Text of marker:
Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church
Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church was constructed in the meeting house form, rectangular in plan, with the pulpit placed on the north gable and wall and a U-shaped balcony on the other sides. The north elevation, facing Broad Street, is the primary façade, although it has no door opening. Rather, this three-bay gable-end elevation is distinguished by Flemish bond brickwork and a large Palladian window. The interior features colonial pew boxes facing a central raised pulpit, Federal period paneling on the pulpit and pews, Federal detailing on the wood balcony railing and decorative plaster ceiling, and Georgian period balustrades on the stairs.
The building's only known alteration consist of the installation of the chimney and heating stoves in 1809. No electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems have ever been installed. Among the many notables buried in the cemetery, which is been used in 1792, are one of the first US Senators from New Jersey, and in early governor of the State.
Old Broad Street Church falls into a group of brick churches in the Delaware Valley that take their architectural inspiration from religious buildings in Philadelphia. Later than most stylistically comparable buildings, this church embodies the full flowering of the high-style Georgian architecture in that city. At the same time, it's design was particularly influenced by Presbyterianism as it was practiced in the eighteenth century.
To a large extent, Old Broad Street Church owes its remarkable preservation to its near abandonment in 1836. Because the Presbyterian congregation moved to a new building on the more populous east side of Bridgeton, no "improvements" were made to the old church's fabric are factors survival are its location in the burying ground in a growing appreciation of the historic building throughout the 20th century.
In 2009, the roof structure was restored in the wood shingle roof was replaced, funded in part by the Garden State Preservation Trust, administered by the New Jersey Historic Trust/State of New Jersey.
Listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, 1973
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1974
Key Events in the Church History
1791 – Land donated by the son of a Quaker
1792 – October: Congregation applies for recognition from the Presbytery as a separate congregation
– December: Construction of the walls and roof completed
1794 – Funding raised by conducting a state-approved lottery
– Spring: Construction resumes with Ezekiel Foster, carpenter
1795 – Dedication service held May 17th
1797 – Murder trial of John Patterson held here
1798 – Board fence erected around graveyard
1799 – Painting completed; Stone sills and steps installed; Communion service purchased
1800 – Plastering completed
1803 – "Venetian blinds" installed
1809 – Chimney in heating stoves installed
1836 – Congregation moves to new, larger church