The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

About this site
We've created a database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state and add to it each month. We welcome and solicit all contributions and suggestions from our visitors.

How to use this site
Respond to readers' queries
Consult the database
Annotate the database
Upload a photo
Suggest a church for inclusion
Glossary
List of churches, by county

Photographic notes
Links to related sites

   Photographic Inventory

Swedish Bethlehem Church
Dover, Morris County

L-shaped plans for small congregations were a staple of Methodist and Baptist congregations throughout the mid-Atlantic states, but this church shows that other denominations adopted the plan as well. The round arch windows are common to many late century churches, leading me to suspect they were manufactured rather than made by a local carpenter. But for the windows and the steeple, this is a domestic building in plan and scale.
It was originally built as the Swedish Bethlehem (Free Mission) Church, presumably a Lutheran or Methodist congregation; there are three other Swedish churches in Dover, including Lutheran and Methodist, so I am not sure of the denomination. Obviously there was a substantial immigration from Sweden in the 1890s, but of that I am totally ignorant.
The building, like several of the old Dover churches, now hosts a Hispanic congregation, the Primera Iglesia de Pentecostal de Dover. The congregation was founded in 1898 and built this church in the same year.

   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  |  ABOUT US  |  HOME

Copyright (c) 2002 Frank L. Greenagel