Preservation Work Reveals the 1879 Cornerstone
Village of Garden City’s newly introduced St. Paul’s landmark option is a municipal preservation framework created to stabilize and protect the nationally registered historic structure. Preliminary work has already begun, including clearing overgrown brush to reveal the actual cornerstone laid back in 1879.
Cornelia (Clinch) Stewart commissioned St. Paul’s School in 1879 to honor her husband, Garden City founder Alexander Turney Stewart. The cornerstone was laid on June 18, 1879, and designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt. Opening its doors in 1883 as a premier military preparatory academy, the school anchored the community’s civic identity for over a century.