Delaware County Records Center

18 hours ago

Timeline Tuesday. This timeline of 1907-1909 below shows the various events happening during the early 1910s in Delaware County. Many thanks to Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware County Historical Society and City of Delaware for the Our Shared History information. ... See MoreSee Less

Delaware County Records Center

5 days ago

St. Paul's Chapel was already old when the World Trade Center was built next to it. It opened in 1766, when New York was a British colonial town, and George Washington walked over from Federal Hall to pray there on the day of his inauguration in 1789. His pew is still inside.
By 2001 it was the oldest church building in Manhattan, a small stone chapel sitting directly across Church Street from the Twin Towers.
When the towers collapsed on September 11, everything around the chapel was buried. Cars were crushed. Buildings across the street were gutted. A wave of debris and dust rolled through the churchyard.
St. Paul's did not lose a single pane of glass.
Part of the credit went to an old sycamore tree in the churchyard that took the brunt of the falling debris and was destroyed in the process. Its roots were later cast in bronze as a sculpture called the Trinity Root. But the people who worked there simply called the building what it became: "the little chapel that stood."
Within days, the chapel turned itself into a relief station for the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero. For eight months it never closed. Around the clock, volunteers served hot meals, handed out dry socks and boots, and let exhausted firefighters, ironworkers and police officers sleep on the pews. Podiatrists treated their feet. Chiropractors and massage therapists worked on their backs. Musicians played quietly in the corners. Hundreds of volunteers rotated through, many of them working 12-hour shifts for months.
The pews were scratched raw by the buckles and tools of workers sleeping in their gear. When the chapel was finally restored, one pew was left unrepaired so people could see the marks.
The iron fence outside became a memorial where visitors from around the world left flowers, flags, photographs, letters and thousands of banners. Many of them are preserved today.
St. Paul's is still an active church. Visitors who walk in from the 9/11 Memorial next door find a quiet, plain room that has now watched over its corner of Manhattan for more than 250 years, including the worst day the city ever saw.
Source: Photo ajay-suresh via Wikimedia Commons & History Vault ... See MoreSee Less