Category:Middle Dutch Church

New York City's Middle Dutch Church (1729–1844; denomination: Dutch Reformed Church), on Nassau Street from Cedar to Liberty Streets, was completed in 1731, but had been opened for religious worship in 1729. During the American Revolution, British troops turned it into a riding-school for cavalry. After the war, the church reopened for public worship on July 4, 1790.^[1]

There were no galleries in the church when it was first built, and the ceiling was one entire arch without pillars. The pulpit, covered with an enormous canopy or sounding-board, stood against the east wall, while the entrance was by two doors in front on the Nassau Street side. In 1764 the pulpit was moved to the north end, and the pews and entrances altered.^[1]

The last religious service was held on the evening of August 11, 1844. In 1845, the United States government leased the church for use as the General Post Office, and in 1860 purchased it. In 1882 it was sold to the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York and demolished.^[1]

It was in the wooden steeple of this building that Benjamin Franklin practiced his experiments in electricity.^[2]