St. Paul's (Zion's) Evangelical Lutheran Church

Lutheranism came to northwestern Dutchess County in the 1710s, with Palatine German refugees from the War of Spanish Succession. After an attempt to cultivate naval stores on the lands of Robert Livingston in today's Columbia County, they were released^{[clarification needed]}. Some settled in the Rhinebeck and Red Hook areas at the invitation of another large local landholder, Henry Beekman. The Germans established a joint Reformed-Lutheran Church in the Red Hook community in 1715.^[1]

In 1729 the Lutherans left, either due to a dispute with their Calvinist countrymen or because their congregation had grown enough to require its own church. They established what is today known as the Old Stone Church on the Albany Post Road (today's Route 9) between the two communities. The Reformed-Lutheran Church then became known as the Zion German Reformed Church.^[1]

That church bought a five-acre (2 ha) plot in Red Hook at the current location in 1796 and moved in six years later. At that time the building now used as the caretaker's cottage was the only improvement, having been constructed a few years before. The congregation built a frame church that was completed the next year. Whether the cemetery was established prior to its earliest known burial, in 1813, is not known.^[1]

The frame church blew down during a storm in 1834 and a new church was built of stone. A new church in a figurative sense came along in 1846, when the congregation was unable to find a pastor. To resolve the problem, they became Lutherans and became known as St. Paul's.^[1]

In the 1880s the complex began to expand with the construction of the parish hall on the north end of the property. Two years later, the congregation's growth led to a fundraising drive for another new church. The stone church was demolished in 1889, as worshippers began digging a new cellar. The current church was built for $18,650 ($653,000 in contemporary dollars^[3]) and opened the following year.^[1]

It was designed by New York City architect Lawrence B. Valk, who had written extensively about church design in an 1873 book, Church Architecture. He said that "churches are for the salvation of souls, not for architectural display at the sacrifice of comfort". Most of his other churches are closer to the city, in New York, Ossining or Long Island. His church in rural Red Hook is not any different from his urban churches of the period. It is most similar to the Congregational Church of Patchogue, where he also used the very contemporary Romanesque Revival style and a similar plan.^[1]

The early 20th century brought the parsonage to the property, in 1903. Three years later the church building was outfitted with electric light, and carpeting and a new pipe organ came in subsequent years. In 1914 the congregation petitioned a New York court for a name change to the current corporate name, reflecting the church's origins as the Zion German Reformed Church.^[1]

The cemetery grew enough that in the 1920s the office and barn were acquired, the last contributing resources on the property. It became necessary to acquire more land, and several adjoining parcels were bought until the church's land reached its present size in 1939. There have been a few alterations since then. Work on the cellar in 1956 led to the removal of an original porte cochère and the addition of an endwall chimney on the south side. The original slate roof was replaced in the 1970s.^[1]

By the early 21st century the church was struggling financially, and found that by April 2009 it would be broke. In 2008 it proposed to the village that it demolish the caretaker's cottage and parish hall in order to resubdivide the property and create five new buildable lots. The proceeds from doing so would help keep the cemetery and church functioning. Local preservationists objected, saying that the caretaker's cottage was "organic to the site" and should be moved, not demolished.^[4][5]

• Church website