Old Bergen Church

Last updated
Old Bergen Church
Old Bergen Church Jersey City August 2020.jpg
Old Bergen Church in 2020
Location map of Hudson County, New Jersey.svg
Red pog.svg
USA New Jersey location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationBergen and Highland Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°43′37″N74°4′10″W / 40.72694°N 74.06944°W / 40.72694; -74.06944
Area0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built1841
ArchitectWilliam H. Kirk and Company, Clark and Van Nest
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 73001103 [1]
NJRHP No.1520 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 14, 1973
Designated NJRHPJune 13, 1973

The Old Bergen Church is a historic church congregation in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Established in 1660 in what was then the Dutch colony of New Netherland, it is the oldest continuous religious congregation in what is today the State of New Jersey. The congregation is jointly affiliated with the Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA). [3] The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973. The original church building was constructed in 1680 and the current edifice was built in 1841. [4]

Contents

History

The congregation was formed in the Dutch colonial village of Bergen in 1660, located across the Hudson River from the town of New Amsterdam in what is today Lower Manhattan. [5] The first services were held in a log schoolhouse. [6] In 1680 an octagonal, sandstone church was built by William Day. The church was located on Vroom Street, between Bergen and Tuers Avenues. The congregation outgrew the original church and a second church was erected in 1773. This church was also made of sandstone and was located at the corner of Bergen Avenue and Vroom Street. The third and current church was built in 1841 by William H. Kirk and Company and Clark and Van Nest. [5]

Notable burials

The Old Bergen Church Cemetery and the Speer Cemetery are affiliated with the church. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergenline Avenue station</span>

Bergenline Avenue is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR). The intermodal facility is located on 49th Street between Bergenline Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard in Union City, New Jersey, near its border with West New York and North Bergen. The station is the first and only completely underground station on the network and opened for service on February 25, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackensack Plank Road</span>

The Hackensack Plank Road, also known as Bergen Turnpike, was a major artery which connected the cities of Hoboken and Hackensack, New Jersey. Like its cousin routes, the Newark Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over Bergen Hill and across the Hackensack Meadows from the Hudson River waterfront to the city for which it was named. It was originally built as a colonial turnpike road as Hackensack and Hoboken Turnpike. The route mostly still exists today, though some segments are now called the Bergen Turnpike. It was during the 19th century that plank roads were developed, often by private companies which charged a toll. As the name suggests, wooden boards were laid on a roadbed in order to prevent horse-drawn carriages and wagons from sinking into softer ground on the portions of the road that passed through wetlands. The company that built the road received its charter on November 30, 1802. The road followed the route road from Hackensack to Communipaw that was described in 1679 as a "fine broad wagon-road."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Square</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district. A commercial residential area, it contains an eclectic array of architectural styles including 19th-century row houses, Art Deco retail and office buildings, and is the site of the longest continually-used school site in the United States. Nearby are the Van Wagenen House and Old Bergen Church, two structures from the colonial period. St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church founded by early Egyptian immigrants was one of the original Coptic congregations in New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Reformed Dutch Church, Hackensack</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

First Dutch Reformed Church, also known as the "Old Church on the Green", is located in Hackensack, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen, New Netherland</span> Origin of the New Jersey settlement

Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square, Bergen began as a factory at Communipaw circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River across from New Amsterdam, under whose jurisdiction they fell.

Communipaw is a neighborhood in Jersey City in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and the site of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near Liberty State Park Station through the neighborhoods of Bergen-Lafayette and the West Side that then becomes the Lincoln Highway. Communipaw Junction, or simply The Junction, is an intersection where Communipaw, Summit Avenue, Garfield Avenue, and Grand Street meet, and where the toll house for the Bergen Point Plank Road was situated. Communipaw Cove at Upper New York Bay, is part of the 36-acre (150,000 m2) state nature preserve in the park and one of the few remaining tidal salt marshes in the Hudson River estuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harsimus</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment on the north to Christopher Columbus Drive on the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard. It borders the neighborhoods of Hamilton Park to the north, Van Vorst Park to the south, the Village to the west, and the Powerhouse Arts District to the east. Newark Avenue has traditionally been its main street. The name is from the Lenape, used by the Hackensack Indians who inhabited the region and could be translated as Crow's Marsh. From many years, the neighborhood was part of the "Horseshoe", a political delineation created by its position between the converging rail lines and political gerrymandering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Reformed Dutch Church of Bergen Neck</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

The First Reformed Dutch Church of Bergen Neck, now known as The First Federated Church of Bayonne is located in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 22, 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Vorst Park</span> Populated place in Essex County, New Jersey, US

Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive. Much of it is included in the Van Vorst Park Historical District.

Curries Woods is a neighborhood in the southern part of Greenville in Jersey City, New Jersey bordering Bayonne. It was named after James Curie, who was on the town Committee for Greenville when it was its own Township in the 19th century. The area remained rural until the later part of the century when the Central Railroad of New Jersey built a line connecting ferries to Elizabeth, New Jersey and New York City. Currie's Woods still remained untouched through the late part of the century and it was valued for its woods, rocky shore and dunes on Newark Bay. A lot of the land was eventually lost, but a tract was set aside in the early part of the 20th century. A small cemetery, the Old Greenville Cemetery, was nearby. This park lost much of its land to the city's largest Housing Authority project in 1959, except a small tract in Bayonne, Mercer Park.

Bergen-Lafayette is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Side, Jersey City</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

The West Side of Jersey City is an area made up of several diverse neighborhoods on either side of West Side Avenue, one of the city's main shopping streets. Parallel and west of Kennedy Boulevard, West Side Avenue carries two county route designations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speer Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Jersey City, New Jersey, US

Old Bergen's Speer Cemetery is located at 145 Vroom St in the Bergen Square neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, between Bergen Ave. and Van Reypen St.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summit Avenue (Hudson Palisades)</span> Road in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

County Route 617 is 4.55-mile (7.32 km) long and follows one street, Summit Avenue along the ridge of the Hudson Palisades in Hudson County, New Jersey. Its southern end is CR 622, or Grand Street, at Communipaw Junction in the Bergen-Lafayette Section of Jersey City. Its northern end is CR 691, 32nd Street, a section of the Bergen Turnpike, in Union City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grove Church Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

The Grove Church Cemetery is a nonsectarian cemetery, located on the western slope of the Hudson Palisades, along with several other cemeteries in a string of green open space, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The Grove Church, who owns the cemetery, is one of the oldest religious bodies in the area, and it has had an operating cemetery since 1847. Throughout its history, prominent families have been buried there, as well as American Civil war veterans. There have also been reports of vandalism and misuse of the property since the 19th century, and in 2007 some of the cemetery grounds were occupied by the homeless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Hill, Jersey City</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Bergen Hill is the name given to the emergence of the Hudson Palisades along the Bergen Neck peninsula in Hudson County, New Jersey and the inland neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, where they rise from the coastal plain at the Upper New York Bay. The name is taken from the original 17th-century New Netherland settlement of Bergen, which in Dutch means hills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramus Reformed Church Historic District</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

Paramus Reformed Church Historic District is a historic district bounded by Franklin Turnpike, Route 17, Saddle River, south side of Valleau Cemetery, and E Glen Avenue in Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.

Jannetje Van Reypen Tuers was a patriot during the American Revolutionary War and had a role in confirming information about a British conspiracy with Benedict Arnold to take over West Point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newkirk House</span> 17th century house in Jersey City, NJ

The Newkirk House, also known as the Summit House, located at 510 Summit Avenue is the oldest surviving structure in Jersey City, New Jersey. The two-story Dutch Colonial building, composed of sandstone, brick, and clapboard dates to 1690.

The Peter Stuyvesant Monument is a memorial to Peter Stuyvesant and the establishment of settlement of Bergen, New Netherlands in 1660. It is located at Journal Square district of Jersey City, New Jersey. The statue of Stuyvesant by J. Massey Rhind was originally installed in 1913 at Bergen Square. The statue and pedestal were unceremoniously removed in 2010. In 2014, the statue was restored and placed at nearby park in anticipation that a new pedestal would be built at the original location.

References

  1. "National Register of Historic Places Listings" . Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Hudson County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. July 7, 2009. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  3. "Old Bergen Church". oldbergenchurch.com. Retrieved January 4, 2009.[ title missing ]
  4. "Jersey City Past and Present | New Jersey City University". www.njcu.edu. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
  5. 1 2 http://oldbergenchurch.org/history.html Archived 2009-08-03 at the Wayback Machine Accessed January 4, 2009.
  6. "Jersey City History – Old Bergen – Chapter XXXV". www.cityofjerseycity.org. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  7. Sarapin, Janice Kohl (1994), Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide, Rutgers University Press, ISBN   0813521114

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Old Bergen Church (Jersey City, New Jersey) at Wikimedia Commons