No. 16 July 2002
The authoritative source
on
early churches in New Jersey
About
this site
We've created a database and photographic inventory containing 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.
ARCHITECTS
Because
the emphasis in this website is on the architectural aspects of the early
churches of New Jersey, we've noted the architect or master builder wherever
that information was available. We have compiled a directory of individuals
and firms who worked in the state, and offer it now, even in incomplete
form, for suggestions, corrections and additions.
—
Highlights —
Last
month's feature
Sourland Mountain
Book
reviews
Prologue to Independence
Can
you identify this church?
Protestant Union Chapel Pomona, Atlantic County
Vintage
photo of the month
Methodist Church
Troy Hills,
Morris County
Endangered churches
A dozen at-risk buildings are noted. Submit your nomination for the most
endangered churches in the state. We will research the submissions and
feature one each month, then maintain that list indefinitely.
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this article
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Or perhaps an old photograph or an article that can enrich our knowledge?
Please submit that information for the benefit of other visitors.
How
to use this site
Architects & master builders
Consult the database
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List of churches, by county
Photographic notes
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Feature
of the month
Freemasons, the Anti-Masonic movement & adaptive reuse
One of the most fascinating offbeat political movements in American history
was the Anti-Masonic Party. It originated in the 1790s in Vermont or upstate
New York, but didn't rise to national prominence until the 1820s. The
organization's leaders alleged that the Freemasons were a secret society
(true) of aristocrats (somewhat correct, as many of the leading political
and 
business
leaders were members) who were trying to spread atheism, terrorism and
anarchy as a means of controlling American society and government (preposterous).
Anti-Masonic speeches and writing had a distinctly religious cast, and
seemed to flourish in rural areas where the evangelistic churches (basically
Baptists, Methodists and Campbellites) had won so many converts. Temperance,
anti-slavery and anti-Masonic rhetoric worked hand-in-hand with religion
at many revival meetings. The movement coalesced into a political party
by 1830, and they nominated a candidate for President (William Wirt, former
Attorney General) in 1831 by means of a national convention instead of
a caucus, the first time that was done. By 1838, the movement had been
superseded by anti-slavery agitation, and the remnants of the organization
were absorbed into the Whig party. All that is by way of background; the
irony of the story is that at least six churches in the state (I suspect
there are more) are now occupied by Masonic lodges.
Churches have long been adapted to other uses 
once
the congregation outgrew them. It is unusual to read early accounts of
a congregation demolishing their old church (fire was usually the culprit),
but common to find them selling it to someone who dismantled it and rebuilt
it for another use elsewhere. The previous First Presbyterian Church in
Morristown took several weeks to take apart by a crew working for a buyer
who had the building reassembled for a barn in Passaic county, which may
still exist. The original Methodist Episcopal church in Mechanicsville
(Whitehouse) was sold in 1876, disassembled and rebuilt a few hundred
yards away, where it served as a blacksmith shop for 65 years until, in
1940, it was converted into a home for the Whitehouse Chemical Fire Company.
All over the state, old churches have been converted for use as social
services centers, restaurants, Granges, town halls, fire halls, libraries,
a B&B, a pizza parlor, museums, residences, and a variety of other
industrial and domestic uses. So let's look now at those Masonic lodges..
This
classic church (above
and left), the First Presbyterian Church in Chatham, built in 1832,
is a fine example of the spare Wren-Gibbs form adopted by the early Presbyterian
churches in the central part of the state. It was subsequently enlarged
and reportedly had a seating capacity of four or five hundred people.
It was sold to the Masons in 1930, with the stipulation that they could
not alter the exterior in any significant way. The photo at right was
taken in the 1930s, just before the interior was modified for the Masons.
Glen Gardner in Hunterdon County was known as Evelyn’s Tavern as
early as 1760, then as Sod
om
soon after 1800, which became Clarksville in 1820 with the establishment
of a post office. Shortly after the Civil War the town name was changed
to Glen Gardner. A Presbyterian congregation was organized in 1869, when
this building (right)
was constructed. It once boasted an exceptionally tall and graceful steeple,
but that went and the congregation went, although I do not know in what
order. The building served as the Masonic Lodge for a while, and currently
houses a manufacturing operation.
In 1876
the Methodists in Stockton (also in Hunterdon county) erected a wooden
frame building at the corner of Main and Church Streets with a seating
capacity of 300. Sometime in this century it was purchased by the local
Masonic lodge. A close observer would notice the double brackets in the
cornice and other traces of the original building.
Methodists made few converts in Bergen county until well into the nineteenth
century. In 1849 in Hackensack, a congregation was organized and the church
(below, right)
built in 1874. Like many churches of the period, it was the 
center
for a myriad of social and religious functions, which is why the meeting
rooms were on the ground floor and the sanctuary itself up a flight of
stairs. The building was sold to the Masons sometime after 1957.
Just off Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair sits an exceptional Richardson Romanesque building (top photo), erected in 1889 by the local Baptist congregation. I believe it, too, once had a stately steeple, but otherwise the building appears little changed since it was acquired by the Masons. There is also an interesting sandstone building in Bernardsville which now houses the Masonic lodge. I suspect it was built in the 1880s, probably as a Methodist church, but inquiries have thus far drawn a blank.
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© 2002 Frank L. Greenagel