Fire destroyed the original building in 1796, and a fine new church was built. Twenty-one years later the rapidly increasing congregation made necessary a much larger structure. The new church was modelled after St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, and more than two years were required for its construction. The cost was $96,108.67-1/2, a large sum for that day in a town of ten thousand people. Although the middle aisle was eleven feet wide and each of the side aisles four and a half feet wide, there were seatings for 1,350 people. The beautifully proportioned steeple was 223 feet high. The day after the dedication a local paper said that "for grandeur of design and nature of execution, we presume this church is not surpassed by any in the United States." Many architectural writers have told rapturously of the wonders of this building. President James Monroe and his suite, as well as many other distinguished visitors, were reverent worshippers in the church on the day of dedication. Lowell Mason, who was organist of the church from 1815 to 1827, composed the popular melody to which Bishop Heber's missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," is usually sung. This melody was first played by him for the Sunday school of the church, whose organization dates from 1804. Dr. S. K. Axson, the grandfather of Ellen Axson, the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson, was pastor of the church from 1857 to 1889. The Wilson marriage ceremony was performed by Dr. Axson in the manse of the church. All Savannah mourned when, on April 6, 1889, firebrands tossed by the wind lodged on a cornice of the graceful steeple, too high to be reached. Soon the old church was in ruins. But the city resolved that the historic church must be restored. A new building was erected which is an exact reproduction of the former church. To it, as to its predecessors, ecclesiastical architects go on pilgrimage as a part of their education. One of the old customs still continued in the church is the assembling of the communicants at a table which is laid the entire length of the broad aisle, as well as in the transept aisle. [Illustration: THE CABILDO, NEW ORLEANS, LA. _Photo by Ph. B. Wallace_ See page 343] LXXVIII THE CABILDO OF NEW ORLEANS WHICH SAW THE TRANSFER OF LOUISIANA TO THE UNITED STATES