Grace United Methodist Church of Putnam Valley began its life as the “4th Methodist Episcopal Church of Philipstown” in Crofts Corners. According to William Pelletreau’s “History of Putnam County, New York” (1886), “This church was originally one of the stations of the Philipstown Circuit, and meetings were held at the house of Ebenezer Wixon. When the subject of building a Baptist church was agitated, tradition states that the Methodists began “to take the alarum,” and made such vigorous efforts that they succeeded in getting a church built before the Baptists.” The church was built on a ¼ acre parcel deeded to the church trustees April 1, 1834. This parcel was located on the highway leading from Croft’s Corners to Peekskill Hollow Road, which is currently called Church Road.


Grace United Methodist Church of Putnam Valley is the result of a merger in 1966 between the church in Crofts Corners (by this time known as Canopus Methodist Church) and Oregon Methodist Church (established in 1859 and built in 1860 in Oregon Corners). On November 3, 1968, the congregation of Grace Church voted to erect a new church building including a large Parish Hall and Sunday School rooms on beautiful acreage on Peekskill Hollow Road. Through the efforts of members and non-members, the building was completed in June 1970 and consecrated October 4, 1970. The building on Church Road was sold to the Putnam Valley Reformed Temple and the Oregon Corners building was sold to a private citizen.
A Story of a Bell
After the completion and consecration of the Peekskill Hollow Road building, some of the congregation – notably Bob Walker – thought that we should build a bell tower and incorporate the bells from both the Crofts Corners and Oregon Corners locations so that they could continue their joyous sounds. We were able to obtain the bell from the Church Road site thanks to the Reformed Temple but the private owner of the Oregon site wanted to keep the bell to ring it occasionally.
The bell now gracing the front of Grace Church had a perilous experience when a group of Grace men removed it from the Canopus Church steeple which had been its home for over a century. Bob Walker, Carl Hitzel, and Ed Palmer went to remove it in 1971. Bob and Carl were the “upstairs” guys and Ed Palmer, with his pickup truck was “downstairs”. Carl started to cut the cross braces holding the bell in place – fortunately Bob stopped him. Using crow bars they loosened the cross braces and were able to get the bell onto the sloping roof (with rope attached) BUT the bell decided to slide off the roof. Ed, looking up, leaped out of the way and the bell came down SPLAT, just missing Ed and his truck. Fortunately, the bell landed perfectly flat – no damage at all.
The bell was placed in storage until a bell tower could be constructed. BUT for decades, the bell remained silent – almost neglected – certainly not joyous. Interesting enough, our congregation diminished in numbers and became old and gray. In 2000, Grace United Methodist Church decided to become a single point charge focusing on outreach to the community. In this process, we became more alive – getting involved with preparing meals for the Jan Peek Homeless Shelter, getting really active in the Caring for the Homeless of Peekskill, and, finally in 2005 the bell was removed from storage and placed in front of the Church, where it could ring joyously again.
A few years later, Grace UMC united with several other organizations (PV Rotary, Reformed Temple of Putnam Valley, St. Luke Lutheran Church, St. Columbanus Parish) interested in helping others to create the Putnam Valley Community Food Pantry, which currently feeds up to 270 families per week.
The bell is getting more and more joyous as a symbol for our church as we continue to find other ways to help others – e. g. Midnight Run, Operation Christmas Child and more to come! Join us in our journey and let the bell ring out!!