Lower Manhattan rebuilding blueprint excerpt, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Chapel Delays Its Closing At Towers Site By TINA KELLEY ; The leaders of St. Paul’s Chapel in “We’re grateful that they consid­ Lower Manhattan, which has served ered that request and accepted itj’’ as a haven for rescue workers at Mr. Monahan said of the church lex­ ground zero since September, said ers. “The service and the ministry is yesterday that they had decided .to so valuable.’’ keep it open until the excavation of John Allen, the spokesman for the World Trade Center site was Trinity Parish, said: “On behalf of completed. the parish, we welcome the position The Episcopal chapel, which is that the city has taken on the matter. part of Trinity Church, was going 'to From reports I heard at SL Paul^, be closed for a cleaning after Easter the rescue workers are very pleas^ Sunday services, but chapel officials that it’s able to continue.’’ - announced last night that it would The Rev. Lyndon Harris, who Js continue to provide food, rest and responsible for the ministry at counseling to the workers until the Paul’s, said, “We are delighted that end of May. 7 we are able to respond to the request The church, at Broadway and Ful­ of the City of New York to keep the ton Street, has served 350,000 meals doors of St. Paul’s open to the police since Sept. 11 to the hundreds of officers, firefighters and rescue workers who visit the chapel each workers as ihey complete their tasks day. Letters of support and encour­ at the site.” agement from all over the countty are posted on the walls of the 266- year-old chapel, where George Washington worshiped after his in­ auguration in 1789. The parish decided to remain open after receiving an urgent appeal from Commissioner Kenneth R. Holden of the city’s Department of Design and Construction, which is responsible for overall cleanup work at the trade center site, said the Rey. Samuel Johnson Howard, vicar of the parish. In January, the parish re­ ceived an advisory from the city that the exterior of the building needed to be cleaned. “We will defer our closing and cleanup until the end of May at the request of the commissioner,” Fa­ ther Howard said in a statement. When asking that the chapel re­ main open, Mr. Holden estimate that the work of recovering human remains from the site and clearingjt would be completed by the end of May, said Matthew Monahan, the department’s spokesman. 7 '3- 3^ 03

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