Wright Memorial Presbyterian Church in Barnegat, NJ
For 130 years, our pursuit for spiritual growth is ongoing and contemporary
332 South Main Street,
Route 9
Barnegat, NJ 08005
609-698-3358
The next meeting of the Trustees was held on May 16, 1876, some seven months later. In the meantime, the church was organized.
The first meeting of the session was dated February 13, 1876, the same date as a committee of the Presbytery of Monmouth officially organized the church. The Rev. Allen Brown noted that most of the members were females, and it seems that the trustees did not officially join the congregation.
On May 1, 1877, the congregation and a committee from Presbytery met in Union Hall at which the following resolution was adopted: "We will be perfectly satisfied if the Church Extension Committee of the Presbytery of Monmouth will make arrangements to purchase this Hall in cooperation with us with a view to converting it into a suitable house of worship."
Town Hall or "Union Hall" situated in the center of the village was secured under foreclosure by the Extension and Home Missions Committee of the Synod of NJ with a number of gifts of furnishing from other churches in the Synod.
On August 20, 1877, the Rev. Allen Brown met with the Trustees and reported the purchase of the hall (Previously called the Union Hall and/or Town Hall). Arrangements were immediately made for some alterations and part payment toward the purchase price. At the same meeting a resolution of thanks was drafted and sent to the Presbyterian Church of South Orange, NJ, for the "gift of a pulpit of suitable construction for public worship”.
On September 10, 1877, the Trustees reported that $881.00 had been paid on account of the Church property.
It is reported in the 5th Annual Report of the Synodical Committee on Church Extension and Home Missions presented to the Synod of New Jersey at Newark October 17, 1877, for Barnegat: “The Town Hall with one-third of an acre in the center of the village, having been sold under foreclosure, was secured for our newly organized church. It had been used for theatrical purposes The stage portion is now arranged for Sunday School and worship during winter."
At the annual meeting in August, 1879, it was reported that a new front had been put on the church, with new windows and doors. The old windows were placed in the Sunday School room. Back and side entrances were constructed, a pulpit platform erected and some painting done at a total cost of $1,800.
The former hall used for theatrical purposes was renovated at a cost of $1,800. A resolution adopted by the trustees on December 10, 1879, when the deed was presented, stated: "If the Board of Church Erection will pay us the appropriation of $1,000.00 promised, we pledge ourselves and the Board of Trustees not to involve the church property in debt."
In the spring of 1882, the Methodist Church burned down and they were given the use of the building until their building was ready for use again, some seven months later. Much of the recorded history deals with problems of money and the costs of the steeple, choir platform, ceiling and "hand made seats" (80 for the cost of $160.00). Presbytery funds were used to buy land and then mortgages to erect a manse next to the church in 1899.
