It’s Maundy Thursday, and fifty years ago today on the liturgical calendar St. Paul’s held its first service in the Hackett Boulevard church: the consecration of the high altar. In this photograph we see the altar, and behind it, “the massive, shimmering bronze reredos,”  as it was described in a contemporary  Knickerbocker News article.

Altar and Reredos, Hackett Boulevard

The free-standing altar, of Vermont marble, was donated by the treasurer of the building fund, William Starr McEwan, and dedicated to his maternal grandparents, Samuel Starr Peck (1852-1934) and Susan Marsh Peck (1860-1942).

Bulletin cover, Consecration of Altar, Maundy Thursday 1966

Bulletin, Consecration of Altar, Maundy Thursday 1966

The only photograph that we know was taken that day shows Bishop Allen W. Brown at the altar, partially obscured by our rector, J. Raymond McWilliam.

Consecration of the High Altar, Maundy Thursday 1966