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history
 Columbia University is the oldest institution of higher education in the State of New York, and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was established under a royal charter from George II in 1754 as King's College, for the purpose of providing "for the Instruction and Education of Youth in the Learned Languages and the Liberal Arts and Sciences."
The university was established as an Anglican institution. Thus, a chapel was one of the most important aspects of the school from the time of its founding. Initially, classes were held at the Trinity Church schoolhouse on Broadway and Wall Street, but in 1760, the fledgling institution moved near the Hudson River on lower Manhattan, where it remained until relocating to Park Avenue and 47th Street in 1857. In 1892, Columbia's trustees acquired four blocks, between Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, West 116th and 120th Streets on Morningside Heights, from New York Hospital’s Bloomingdale Asylum, in order to erect a new campus.
 In 1894, architect Charles McKim prepared a master plan for Columbia. This plan focused on an imposing library, with a chapel strategically sited to the east. Initially, no funding was available for the chapel, and it was not part of the academic complex that opened in October 1897. However, in 1903, two wealthy philanthropists, Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes and Caroline Phelps Stokes, offered to finance the chapel as a memorial to their parents. The Stokes sisters’ one condition was that their nephew, I. N. Phelps Stokes, of the architectural firm of Howells & Stokes, design the building. St. Paul's Chapel was the first building at Columbia that was not designed by McKim, Mead & White. At first the Stokes' had promised Columbia $200,000 for the chapel, but they became so enthusiastic about their nephew's design that they ended up spending substantially more. Construction began on St. Paul’s Chapel in 1904, and it was dedicated in 1907. In 1966, the chapel was among the first buildings in New York City designated an official landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Written by Andrew S. Dolkart, author of Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development (Columbia University Press, 1998).
Special thanks to Irwin Lefkowitz, Joe Pineiro, Suzanne Wong, Facilities Management Staff, and the Office of the University Chaplain Staff for their many contributions to this project.
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