The following history is taken from History of the City of Brooklyn: Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh, written and published in 1863 by Henry Reed Stiles:

"In 1785, a union or partnership house of worship, was erected on the late Episcopal burying ground (now occupied by St. Ann’s Building), in Fulton street, for Mr. Mattuck, an independent preacher; but several of the prominent partners in its ownership becoming disaffected with the undertaking, it passed into the hands of some of Mr. Wright’s parishioners, and was consecrated, about the same time by Bishop Provost. On the 23d of April, 1787, the parish was incorporated, by act of legislature, as “The Episcopal Church of Brooklyn,” and the following individuals were named as trustees, viz: Messrs. John Cornell, Matthew Gleaves, Joshua Sands, Joseph Sealy, John Van Nostrand, Aquila Giles, and Henry Stanton.

"Mr. Wright continued his ministrations here until his removal in 1789, and. was succeeded by the Rev. Elijah D. Rattoone, who continued until March, 1792, when he accepted the professorship of Greek in Columbia College, New York. The Rev. Ambrose Hull, deacon, followed Mr. Rattoone, in 1792, but remained only a few months; having inherited a large estate at the south, he removed thither, and subsequently abandoned the ministry. The next incumbent was the Rev. Samuel Nesbitt, whose connection with the church, as may be inferred from the list of baptisms, commenced in January, 1793.

"On the 22d of June, 1795, the church was reorganized and incorporated by the name of St. Ann’s Church, a title which it is said to have “tacitly received some years before,” in compliment to Mrs. Ann Sands, who, with her husband (Mr. Joshua Sands), had been its most liberal donor. The building was entirely refitted, and Mr. Nesbitt was constituted rector, with a vestry composed of the following gentlemen: Wardens, John Van Nostrand, Geo. Powers; vestrymen, Joshua Sands, Paul Durell, Joseph Fox, William Carpenter, Aquila Giles, John Cornell, Gilbert Van Mater, Robert Stoddard.

St. Ann's Church, ca. 1880

"In 1798, the Rev. John Ireland succeeded to the rectorship of St. Ann’s, and it was during his charge that the stone church which preceded the present edifice, and the first erected on the ground given by Mr. and Mrs. Sands, was built and occupied, being consecrated by Bishop Benjamin Moore, on the 30th of May, 1805, on which occasion, also, thirty-seven persons were confirmed. The church-edifice being considered unsafe for much further use, in consequence of the damages done to its walls by the powder mill explosion of 1808, measures were taken for the erection of a new building. And on the 31st of March, 1824, the corner-stone of the present edifice was duly laid, and the church being complete, was consecrated on the 30th of July, 1825, by the Rt. Rev. John Cross, D.D., of New Jersey, acting for Bishop Hobart, then absent in Europe. The sermon was preached by the venerable Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, and the sentence of consecration read by the Rev. Mr. Whitehouse, now the bishop of Illinois. The dimensions of the church were ninety-eight feet in length, by sixty-eight in width, and thirty-four feet in height, to the eaves, and eighty to the summit of the tower. In 1826, a new parsonage was built, where Clark street now enters Fulton street, and nearly opposite to the old Episcopal burying ground.

	St. Ann's Chapel and Church

"The Rev. Lawrence H. Mills, who had been officiating previous to Dr. Cutler’s death, succeeded him as rector, March, 1864. Steps were taken soon afterward, toward erecting a new church and chapel on the corner of Clinton and Livingston streets, from designs prepared by Messrs. Renwick and Sands; and the chapel was begun in 1866, and opened for divine services in the following year, April 7, 1867. Upon the withdrawal of Mr. Mills, on the first of April, 1867, the Rev. N. H. Schenck, D.D., was called, and inducted into the rectorship on Ascension day, the thirtieth of May. The corner-stone of the present magnificent church edifice, was laid on the 5th of June, 1867, by the bishop of the diocese, the Rev. Drs. Littlejohn and Schenck delivering addresses. The church was opened for divine worship on Wednesday, October 21, 1869, by Charles P. McIlvaine, bishop of Ohio (and a former rector of St. Ann’s) assisted by a large number of bishops and clergy. The music on this memorable day, was rendered by a choir of fifty, under the direction of the organist of the church, John W. Lovitz, Jr. and a historical discourse was delivered on the evening of the same day by Bishop Littlejohn. The building, which we have not the space to describe, is of Belleville and Cleveland stone; and of the middle pointed gothic. Its dimensions are seventy-five by one hundred and twenty-six feet, the height from floor to roof being ninety feet; and it will seat two thousand four hundred persons, being the largest, as well as the most imposing church edifice in Brooklyn."

In 1969, St. Ann's Church, faced with a crumbling building, moved into the former Holy Trinity Church on Montague Street. The congregation then assumed the present name of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity. The old St. Ann's Church was purchased by the Packer Collegiate Institute who made extensive alterations to the interior for use as school facilities.

Sources:      Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.      Fish, Francis G. St. Ann's Church From the Year 1784 to the Year 1845. Brooklyn: F.G. Fish, 1845.      Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.      Ochse, Orpha. Austin Organs. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 2001.      Speller, John. "Henry Crabb: An Ancient Tradition of Organbuilding Moves from Devonshire to New York," The Tracker, 43:3 (1999).      Stiles, Henry Reed. History of the City of Brooklyn: Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh. Brooklyn: pub. by subscription, 1863. Illustrations:      Lawson, Steven E. Color exterior.      Stiles, Henry Reed. History of the City of Brooklyn: Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh. Drawing of 1824 church; drawing of 1867 chapel and church.

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