heritage Gathering and Encampment is held indoors and on the grounds of the Centre Church property every August.
From 1997 through 2016 the Windham Chamber Music Festival and its guest artists performed chamber music and jazz concerts in the Windham Civic & Performing Arts Center throughout the year that were often featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.
Although Robert Manno and Magdalena Golczewski announced the end of their Windham Chamber Music Festival series in 2016, the mantle was taken up by Piers and Lucy Playfair, founders of 23Arts Initiative and the Catskill Jazz Factory, who offered a series of eclectic summer concerts of classical, folk and Big Band jazz here in 2017. Blackdome Music Festival has also utilized the Windham Civic Center for its annual concerts in 2017 and 2018.
https://www.ebates.com/r/WINDHA?eeid=28187
SOURCES
Greene County, NY Religious Societies, Book A, Page 21
http://www.tracingyourrootsgcny.com/religious_societies_windham_society.htm
Greene County, NY Religious Societies, Book A, Page 59 http://www.tracingyourrootsgcny.com/religious_societies_windham_center_presbyterian.htm
Greene County, NY, Book T of Deeds, Pages 360 and 361
https://tinyurl.com/ybzhbxjv
Bennet Osborn’s memorial on Find A Grave, created on October 7, 2013
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118318713
Census records for Greene County, NY and Otsego County, NY, various years
Various issues of The Windham Journal, published weekly from 1857-2017
History of Greene County, New York, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men, published by J. B. Beers & Co., New York in 1884; reprinted by Hope Farm Press, Cornwallville, NY in 1969
1803-1903 Centennial of the Old First Congregational Church, Windham, New York, June 16th , 1903: The History of the Old Church, with Shorter Histories of the Daughter Churches of Windham, Jewett and Ashland, with Other Historical Matter, by Rev. Henry Martyn Dodd, A. M., Windham Journal Print, Windham, NY, 1903
https://archive.org/stream/cu31924010165953#page/n1/mode/2up
1834-1934 Centennial Centre Presbyterian Church Windham, N. Y., The Windham Journal Print, 1934, commemorative booklet
https://www.facebook.com/46527396938/photos/a.162472396938.119987.46527396938/10152507157926939/?type=3&theater
The National Register of Historic Places website
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm
New York State Department of State, Division of Corporations, State Records & UCC
http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html
New York Postal History: The Post Offices and First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980, by John L. Kay and Chester M. Smith, Jr., American Philatelic Society, State College, PA, 1982
A Guide to Windham’s Architectural History, published by Christine Owad M.A., M.ED. Architectural Historian, Windham, NY, undated booklet circa 1990
Windham Chamber Music Festival website http://www.windhammusic.com/history.html
Town of Windham Historical Society – Greene County, NY Facebook page
https://tinyurl.com/y7fcnk2s
Historic Places in Greene County, New York, Greene County Historical Register of the Greene County Historical Society, published by Flint Mine Press, Coxsackie, NY, 2009
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