My Letter Urging the City Council to Vote "Yes" to Making St. Mary's a Landmark

Dear Mayor & City Council Members,

I am writing to support the landmarking of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church.  I believe that it is essential to the culture, the future and the morale of Yonkers.  Here are my reasons:

• Historically, St. Mary’s is the mother church of all the Catholic churches in Yonkers and beyond.
  The Archdiocese of New York published a history in celebration of its 200th anniversary in 2008.  In it Father Thomas S. Preston, who served as pastor beginning in 1851, stated that not only was St. Mary’s the only Catholic Church in Yonkers, but that he served as pastor for Hastings, Dobbs Ferry and Tarrytown.  St. Mary’s was literally the mother of all churches in the area.
• St. Mary’s Church was built on the hard earned wages of immigrants and working class Americans who thought they were building and maintaining a permanent spiritual home and a work of inspiring beauty.  To demolish this church would be an irreparable betrayal. Those who went before invested in a spiritual and material legacy for their descendants.  They anticipated that this magnificent structure in all of its gravitas would stand and serve forever. When St. Mary’s celebrated its centennial in 1948, then-pastor, Father Arthur Avard  stated, “Their labor was in sweat and tears that we might now enjoy the riches.  Now the burden has been passed to us and we in turn labor for those who are to follow.”  It didn’t occur to him that a time would come when none were to follow.
• It is essential to a sense of being in Yonkers.
  At present real estate development is lucrative.  Too many structures that symbolize the blood, sweat, tears and heart of our forebears have been sacrificed for financial gain.  Too many beautiful and historically meaningful structures have disappeared only to be replaced by undistinguished boxes that could be anywhere.  I am appealing to you, in the interest of preserving the distinctive feel and brand of Yonkers, to support landmark status for this church.  It would be ironic if, as the movie industry expands in Yonkers, all of its distinctive “locations” disappear.
  

While I now live in nearby Hastings on Hudson, I lived in Yonkers during my teens and early twenties. I still cross the border almost every day and my life will be forever intertwined with Yonkers.  St. Mary’s stood there throughout my life, ancient and solid like the Rock of Gibraltar. I respectfully ask you to do what is in your power to promote landmark status for this church so that it can stand to inspire others for years, if not centuries, to come.

Sincerely,

Niekieno Zmona