The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

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We've created a database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state and add to it each month. We welcome and solicit all contributions and suggestions from our visitors.

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   Photographic Inventory

Dutch Reformed Church at Second River
Belleville, Essex County

Once part of Newark, this church in Belleville was known as the Second Reformed Church at Second River (the Passaic). It was organized in 1697 and this Gothic Revival-influenced building was erected in 1853. William Kirk was the architect.
     Compare this to the First Reformed church in Hackensack to see how Gothic elements crept into church design, even for a denomination with strong ties to Dutch traditions. The congregation was organized in 1697, which makes it perhaps the oldest Reformed congregation in Essex county, which had been dominated by Puritans in the seventeenth century. The cemetery behind the church contains the remains of more Revolutionary War soldiers than any other in the country.

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Copyright (c) 2001 Frank L. Greenagel