A CARING CHURCH
FOR CHANGING TIMES
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OUR HISTORY
On Christmas Day in 1913, a small group of Episcopalians in Ardsley, New York, wanted a place to worship, and the first service was held with 12 people present. In January of 1914, St. Barnabas Irvington sent the Reverend William Colton to serve as the first vicar of a mission in Ardsley, and six members held Sunday afternoon services over a store in the Quimby building. Reverend Colton served until 1932.
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In 1920, J.P. Morgan donated land at the intersection of Hetherdell and Saw Mill River Roads for a pre-fabricated building. On January 18, 1922 a resolution was made to recognize St. Barnabas Chapel as an organized mission. In 1933, Reverent Bertram Mortlock, Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers, was sent by the Diocese to close St. Barnabas, but his faith in what had been done led him to stay until 1947.
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In 1947, Reverend Sydney Newhouse came from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Getty Square, Yonkers, as the first full-time vicar of St. Barnabas, and the Newhouse family moved into our Rectory on Nepperhan Avenue in Ardsley.
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The Rectory remained until it was demolished in 1954 to make way for the New York Thruway, and a new rectory was built on Concord Road in Ardsley. This is still owned by St. Barnabas. Reverend Newhouse left in 1951 and the Reverend Langford Baldwin became the new Vicar and stayed until 1954, when he left to study in England. He was replaced by the Reverend Donald Gausby, who served as Vicar until 1958.
In 1955, ground was broken for the new St. Barnabas chapel at the intersection of Heatherdell and Revolutionary Roads, and in 1956 the doors of our new church were opened. St. Barnabas was incorporated as a church in January of 1958, and in 1961 the Parish House was built. The Reverend Donald Gardner, a Vicar of the mission, became our first Rector, and on April 9, 1972, St. Barnabas was consecrated as a church by the Bishop of New York.
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Father Gardner retired in 1977, and was replaced by the Reverend Robert Godley, who retired in July 2011. From 2013 – 2015, our Priest-in-Charge was the Reverend Pamela Owen Strobel, who retired in May of 2015. Our interim supply priest from 2016 to 2018 was the Reverend Cheryl Fox, followed by the Reverend Dr. Varghese Mathew, who served in that capacity from February to November 2019. In November 2019, the Vestry and people of St. Barnabas called Fr. Mathew as our new Priest-in-Charge, and he was commissioned as such on January 26, 2020
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