HISTORY
It is believed that the first Sikh congregational activity took place in the city of New York in 1954 when a small number of Sikh families gathered to celebrate their first guru Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s birthday in the house of S. Kumer Singh, the then Indian Consular in New York. The occasion of gurpurab was celebrated with great enthusiasm by a small number of Sikhs at that time.
However regular meetings started only during 1963 when Sikhs no more than 10 families started meeting every month, turn by turn, in private houses for ‘satsang’ in the form of ‘sangat’. As the strength grew from 10 to 20 families, a society was registered in the name of The Sikh Cultural Society in 1965. Congregations then started every Sunday at the homes of ‘shardhalu’ (devoted) Sikhs. Further developmental work was pioneered by the late S. Sajjan Singh Sarna, S. Dhanwant Singh, Dr. Harbans Singh, late Dr. Harbans Singh, S. Kirat Singh Sethi, and Prof. Gurcharan Singh. Sindhi families were also actively involved.
The society was incorporated as a non-profit, tax exempt organization in November 1968.
As the number of Sikhs grew further, and the space was too small far gatherings in private homes, Sunday congregations were arranged in rented halls at St. Michael’s School in Flushing. The feeling of getting together on a weekly basis and to recite hymns from gurubani was so strong amongst the Sikh families at that time, approximately 100 in number between 1968 – 1972, that a need to have own place of worship was strongly felt. By April 1972, enough funds were raised by the dedicated members to buy a place of their own for ‘satsang’. Thus under the able guidance of Dr. Harbans Singh, a beautiful and a spacious building ( an old Methodist Church) was bought for Gurdwara in Richmond Hill, Queens for a cash payment of $65000.00. Out of funds raised, major contributions came from Mr. Sham Sahni of Florida who contributed $25000.00 at that time and then later on he contributed another payment of $33000.00. S. Sajjan Singh Sarna contributed $16500.00 and later on helped in raising the rest of the funds for the building. This set the nucleus for growth and development for the ‘society’ which now serves the spiritual, social, cultural, and religious needs of nearly 5 to 6 thousand families in the metropolitan area and on Long Island, even though Long Island ‘sangat’ has two main gurdwaras, one in Plainview and the other one in Glencove. Also new gurdwaras have come into existence in the area of Richmond Hill to comply with the growing number of Sikh sangat.
Initially the Society had the privilege of having Raja Mrigendra Singh of Patiala, as its first Head Granthi of the Richmond Hill gurdwara in May 1974. The second officially appointed Head Granthi to Gurdwara Richmond Hill in May 1976 was a great scholar, a wonderful orator, speaker and preacher Giani Gurdeep Singh Ji. He was a missionary of repute and had served as Head Granthi of gurdwara Shish Ganj Sahib, Delhi, Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Kenya, and Gurdwara Singh Sabha in South Hall, U.K. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us to enlighten us through his spiritual, religious, and historical discourses of great intellect. He was followed by Giani Tarlok Singh Ji who worked as acting head Granthi for two years. Giani Tarlok Singh Ji is also no longer between us. After Giani Tarlok Singh’s death Giani Hardev Singh took over the sewa of Head Granthi. Giani Hardev Singh served as sewadar in Singapore and was sponsored by the Pittsburg Gurdwara to come to America. From Pittsburgh he moved to New York to be with us in Richmond Hill.
About 1200 to 1500 devotees visit Richmond Hill Gurdwara on daily basis to pay respect to the singhyah11146com1144_ singhyah11146com1144_guru. Currently, morning prayers in the gurudwara start with ‘Nitnem’ at 4:00 am and after ‘Kirtan’ – ‘Katha’, ends with Ardas around 8:30 am. The evening prayer starts with ‘Rehras Sahib’ at 6:30 pm and after ‘kirtan’ – ‘katha’ it ends with ardas, hukamnama, and ‘sukhasan sewa’ around 9:30 pm.
Langar is served to all and everyone on daily basis, which includes morning breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dedicated gursikhs do ‘langar-sewa’ in the kitchen.
The Sikh Cultural Society has seen many ups & downs, twists and turns since burning of the old gurdwara building. The Methodist Church building (converted into gurudwara) is no more in its structural form. A new building is being constructed at its place which has much bigger space and will adhere to Sikh ‘sangat’s needs. This is a four storied building with 65000 square feet area. The DIWAN HALL is about 11,000 square feet. It will have rooms and ample space for library, museum, day-care center, and a gurmat school. The cost of Gurdwara Sahib building is proposed to be over 15 million dollars.
