History of the Church of the Good Shepherd

Date unknown: The exterior of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Mahopac Avenue. The cornerstone for the building was laid on August 4th , 1904.

Date unknown: The Church of the Good Shepherd on Granite Springs Road, consecrated May 5, 1957.

The Chapel of the Good Shepherd began as a worshipping community in the area of West Somers (as Granite Springs was then known) in 1905. The site of the chapel was acquired by deed on September 8, 1902, from Worthy Flewwellin, and old resident of the area. The property was taken in the name of Eli D. Sutcliffe, the Episcopal clergyman at the Church of the Holy Communion in Lake Mahopac, but was subsequently transferred to the Southern Missionary Convocation of the Diocese of New York. The cornerstone of the original chapel was laid on August 4, 1904 (that cornerstone is now part of the bell mount in front of the present church).

Surviving parish records show that the small congregation was an active worshipping community. Priests from other churches in the area celebrated services at the chapel with a choir and a crucifer, and the congregation held social occassions such as a parish dinner.

Date unknown: Altar servers at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Mahopac Avenue.

In 1953, the Reverend K. Gordon Drescher became Vicar and in the same year, Mr. Otto E. Koegel of Granite Springs donated the present site to the congregation and provided funds to build the church and the parish house. Work was begun on the church building in 1954 and the first service was held there on Christmas Eve, 1954. The following year work was started on the Parish Hall, which was first used in early 1956, the same year in which the church arranged to have a rectory built with a loan from the Department of Missions.

On May 5, 1957, the church buildings were consecrated by the Right Reverend Horace W. R. Donegan, Bishop of New York, and in February 1958, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd was incorporated as the Church of the Good Shepherd and became a self-supporting parish. Father Drescher was named by the Vestry as the first Rector.

In the 1960s, the Guild Room was added to provide more space and to connect the church with the parish house. The stained glass window was donated in 1962. The parish has continued to grow and serve the towns of Somers, Yorktown, Cortlandt, Peekskill, Mahopac and the surrounding area.

1938: L to R Back row: Wm. Secor, Rev. Gerineck, Joseph Owen, John Philipps, Howard Secor Front row: Alfred Artus, Geo. Philipps, Walter Artus, Walter Paustian, John Pecora, Henry Artus.

1904: The old “feed store” where services were held until the old church was built.

Date unknown: The interior of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Mahopac Avenue.