New Hurley Reformed Church facts for kids

Quick facts for kids New Hurley Reformed Church
West profile and south (front) elevation, 2013
Religion
Affiliation	Reformed Church in America
Leadership	The Rev. Ken Kobza
Year consecrated	1835
Location
Location	Wallkill, NY, US
Location in New York
Architecture
Architectural style	Greek Revival
Completed	1835
Specifications
Direction of façade	South
Length	80 feet (24 m)
Width	50 feet (15 m)
Materials	Wood, stone, brick
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Added to NRHP	November 10, 1982
NRHP Reference no.	82001273
Website
New Hurley Reformed Church

The New Hurley Reformed Church is a historic church building in Wallkill, New York. It is also known as the Reformed Dutch Church of New Hurley. This church was built in the 1830s using a style called Greek Revival. It is made of wood. In 1982, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which means it is a special historical site.

The church started in the late 1700s, before the American Revolutionary War. A flood on the nearby Wallkill River washed away a bridge. This bridge was used by Dutch settlers to get to their church. After a few years, they were allowed to build a new church. It had to be away from the river. They bought the land and built a simple church. A house for the pastor (called a parsonage) and a cemetery were added later. For its first 50 years, this church shared a pastor with another church in New Paltz.

The church building you see today was finished in 1835. Many American churches used the Greek Revival style back then. However, the New Hurley church is unusually large. It also has very simple decorations. This was because the Reformed Church preferred a plain style. The big columns at the front were made in a special way. Bricks were laid in a circle, then covered with plaster to create the column's grooves.

In the early 1900s, new stained glass windows were put in. In the 1920s, the old building was fixed up. Church membership had dropped so low that people had to vote to keep it from closing. Another renovation happened in the mid-1900s, focusing on the inside. Around the same time, a new church hall was built on the property. More work was done inside the church in the 1970s.

Exploring the Church and Its Land

The New Hurley Reformed Church is located on the east side of New York State Route 208. It sits at a three-way intersection with New Hurley Road. The church is about three miles north of Wallkill. It is also about the same distance south of Gardiner. The area around the church is mostly countryside. You can see woodlots, orchards, and open fields.

Besides the church, the property has a cemetery. The oldest part of the cemetery is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has many old gravestones of important church members from the early 1800s. The cemetery covers most of the land to the north and northeast of the church. On the east side of the church, there is a paved parking lot. The parsonage (pastor's house) and church hall are located east of the parking lot.

Outside the Church Building

The church building is a rectangular wooden structure. It measures about 50 feet wide and 80 feet long. It sits on a stone foundation. The outside walls are covered with clapboard siding. The roof slopes down from the front. A square bell tower is near the front of the church. There is also a brick chimney.

A paved driveway leads from Route 208 to the parking lot. A long sidewalk with metal railings connects the front porch to the parking lot. This helps people with disabilities access the church. Large Norway spruce trees shade the building on the east and southeast sides. A metal fence near the front of the church marks the edge of the cemetery.

Three sets of steps lead up to the front porch. The middle steps have metal handrails. Four round, grooved Doric columns support a triangular roof section called a pediment. The front wall behind these columns has two wide, square pilasters at each corner. A wooden wall is at the west end of the porch.

There are three wide entrances on the front. The main entrance in the middle has two iron lamps next to it. Above it is a wooden sign that says, "R.D. Church of New Hurley, founded 1770, rebuilt 1835." The other two entrances have windows above them.

Both sides of the church have four tall, narrow windows spaced evenly apart. On the east side, near the front corner, there are two doors that lead to the cellar. The back of the church also has two doors near the corners. The roofline has decorative moldings. The bell tower has five sections, all covered in narrow clapboard. The top section has eight small decorative points.

Inside the Church Building

All three entrances have paneled doors. They open into a narrow entrance area called a vestibule. From there, you enter the main worship area, called the sanctuary. This area has three aisles. Wooden pews with mahogany armrests are arranged in rows. At the back of the church, there is a lectern on a raised platform. Behind it, there is a decorative screen supported by four grooved pilasters. The back windows are on either side of this screen.

Pilasters also stand next to all eight side windows. They reach up to a wide, flat molding at the ceiling. Five wooden decorations, called bosses, are in the space between the molding and the window frames. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling to light the room. Staircases at each end of the front vestibule lead up to the organ and choir area. A secret door there allows access to the bell tower. In the basement, there is a furnace.

A Look at the Church's Past

The New Hurley church was started because a flood made it hard for people to get to their old church. For its first 50 years, it shared a pastor with another church nearby. The building we see today was built in 1835 and has been used ever since.

How the Church Began (1628–1774)

Dutch settlers brought the Dutch Reformed Church with them when they came to the Hudson Valley in the early 1600s. The first Reformed church in the area was in New York City in 1628. As more people moved into the valley, they started new churches. One was in Kingston in 1660, and another in New Paltz in 1717. By the 1700s, settlers reached the Wallkill River valley.

At first, these settlers met in their homes for church services. As more people arrived, this became difficult. So, in 1753, the Reformed Church of Shawangunk was officially started. Its church building is still used today and is very old.

Farmers in the New Hurley area used a bridge over the Wallkill River to reach this church. But in September 1767, a flood washed the bridge away. This made it very hard for people living east of the river to attend church. They asked the church leaders if they could build a new church closer to them. The leaders said no, worrying that a new church would take members and money from the old one.

After two years, the people were still unhappy. They asked again in 1769 but got no answer. So, they went to a higher church group called the classis. This group decided that the community should be allowed to form their own church. However, to protect the old church, the new one had to be built some distance away from the Wallkill River.

Most of the future church members chose the current location. The church was officially formed in late 1770. Three years later, the church bought the land. They started building the first church using wood from the trees they cut down. It was a simple wooden building, about 30 by 40 feet. It had no heat, so people brought their own foot warmers in winter.

Sharing Pastors and New Buildings (1774–1848)

In its early years, the New Hurley church did not have a regular pastor. But in 1775, it agreed to share a pastor with the Reformed Church in New Paltz. This worked well, and in 1778, the two churches built a parsonage together.

The pastor, Stephen Goetschius, preached in Dutch because he spoke little English. But by the late 1700s, English was becoming the main language for younger people of Dutch descent. The churches had to decide whether to hold services in English. They hired a pastor named J.H. Meyer, who spoke both languages. He gave sermons in Dutch and then English every other Sunday for three years.

In 1811, a 20-foot extension was added to the back of the church. This made it one of the few churches that was wider than it was long. The next year, the new section almost burned down during a celebration of a naval victory in the War of 1812.

In 1817, William Bogardus became the pastor for both churches. He was the last to serve both. In 1828, he left New Hurley to focus only on New Paltz. The next year, F.H. Vanderveer became New Hurley's first full-time pastor.

During Vanderveer's time, the church updated all its buildings. A new parsonage was built. The biggest project was building the current church. By the early 1830s, the old church was almost 60 years old and falling apart. Also, more people lived in New Hurley, and the old church was too small. So, it was torn down, and the new church was built on the same foundation in 1835.

The new church's architect is unknown. It was a larger wooden building in the popular Greek Revival style. It had a front porch with large columns. These columns were built in a unique way. Bricks were laid in a circle, then covered with plaster to create the column's grooves. The church's design was simple, fitting the plain style favored by the Reformed Church.

At that time, there were also sheds along the east side of the church. These were mainly for members to stable their horses during services. They also hosted church sales. Inside the church, the organ and choir were at the front of the sanctuary, which was different from the usual Reformed Church tradition.

Growth, Challenges, and Renewal (1849–Present)

The church continued to grow with its new buildings. In 1848, the church reported that its membership had increased by 85 people. In 1854, L.L. Comfort became pastor. He led the church during the difficult American Civil War years. In 1870, he wrote a hymn for the church's 100th anniversary.

Comfort retired in 1871. Over the next 50 years, eight different pastors served the church. Many members became wealthier during this time. This was shown by the beautiful stained glass windows bought for the church and installed in 1905–06. One window showed a scene from a famous painting.

However, as people became more focused on material things, church membership declined. Churches closed across the country. When New Hurley's pastor resigned in 1922, there were too few members to hire a new one. This situation lasted for four years.

In 1927, the classis (church leaders) asked the remaining members if they wanted to close the church. Everyone voted to keep it open. They hired a new pastor, Arthur van Arendonk. He helped the church become active again. He also oversaw the first major renovations to the building, which was almost 100 years old.

Outside, the church was repainted, and the steeple was fixed. Inside, electricity was installed, and a new baptismal font was added. The church officially took ownership of the property and building. A building four miles away was used as a church hall.

Van Arendonk passed away in 1932, but the church's renewal continued. His replacement, Vernon Negal, started a weekday Bible study group and a Daily Vocation Bible School. He also bought new hymnals. Most importantly, he led the project to build a new parsonage. The old one's wood-burning heating system was no longer good.

Negal left in 1939. His successor, John Tysse, stayed until 1955. He expanded the church's activities beyond services. He helped organize large donations to a War Emergency Fund. He also started a Good Cheer Committee to help sick and grieving people in the Wallkill area. New Hurley joined six other Reformed churches to start the Wallkill Valley Union Lenten Series. This series still meets today, making it the oldest continuous series in the Reformed Church's history.

Under Tysse, the church and its members continued to improve the church's buildings. The congregation had outgrown the church hall after only 20 years. It was sold, and a new one was built by the end of Tysse's time. This new hall had a full-size gym and industrial cooking facilities. The old horse sheds between the new buildings and the church were torn down. A parking lot was built there, as people now drove to church. Inside the church, the cellar was dug out so a modern furnace could replace the old wood stoves.

When the church's 200th anniversary came in 1970, a new pastor, D. Reardon, came to New Hurley. His project was to renovate the interior further. Most importantly, the organ and choir were finally moved from the front of the sanctuary to the rear upstairs. This brought them in line with Reformed Church tradition. The pews were removed and repainted, the floor was refinished, and a new ceiling was installed.

Church Activities and Programs

The New Hurley Reformed Church aims to be "an honest and faithful Christ-centered Biblical group of people." They want to "joyfully and obediently offer praise to God." They also try to create a welcoming place for people on their spiritual journey. Sunday school is held every Sunday morning for children aged 4 and up, with a class for adults too. Regular services are held every Sunday morning, followed by a coffee hour.

For adults who want to learn more, a Bible study group meets on weekday evenings. During the week, Footprints, a morning day care program, is also held. Local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. There is also a women-only session on Fridays.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Ulster County, New York