At the latter date the seating capacity of the buildings was three hundred and eightj', and the usual attendance seventy persons.
But while on the eastern side of the town the Society of Friends was slowly growing and becoming firmly established, the western side, and in fact all the rest of the town, had no religious organization of any kind. At odd times the services of the Episcopal Church were held in private residences by visiting clergy, and an occasional visitation was made by the rectors of neighboring churches, but beyond this there was nothing.
The Episcopal Church was incorporated September 3, 1849, under the name and style of " The Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of the Church of St. James the Less, in the township of Scarsdale," and steps were at once taken towards the building of a church edifice. Pending the completion of this, services were held for some months in the former residence of Hon. Richard Morris, then occupied by William S. Popham, son of Major Popham of Revolutionary fame, at which the Rev. Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia, and others of the clergy officiated.
The corner-stone of the first church was laid on the 29th of June, 1850, by the Rt. Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., bishop of Maryland. The consecration of the completed edifice took place on the 28th of June, 1851, the services being conducted by the Rt. Rev. W. H. De Lancey, bishop of Western New York, acting in the disability of the bishop of New York. The first wedding in the new church was celebrated on the 27th of May, 1852, and the first confirmation service took place on the 12th of September of the same year, seventeen persons receiving the rite.