Mr. Heathcote founded over sixty churches in New York City and Westchester. The first Anglican Church in the area, Trinity Church on Wall Street, chartered in 1697 was the mother of all subsequent churches in New York State. Following the American Revolution, Anglican churches in this country became the Episcopal Church in the United States.

The Church of St. James the Less was named in honor of the younger and less-well known of the two Apostles named James – James the son of Alpheus. The parish as we know it today was incorporated on September 3, 1849. William Hill Popham leased a portion of his family farm to the parish for 1000 years at the rent of “One silver dime, payable on the Festival of St. Philip and St James in each year if demanded.” The first church was completed in 1851, having been built of local stone gathered from the property, and built by the cooperative labor of its members at a cost of $5,000.00. Upon Caleb Heathcote’s death, his wife had inherited Scarsdale. When the Church of St. James the Less was consecrated, it was their grandson, the Right Reverend Heathcote de Lancey, Bishop of Western New York, who officiated. On Palm Sunday 1882, the interior of the church was destroyed by a fire, but within two years it was completely restored. This building still stands and is the nave of the present church.