The Astoria Presbyterian Church was organized May 6, 1846, the same year The First Presbyterian Church of Manhattan moved to its new location near Greenwich Village so it could be in a “country setting, rather than in the bustle of the city.” Originally meeting in the district school house, APC dedicated its first facility June 11, 1847 (at what is now 27th Ave. just west of 18th St. ) and called its first pastor, Frederick G. Clark.
A new building was built on a new site on the west side of 33rd street between Broadway and 31st Avenue in 1922. Sadly, the first service of worship was for its pastor who had been killed in a hit and run accident. In the 1950s the congregation grew to over 1200 members and is said to have had the largest Sunday School program in New York. But by 1970 the congregation had declined to about 700 members as the neighborhood changed, with many members taking advantage of the new highways that led from Manhattan to Long Island.
By 1994 when Dr. Olinger arrived, the church had declined to a membership of about 50 active members holding worship in a facility built to house over 1000. The building had experienced nearly 30 years of deferred maintenance and the average age of the members was over 55. Over the next several years the congregation offered a variety of programs ranging from English classes, to a homeless shelter, to helping start a performing arts group, but the decline in membership and the condition of the facilities continued.
In 2002 the Session (church board) asked Dr. Olinger to “explore the possibility of developing part or all of the property.” The congregation was sure of two things: (1) it wanted to serve the community; and (2) it wanted to remain on its present site. And so it was that in the spring of 2006 the congregation took the historic step to partner with the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Corporation (HANAC) and The Enterprise Foundation to develop a new affordable senior housing facility with a new church facility contained with in the site.
The congregation held its final worship service in the old facility in the summer of 2008 and moved to its current location at 23-35 Broadway in September of 2008. The small congregation has experienced a new sense of mission and community as it offers piano classes to the children in the church and works to develop a computer lab for its education programs and to also teach new job skills to those looking for employment, as well as computerized English classes.
The congregation hopes to return to its new facility in the fall of 2011, but until then it continues to seek ways to serve God and the Astoria community.