Belleville Avenue Congregational Church

1868 - after 1925

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National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form

 

The Belleville Avenue Congregational Church was organized in 1868 by members of the First Congregational Church. A lot was purchased and a chapel erected at a cost of $9,000. A new building was dedicated on April 25, 1884.  The church was designed by William Appleton Potter and is High Victorian Gothic architecture.  Around 1927 the building was sold to the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, who, in turn, sold it to the Clinton Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in 1929.

Several of the ministers of the church have attained wide prominence in the world of literature:

George H. Hepworth became an editor of the New York Herald in 1885
Ray Palmer was a prominent writer of hymns
William Hayes Ward became the editor of the Independent

From: Social Services Directory of Newark 1912

Gives aid to its own members and to non-members where facts are known. Refers other cases to the Bureau of Associated Charities, to which organization it contributes annually. The Woman's Association does relief work through this organization. The church also works through the Anti-Saloon League, feeling that the liquor traffic is the prime cause of poverty and social distress.

From: Rider's Newark 1916

The Belleville Avenue Congregational Church is a simple cruciform structure of brown stone, in the English Gothic order, but without tower or spire.

Newspaper Articles

April 21, 1912 - Presbyterians May Buy Church

Reverends Addresses Archive
Information

 

Reverend From To
Calvin B. Hulbert November 16, 1869 April 22, 1872
George M. Boyton December 4, 1872 February 29, 1880
George Hepworth November 15, 1881 November 1885
William Brodhead 1885 1885
Hugh O. Pentecost May 13, 1886 April 13, 1888
Walter Nutting April 13, 1889 March 5, 1890
Samuel Lane Loomis March 5, 1890 November 9, 1896
William A. Rice April 22, 1897 November 1, 1902
T. M. Shipherd 1904 1909
James A. Solandt February, 1910 1913
Rose F. Wicks 1914 1924


Address From To
76 Belleville Ave. (opp. Clark Street) 1869 1874
153 Belleville Ave. (opp. Crittenden Street) 1874 1925

Archive Information (Last Known location)