Trinity Church

A Gothic church that was New York’s tallest building for half a century, and Alexander Hamilton’s grave

Local name: Trinity Church

Collection: New York · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

The story

Before you is Trinity Church. The parish was founded in 1697 under a charter from the English King William the Third. Today’s church is the third on this site. The architect Richard Upjohn built it in the Gothic Revival style and finished it in 1846. The spire rose 281 feet. The church became the tallest building in New York and stayed so until 1890. Sailors coming into the harbor could see it from far away. Now the spire is lost among skyscrapers, and Wall Street runs straight into the church’s doors. Around the church is an old churchyard: burials here began as early as 1681. In the southern part, along the Rector Street fence, stands the white tomb of Alexander Hamilton. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury. On the eleventh of July 1804, Hamilton fought a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr in Weehawken, across the Hudson River. He was mortally wounded and died the next day. In the northern part of the churchyard stands the Soldiers’ Monument, put up in 1852. It honors the Americans held captive by the British during the Revolutionary War.

Visiting

89 Broadway, at the head of Wall Street. The church and churchyard are open to visitors; check hours on trinitychurchnyc.org. Hamilton’s tomb is in the southern churchyard, along the Rector Street fence.

Photos

Sources

• The Cultural Landscape Foundation — Trinity Church, New York, NY
• Trinity Church Wall Street — The Tallest Building in New York City
• National Park Service — Hamilton-Burr Duel
• National Park Service — Alexander Hamilton

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