Church of the Presidents (New Jersey) Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Significant dates

Church of the Presidents
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

View of the chapel in 2016 after substantial restoration work
Location in Monmouth County, New Jersey Show map of Monmouth County, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	1260 Ocean Avenue, Long Branch, New Jersey
Area	0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built	1879 (1879)
Architect	William Appleton Potter and Robert Henderson Robertson
Architectural style	Carpenter Gothic
NRHP reference No.	76001169
Added to NRHP	November 07, 1976

The Church of the Presidents is a special old church building in Long Branch, New Jersey. It's famous because seven different United States presidents actually worshipped there! Imagine sitting in the same seats as leaders like Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson. Most of them visited while they were still in office.

For about 75 years, this church was a popular summer spot for people on vacation at the Jersey Shore. It's right across the street from the Atlantic Ocean. In 1953, the church was officially closed and almost torn down. But local people who cared about history stepped in to save it! In 1955, it became the Long Branch Historical Museum. Today, the building is getting a lot of important repairs and is closed to visitors for now.

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History of the Church of the Presidents

The Church of the Presidents first opened in 1879. It was called St. James Protestant Episcopal Chapel back then. It got its famous nickname because so many presidents came to visit and pray there.

Who Designed the Church?

The church was designed in a style called Carpenter Gothic. This means it's a wooden building that looks a bit like older stone churches, with pointed arches and fancy decorations. The architects were William Appleton Potter and Robert Henderson Robertson from New York. They were known for designing other important buildings like the Brown University Library. They also designed summer homes along the Jersey Shore.

Long Branch: A Presidential Vacation Spot

In the 1800s, Long Branch was a very popular vacation spot, sometimes called the "Monte Carlo of America." Important people from Washington D.C., including presidents and their families, loved to spend their summers there. This tradition started in 1861 when Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's wife, visited.

During the "Gilded Age" (a time of great wealth in America), Long Branch was a top vacation spot. Rich families like the Goulds, Vanderbilts, and Drexels had huge summer homes nearby. The Church of the Presidents was where these wealthy summer visitors went to worship. One newspaper even reported that the people attending church one Sunday in 1886 were worth over $250 million!

Saving the Church

Even though it was once very popular, by 1925, the church was having money problems. Local people helped save it with their donations. A man named Henry Levy, who wasn't even a member of the church, paid off its old taxes. He said, "Although we are not of the same faith, we believe in the same God." This helped for a while, but the church's problems continued.

By 1949, very few people were attending services, so the church closed its doors. The vicar, Rev. Christopher H. Snyder, tried to get the government to make it a national landmark. Soon, people all over the country heard about the church. In 1953, a group called the Long Branch Historical Museum Association bought the building. It was a museum for many years, but after 120 years of harsh weather near the ocean, the building started to fall apart.

The museum closed in 1999 because it was in such bad shape. In 2003, donations helped make the building stable again. Special windows and historical items, like a flag that covered President Garfield's casket and President Grant's gun cabinet, were carefully removed and stored away to keep them safe.

The Church of the Presidents has been recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a "Save America's Treasures" project. This means it's a very important historical site that needs help. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1976, because of its important role in politics and religion.

What Makes the Church Special?

The Church of the Presidents has some cool features:

It's a wooden building with a brick base, built in the Carpenter Gothic style.
Two of its stained glass windows were made by the famous Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios.
The roof is made of cedar wood shakes.
The outside of the roof has fancy, four-leaf clover shapes called quatrefoils, made of Spanish mahogany wood.
In 1895, a tall, castle-like tower was added to the church.
There's also a small building on the property called The Garfield Tea House. It was built from railroad ties. These ties were laid in 1881 to bring the badly injured President Garfield from the train station to a nearby house, where he later passed away.

Restoring the Church

The Church of the Presidents is the only building left that is connected to all seven presidents who vacationed in Long Branch. In 1999, the Long Branch Historical Museum Association started raising money to save it.

The first step was to make sure the building wouldn't fall down. The old wooden floor was removed, and strong concrete was poured to support the building. Steel beams replaced old wooden posts that had rotted. The beautiful stained-glass windows, the original altar, the organ, and the handmade pews were all carefully removed and stored during this work.

After the building was made stable in 2003, work began on the outside. The wooden frame was fixed, missing parts were replaced, and new gutters and a drainage system were put in. The bell tower was also repaired. In 2007, a new cedar shake roof was finished.

The Monmouth County Historical Commission has given grants to help repair the front porch and to restore the Garfield Tea House, the church bell, and the bell tower.

Right now, the Long Branch Historical Museum Association is still working hard to raise money to finish the renovations. Once the work is done, the Church of the Presidents can finally reopen to the public!