In 1890, distinguished preacher and church leader Edward Judson initiated construction of Judson Church as a memorial to his father Adoniram Judson, the first American Protestant foreign missionary. Edward envisioned the Judson Memorial as an institution to serve the growing immigrant population of Lower Manhattan through health, nutrition, education, and recreational programs, as well as vibrant worship and religious instruction. Backed by John D. Rockefeller and other prominent Baptists of the time, Edward Judson commissioned the leading artisans of the day — architect Stanford White, stained glass master John La Farge, and sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens — to create a splendid edifice where the immigrants of the South Village and the aristocrats of Washington Square North could meet on common ground. They designed an eclectic Lombardo-Romanesque style building which would be familiar to the burgeoning Italian immigrant population while using the finest terra cotta, limestone, marble, and stained glass work that would appeal to the aesthetics of the affluent.

It soon became apparent that the established rich were none too keen on rubbing shoulders with the immigrant poor, but Edward Judson's dream that is Judson Memorial Church persisted. Although it declined in membership after Edward's death in 1912, the church continued to offer distinctive healthcare and outreach ministries throughout the 1920s and '30s under ministers A. Ray Petty (1914-26) and Laurence Hosie (1926-37). Of particular importance was the work of Dr. Eleanor A. Campbell who co-founded the Judson Health Center in 1920 in Judson House; within four years it became one of the largest health care facilities in the nation. In 1950 the Judson Health Center moved to Spring Street where it continues today as an independent entity.*

Following Rev. Hosie's ministry was Rev. Renato (Ray) Giacomelli Alden's service to an Italian-speaking congregation (1937-1945) at Judson. After the Second World War, visionary ministers Robert Spike (1949-55) and Howard Moody (1956-92) rethought and redefined the idea of what a church could and should be - basically, a faith-based institution that listens and responds to the issues relevant to its time and place.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Moody and associate minister and composer Al Carmines (1962-81) brought Judson first a city-wide and then a national reputation, opening the church to experimental, avant-garde artists from many genres-dance, painting, theatre-and organizing politically around issues of civil rights, free expression, abortion rights, and the decriminalization of prostitution.**

In the 1990s-2000s, ministers Peter Laarman (1994-2004) and Karen Senecal (2001-05) continued the church's tradition of hospitality to the arts and social justice programs, particularly in the area of economic justice, while also finally addressing the deferred maintenance issues in Judson's aging buildings, through a 15-year building and restoration program that was completed in March 2006.

Current minister Donna Schaper (2006- ) is dedicated to providing "spiritual nurture for public capacity" for Judson's growing congregation. One current project is a new Training Center for Public Ministry from a Parish Base, being pioneered with five "community ministers" during academic year 2006-07.

*A detailed history of Judson House, the church's former multi-use parish building that was replaced in 2000 by NYU Law School's Furman Building, in which the Church has a condominium office and meeting room suite, is available in the book Remembering Judson House (J. & E. Dickason, eds., 1999). Copies are available from the church office.

**For a fuller description of two of these efforts, see: Arlene Carmen and Howard Moody, Abortion Counseling and Social Change: From Illegal Act to Medical Practice (Judson Press, 1973); and Carmen and Moody, Working Women: The Subterranean World of Street Prostitution (Harper & Row, 1985).