The Cathedral: Chronology
1942
The Cathedral accepts silver altar vessels from London's Chapel
Royal for safekeeping for the duration of the war (thus giving
rise to the urban legend that the Cathedral housed the Crown
Jewels).
1945
Thousands fill the Cathedral for services of thanksgiving for
the end of the war.
1947
Unveiling of John Angel's sculpture of St. John on the trumeau
on the west front. Bishop Manning retires and is succeeded by
Charles Gilbert, 11th Bishop of New York.
1949
Dedication of John Angel's tympanum on the west front, depicting
the Second Coming of Christ.
1950
Bishop Gilbert dies and is succeeded by Horace Donegan, 12th
Bishop of New York. Special prayer service for race relations
in New York.
1951
First telecast of Cathedral services. An ecumenical service marks
including many Eastern Orthodox church leaders marks the 1,500th
anniversary of the Council of Chalcedon.
1952
James Albert Pike is named Dean. Under Dean Pike and Bishop Donegan,
the Cathedral's pulpit becomes a forum for important national
issues such as civil rights, McCarthyism and the Cold War. ABC-TV
begins weekly live broadcasts of "The Dean Pike Show," an
early venture in religious broadcasting that will run for six
years.
1953
Dean Pike sparks a controversy by declining an honorary Doctor
of Divinity degree from the University of the South. Castigating
the school's all-white admissions policy, Pike refuses to accept
"a degree in white divinity."
1954
The Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company expands the Great Organ from
its original 5,000 pipes to the present size of 8,035 pipes arranged
in 141 ranks. The State Trumpets are mounted on the wall at the
west end of the nave, 500 feet from the console, one of the most
powerful organ stops in the world. Nine English tapestries based
on the Acts of the Apostles after cartoons by Raphael are hung
in the nave, where four may still be seen.
1956
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. preaches at an ecumenical service
marking the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision
in the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education.
Based on information from the Cathedral's Web Page