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After their visit to Ground Zero, the President and First Lady attended a service at historic St. Paul's Chapel, which is diagonally across the street from the WTC site. President George Washington, who was inaugrated in 1789, worshiped at St. Paul's during the two years that New York City was the nation's capital. St. Paul's was built from 1764 to 1766 as a "Chappell of Ease" of Trinity Church (at the head of Wall Street) to serve parishioners who resided amidst the wheat fields and countryside north of the city. Today, St. Paul's Chapel is Manhattan's oldest public building in continuous use, and its only remaining colonial church.

Only yards from the World Trade Center site, the old chapel escaped any serious damage on Sept. 11, 2001, and it served as a place of refuge throughout the recovery and clean-up period.