Tabernacle of Faith Church - Camden, NJ
N 39° 56.807 W 075° 07.256
18S E 489669 N 4421857
This church is 117 years old and still going. The name has changed but the praying remains the same. It is also known (or was known) as Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church and Centenary-Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church.
Waymark Code: WM5XXQ
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2009
Views: 4
There is a dated cornerstone out front and to the very left corner of the building (southeast corner) which lists the erection date as 1891. The church is a contributing structure to the Cooper Street Historic District. It is a very imposing structure with its belfry rising high into the air and being composed of that old time stone block (trenton brownstone). The stained glass is magnificent, even from the outside.
Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church was organized March 29, 1866. Services were first held in Odd Fellows Hall at 4th and Market Streets until completion of the Chapel, dedicated October 11, 1868. The chapel, which can be seen at the left in the photograph below, was designed by John Frazier of Philadelphia.
Construction had begun in 1892 on the building which is known to this day as Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church at 5th and Cooper Streets. The church was dedicated on September 24, 1893. Designed by architect Frank R. Watson, the church was built adjacent to the chapel which had been erected in 1868. The main auditorium seats about 750 in an amphitheatre style. This is a dark sandstone building, the stone being Trenton brownstone.
In June of 1924 the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church and the Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church consolidated in June of 1924 under the name Centenary-Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church, using the edifice at 5th and Cooper Streets.
In the 1930s, the church maintained a parsonage at 409 Penn Street.
Among the prominent citizens who were members of Centenary and Centenary-Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church were real estate developer John W.F. Bleakly, builder William C. Aitken, Dr. William H. Ireland, and Dr. James E. Bryan, superintendent of Camden's public schools from 1899 through 1931.
Another church member, Richard Knight Aitken, the grandson of William C. Aitken, died while serving with the United States Army during World War II.
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