large frame building in Florence
Florence, Burlington County

Located at Front and Iron streets this unused building might have been a church. It has the gable of a transept and an addition done in a board-and-batten manner. The location is prominent. Clearly later adapted for some other use, there is enough here to hint at an eclesiastical purpose.

GOP Headquarters & Musicians Union Building
Paterson, Passaic County

From the false arcade and window treatment one quickly infers that this building in down-town Paterson was once a church. I have learned, however, that it was built as a firehouse, probably in the 1880s.

Living Word Church
Trenton, Mercer County

This wooden-frame church is located at Indiana & Plum streets near the Trenton-Lawrenceville border. In style it resembles several other late nineteenth century churches in the central part of the state, but it lacks even the most rudimentary identification.

German Presbyterian church
Paterson, Passaic County

This sad church has been much abused of late—I can't even read the inscription carved in stone over what used to be the entrance. It sits on Elm Street, near St Michael's and appears to be used for storage. It was erected in 1857 to serve the German-speaking population of the area and was known as the Ward Street Church. Thanks to Bill Woodall for the identification.

Methodist Church
South Amboy, Middlesex County

This interesting frame church with its entry tower set on an angle occupies a prominent location at Second and Stevens. It was probably built in the 1880s, but there are few clues, as the windows are of a later date. There are two signs on the building, the condition of both suggesting the building is not in current use—one says it is/was a library and the other notes a Hibernian identification.
    A correspondent identified it as the Methodist church which was sold to the city in 1964 and served for many years as the library.

St. Boniface German Catholic
Paterson, Passaic County

This is a fine red brick church located on Main Street at Slater, just a couple of blocks from the Cathedral. By its architectural style I would say it was a Catholic church, probably built in the 1870s, maybe earlier. But there is no cornerstone or other identification and the church was not open when I was there to shoot this picture.

A few days after posting this I found an old postcard which identified the church as St. Boniface German Church, and subsequently Fr. Krull provided additional information. It is the oldest church in Paterson and was erected for German Catholics.

This nice stone Gothic church sits on Second Avenue, across from the state prison. It was erected in 1900 according to the cornerstone, as the St. Peter and St. Paul church. I understand it is not in the process of decommissioning as a Catholic church.
     It is certainly patterned after St. Paul's church in the city, which was designed by John Notman and built some fifty years earlier.

This trim wood frame building sits across from the stylish Unitarian church. It was probably built in the 1890s, but it has changed hands and there is no identifying cornerstone to give me a clue as to the original congregation.
     In July 2005 Janice Garone identified it as the Swedish Congregational Church, founded in 1899 and probably built shortly thereafter. About 1947 it became the Valley Road Congregational Church, and is now the Evangelical Covenant Church.

This is an interesting building, located across the street from St Patrick's Roman Catholic church on Bramwell Street and Ocean. It was organized as the Church of the First Born, a non-sectarian congregation, probably not later than the 1870s, which is when I estimate it was built. It is now the Zion Baptist church.

Located at the corner of Hunterdon & Shiloh streets in Newark, this small chapel is likely to have been built in the 20th century . . . but, it just as easily might have been a Methodist church built in the 1880s or 1890s. The shape of the "hat" or roof on the steeple is the primary clue that this might be an older building. It is characteristic of some vernacular churches built by German immigrants in the last century. It does not appear in the 1881 History of Essex County .

In April 2005 with the assistance of Wendy Nardi of the Trenton Public Library I have identified it as the St. Paul's German Evangelical Church, erected in 1862. It should not have been so difficult to identify, given its rominent site in an historic district of Trenton, but nobody I asked knew anything about it, nor does it (apparently) appear in any of the books on Trenton I have consulted. It is located at the intersection of Market and Mercer in the Mill Hill district, and is currently the Mill Hill Church of God.

The cornerstone identifies 1895 as the date of construction for this small vernacular building, but contains no other information. Brianne Kelly-Bly supplied the following information on May 11, 2003: The Day Care Center was originally the First Baptist Church on the corner of Richards Avenue and Union Street. It was organized February 22, 1892 under the leadership of Rev. W. H. Shawger, pastor at Netcong, and Wm. H. Morey of Dover. The organization was completed on September 18, 1893, by request of 39 members of the Netcong Baptist Church and the residents of Dover who withdrew from Netcong. Laying of the cornerstone of the church building took place on Sunday, December 1, 1895.

This fine wood frame building was built in 1888, according to the cornerstone, but I have no other information. There are only a handful of other Methodist Protestant churches in the state, and I have been unable to find much information about the sect other than it splintered off from the mainstream Methodist Episcopal church over issues of governance, and reunited some years after the death of Bishop Asbury when church leaders will willing to provide a greater voice in church affairs to lay members and congregations.

This small chapel was organized in 1890 to serve several denominations, probably Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian. It was built in that year to serve local families, and still holds services a couple of times a year, but has no congregation of its own. It was once known as the Farmer's Church. Union churches were relatively common in the 19th century, when no denomination had enough members to afford a regular minister.

Prominently sited in Perth Amboy, this early twentieth century (1903) church houses an active congregation called the Victory Revival Mission. It was misidentified earlier as the Evangelical Lutheran church, but an old postcard confirms it was the First Danish Methodist Episcopal church.

The Calvary Brethren congregation was organized in 1897, according to Brethren Church records in Philadelphia. It sits on Brethren Church Road, a name that shows up on early maps. Nevertheless, there is little information available about this church, which is currently (May 2003) being repainted.

This wooden frame building sits on Route 24 and bears a small sign identifying it as the community center. I thought it may have been a mission church for one of the Reformed, Lutheran or Presbyterian churches in the area, but found subsequently that it was built as a community meetinghouse rather than as a church. A nasty trick to play on a photographer driving around seeking old churches!