Mount Kisco’s Sesquicentennial: A Community Built on Faith

By John Rhodes

As Mount Kisco celebrates its 150^th anniversary as a village, it’s interesting to take a look at the role that communities of faith have played in the evolution of our local society.

For more than 200 years, our faith communities have helped each other to grow, even as they sometimes differed on political issues or religious practice. Congregations shared graveyards, donated building materials and helped new groups to establish themselves.

Here are just a few examples of the ways these communities helped create modern Mount Kisco.

Early European settlers were attracted to northern Westchester by abundant waterpower for mills and the fertile soil. When the first Anglican missionaries came here from New York City in 1701, they found only farmland and a “settlement in the woods.”

Pre-Revolutionary War Quaker farmers met to worship in the homes of friends and later in Meeting Houses, such as the one at 210 Meeting House Rd., which was rebuilt in 1902. Quaker leader Stephen Wood and Presbyterian Captain J.W. Merritt led the effort in 1850 to name the village Mount Kisco.

For thousands of years before the first European settlers, this area was the home of the Lenape indigenous people. They were a spiritual nation, who lived in harmony with the land and worshipped “Kishelamakank,” their name for the creator. They gave thanks every day in their “longhouses,” and on special days at ceremonial sites. One of those remaining sites is located in Chappaqua’s Buttonhook Forest, where several groups are working to preserve the site from development.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church will be celebrating its 175^th anniversary on Apr. 27. Records dating back to 1761 show it as St. George’s church, located in what is now St. Mark’s cemetery. The church was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War. A new church was built on the site in 1852 and used until 1911. After the current St. Mark’s Church was built and dedicated in the center of town, the land to the south of the old St. Mark’s churchyard was donated to the Methodist Society by Caleb Kirby in 1824.

The history of the local United Methodist congregation, which recently celebrated its 200^th anniversary, goes back to Dec. 16, 1824. The current building was built in 1868 on the corner of Main Street and Smith Avenue. Local Methodists have been very active in the growth of Mount Kisco, and currently host two Hispanic church communities, as well as the Interfaith Food Pantry.

St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church has a dynamic congregation with a vibrant Hispanic population. The first Catholic Mass in Mount Kisco was celebrated in 1856 in the home of John Kelly. In 1859, a growing congregation raised money to build a church on Main Street, which was dedicated in 1862. The present Gothic-style church was built in 1929.

St. Francis of Assisi hosts the Ukrainian Catholic Mission for religious services in its chapel. It also serves our less fortunate neighbors for two weeks every winter as part of the Emergency Shelter Partnership (ESP), as do 17 other area churches and synagogues.

In the late 19^th century, several Orthodox Jewish families, mostly from Russia, settled in Mount Kisco. They met for services in different homes. Around 1906, they decided to build a synagogue, and officially founded the Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation on Stewart Place.

Bethel Baptist Church was founded in 1937 under the leadership of Rev. Benjamin H. Griffin. After meeting in various “home as a Mission” locations, about 1.33 acres were purchased in 1939 near the present Diplomat Towers. In 1955, the church had to move due to the relocation of the New York Central train tracks, and a new sanctuary was erected nearby at 37 Maple Ave.

The corner of Kisco and Hillside avenues now is home to the St. Francis AME Church. Initially it was the first home of the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco (PCMK), which was chartered in 1952 and is now located on Millwood Road. PCMK was instrumental in founding several important institutions that serve the poor, homeless, immigrants and the elderly in our community, including Fellowship Hall Senior Residence in Bedford Hills, Neighbors Link, the ESP and the food pantry.

Women played a major role in the formation of local faith communities. According to Pastor Nicole Schwalbe, “The Lutheran Church of the Resurrection was founded in Mount Kisco when a group of women who were of German and Lutheran descent got together and decided they wanted a church in the area. They made it happen, going through many iterations to be in the facility we are in today. Throughout all of the changes in the church and community the mission has always remained the same, ‘To love God and love neighbor.’”

Celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year, Bet Torah synagogue was started by a group of women from the Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation. Rabbi Aaron Brusso of Bet Torah wrote, “We are proud to partner with other local houses of worship to support the Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, the Emergency Shelter Partnership and Neighbors Link. We look forward to many more years of being in community with our wonderful neighbors in Mt. Kisco.”

These communities were often ahead of their time regarding the rights of women and minorities. The Quakers, for example, were among the strongest opponents of slavery. Other local congregations have led efforts to protect women’s rights, and more recently, the rights of immigrants and our LGBT neighbors.

In 1968 the Interfaith Council of Mount Kisco was established to address community needs. Following a study by the village and the interfaith council, which reflected a need to support women entering the workforce with access to affordable, quality child care, the Mount Kisco Child Care Center was established in 1971.

Earlier this month the Mount Kisco Historical Society organized an exhibition of photographs highlighting the history of our Faith Communities. On Sunday, Jan. 19, at the exhibit’s opening, more than 75 people from more than 15 local groups gathered at the Mount Kisco Public Library to listen to representatives of local churches and synagogues. For a link to the event video or more information, send an e-mail to MtKisco150@gmail.com.

John Rhodes is a trustee of the Mount Kisco Historical Society.