.gif)
Church of the Presidents (New Jersey)
Encyclopedia
The Church of the Presidents is a former Episcopal chapel on the Jersey Shore
where seven United States presidents worshiped. It was visited by presidents Chester A. Arthur
, James Garfield
, Ulysses S. Grant
, Benjamin Harrison
, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley
, and Woodrow Wilson
. All except Grant were in office when they paid their visits to the church.
For approximately 75 years it was a seasonal summer resort church, located at 1260 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey
, just across the street from the Atlantic Ocean
. In 1953 the Episcopal Diocese deconsecrated the church and slated it for demolition. Local preservationists stepped in and in 1955 the old chapel was rededicated as the Long Branch Historical Museum. Today the building is undergoing extensive structural repairs and renovations. It is closed to the public.
. The church picked up its nickname following the visits of so many chief executives.
The chapel was designed in the Carpenter Gothic
style by the New York architectural firm of William Appleton Potter
, and Robert Henderson Robertson
. The firm was famous in the era for designing South Congregational Church, Springfield, Massachusetts
(1871-1875) and the Brown University
Library (1875). The men also designed summer homes on the Jersey Shore
.
In the 19th Century, Long Branch was considered the Monte Carlo
of America. A white flag was raised when women went in the ocean; a red pennant was hoisted to begin the males-only sessions. In August 1861, Mary Todd Lincoln
took a vacation in Long Branch and began a tradition of dignitaries from the nation’s capital to become regular guests. From the Gilded Age
up until the era before World War I
, Long Branch was one of the nation’s premier summer vacation spots, drawing the wealthy to its stately large home.
The Church of the Presidents was where the wealthy summer residents worshipped. Famous families such as the Goulds
, Vanderbilts, Sloans, and, Drexels
had palatial summer residences nearby. A newspaper reporter in 1886 estimated that the net worth of a small group of Sunday morning congregants was more than $250 million. During summertime in the Gay Nineties
, an $8,000 Sunday collection was not unusual. However, by 1925 the chapel was in dire financial straits, and only by generous contributions of local townspeople was it saved. A New York real estate magnate, Henry Levy, paid off its back taxes, despite not being a member of the church, or a Christian. He remarked, "Although we are not of the same faith, we believe in the same God." This was only a temporary reprieve for the church.
In 1949 services at the chapel ceased due to a dwindling congregation. The once-crowded house of worship dwindled to less than 40 members. The Rev. Christopher H. Snyder, the chapel’s vicar, undertook a campaign to ask Congress to name the site a national shrine. National attention soon followed. It was acquired by the non-profit Long Branch Historical Museum Association in 1953. For the next 46 years it was operated as a local museum and open periodically. However, after 120 years of harsh weather conditions so close to the ocean, the building itself deteriorated.
The museum fell into disrepair and was closed in 1999. In 2003, private donations helped stabilize the building. The unique windows were removed and placed in storage, along with a number of historic items, including a silk American flag that covered President Garfield's casket, President Grant's gun cabinet, and the chapel's guest books that were signed by the presidents.
The church has been named as an official project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
's Save America's Treasures
program. This designation recognizes the historic value and critical condition of the site, and makes it eligible for, but does not ensure, funding. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Following the stabilization of the building in 2003, work began on the exterior. The wood frame was repaired, missing pieces were replaced, new gutters and a drainage system were installed, and the belfry was renovated. In 2007, a new cedar shake roof was completed.
In 2007 the Monmouth County Historical Commission awarded a grant to repair the north-facing portico porch. Previous grants from the MCHC were used to install new rain gutters, to restore the Garfield Tea House
, the church bell, and belfry.
Currently, the Long Branch Historical Museum Association is undertaking fundraising efforts to finish the renovation before the Church of the Presidents can re-open to the public.
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
where seven United States presidents worshiped. It was visited by presidents Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...
, James Garfield
James Garfield
James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...
, Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
, and Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. All except Grant were in office when they paid their visits to the church.
For approximately 75 years it was a seasonal summer resort church, located at 1260 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
, just across the street from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. In 1953 the Episcopal Diocese deconsecrated the church and slated it for demolition. Local preservationists stepped in and in 1955 the old chapel was rededicated as the Long Branch Historical Museum. Today the building is undergoing extensive structural repairs and renovations. It is closed to the public.
History
The Church of the Presidents was consecrated in 1879 as St. James Protestant Episcopal Chapel, a branch of St. James Episcopal Church, located elsewhere in Long Branch, New JerseyLong Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
. The church picked up its nickname following the visits of so many chief executives.
The chapel was designed in the Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...
style by the New York architectural firm of William Appleton Potter
William Appleton Potter
William Appleton Potter was an American architect who designed numerous buildings for Princeton University, as well as municipal offices and churches. He served as a Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1874 to 1877....
, and Robert Henderson Robertson
Robert Henderson Robertson
Robert Henderson Robertson was an American architect who designed numerous houses, institutional buildings and churches.-Life and career:...
. The firm was famous in the era for designing South Congregational Church, Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
(1871-1875) and the Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
Library (1875). The men also designed summer homes on the Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
.
In the 19th Century, Long Branch was considered the Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
of America. A white flag was raised when women went in the ocean; a red pennant was hoisted to begin the males-only sessions. In August 1861, Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
took a vacation in Long Branch and began a tradition of dignitaries from the nation’s capital to become regular guests. From the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
up until the era before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Long Branch was one of the nation’s premier summer vacation spots, drawing the wealthy to its stately large home.
The Church of the Presidents was where the wealthy summer residents worshipped. Famous families such as the Goulds
Jay Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
, Vanderbilts, Sloans, and, Drexels
Anthony Joseph Drexel I
Anthony Joseph Drexel was an American financier, banker, partner of J.P. Morgan and founder of Drexel University.-Birth:...
had palatial summer residences nearby. A newspaper reporter in 1886 estimated that the net worth of a small group of Sunday morning congregants was more than $250 million. During summertime in the Gay Nineties
Gay Nineties
Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the UK as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art by Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the...
, an $8,000 Sunday collection was not unusual. However, by 1925 the chapel was in dire financial straits, and only by generous contributions of local townspeople was it saved. A New York real estate magnate, Henry Levy, paid off its back taxes, despite not being a member of the church, or a Christian. He remarked, "Although we are not of the same faith, we believe in the same God." This was only a temporary reprieve for the church.
In 1949 services at the chapel ceased due to a dwindling congregation. The once-crowded house of worship dwindled to less than 40 members. The Rev. Christopher H. Snyder, the chapel’s vicar, undertook a campaign to ask Congress to name the site a national shrine. National attention soon followed. It was acquired by the non-profit Long Branch Historical Museum Association in 1953. For the next 46 years it was operated as a local museum and open periodically. However, after 120 years of harsh weather conditions so close to the ocean, the building itself deteriorated.
The museum fell into disrepair and was closed in 1999. In 2003, private donations helped stabilize the building. The unique windows were removed and placed in storage, along with a number of historic items, including a silk American flag that covered President Garfield's casket, President Grant's gun cabinet, and the chapel's guest books that were signed by the presidents.
The church has been named as an official project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
's Save America's Treasures
Save America's Treasures
Save America's Treasures is a United States Federal initiative to preserve and protect American historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public-private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation...
program. This designation recognizes the historic value and critical condition of the site, and makes it eligible for, but does not ensure, funding. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Architectural features
- The Carpenter GothicCarpenter GothicCarpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...
chapel is a wooden structure on a brick masonry base. - Two stained glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows identified as works by the Louis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
Studios were installed in the 19th Century. - The roof is made from cedar shake. A new ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber seal was installed on the building’s tower in 2007.
- Decorative quatrefoils on the outside perimeter of the parapetParapetA parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
are of Spanish mahogany. - The building remained unchanged from 1879 to 1895, when an imposing crenellated tower was added.
- Also on the chapel property is a small building called The Garfield Tea HouseGarfield Tea HouseThe Garfield Tea House, in Long Branch, New Jersey, is the only remaining structure directly related to President James A. Garfield's final trip to the Jersey Shore...
. It was built from railroad ties that were laid in 1881 to create a rail spur to transport the mortally wounded President Garfield from the Elberon train depot to the Francklyn cottage, where he died.
Renovation
The Church of the Presidents is the last remaining structure associated with all seven presidents who vacationed in Long Branch. In 1999 the Long Branch Historical Museum Association began fundraising efforts to save the building. The first step was to stabilize the building to prevent it from collapsing. The wood flooring was removed and reinforced concrete was poured to support the building. Steel supports replaced wooden pilasters that had deteriorated. The stained-glass windows, original altar, organ, and handmade pews were removed and put in storage during renovation.Following the stabilization of the building in 2003, work began on the exterior. The wood frame was repaired, missing pieces were replaced, new gutters and a drainage system were installed, and the belfry was renovated. In 2007, a new cedar shake roof was completed.
In 2007 the Monmouth County Historical Commission awarded a grant to repair the north-facing portico porch. Previous grants from the MCHC were used to install new rain gutters, to restore the Garfield Tea House
Garfield Tea House
The Garfield Tea House, in Long Branch, New Jersey, is the only remaining structure directly related to President James A. Garfield's final trip to the Jersey Shore...
, the church bell, and belfry.
Currently, the Long Branch Historical Museum Association is undertaking fundraising efforts to finish the renovation before the Church of the Presidents can re-open to the public.