Stony Brook Assembly

In 1906 a prominent group of predominantly Presbyterian ministers and laymen united to establish a summer Bible conference enterprise in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Among the handful of sites considered for the endeavor were southern New Jersey and the Poconos, but in 1907, after having visited the north shore of Long Island, Carson settled on the hamlet of Stony Brook.

The nearby Stony Brook harbor could also accommodate sailboats carrying guests from Connecticut and other parts of New England across the Long Island Sound.

In 1918, Robert Johnston, vice-president of Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney department store in St. Louis, Missouri, erected another hotel adjacent to the auditorium.

In September 1922, the Directors of the Assembly opened The Stony Brook School for Boys as part of their mission to further Christian scholarship at the secondary level.

In advertising the Assembly in the magazine The Caledonian in March 1909, John Carson explained the reasons why the endeavor of founding the Assembly was undertaken: "The association has been organized for the purpose of establishing a summer resort to be conducted on lines similar to those of other religious and educational associations, where present-day topics and problems in the religious, educational and civic world will be presented and discussed by the masters of each department.

In 1916, John Carson, J. Wilbur Chapman, Ford C. Ottman, and Charles M. Alexander compiled and edited a hymnal "Songs of the Assembly: Number 1.

"[31] In 1918, while commuting from Stony Brook on the Long Island Railroad, William Hiram Foulkes wrote the lyrics to a tune by Calvin Laufer that became "Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord."

[32] Central African missionary James Caldwell also debuted the hymn "How Great Thou Art" for the first time in the United States in the summer of 1951.