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

Second Presbyterian Church
Elizabeth, Union County

There is a hidden treasure behind this exceptional early church, built in 1821, and founded when the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, two blocks away, outgrew its building. The church itself is an exceptional example of the classic meetinghouse, a style which endured from pre-Revolutionary times well into the early decades of the 19th century. The building is quite similar to the Presbyterian churches in Springfield, Connecticut Farms and to the Reformed churches in Millstone and Blawenburg.
      In the 1890s, an Akron plan auditorium was erected at the rear. It has three tiers of small classrooms opening on to an amphitheater, and the woodwork and glasswork astonished me when I first saw it. I subsequently learned it has been designed by Oscar Teale, who did a similar plan for the Seventh Day Baptist church in Plainfield, and for a church on State Island.
     

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Copyright (c) 2001 Frank L. Greenagel