History

According to the Works Progress Administration survey, the First Presbyterian Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey, was organized in 1726. The church building was erected in 1727 and was located on George and Patterson Streets in New Brunswick. A second, larger building was erected on the same site in 1784 and a third in 1836.

The congregation was part of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Old School) from 1838 through 1869. Second Presbyterian Church (New Brunswick, NJ) organized as an Old School congregation in 1840. Second Presbyterian merged into First Presbyterian in 1907.

In late 1726, or early 1727 Reverend Gilbert Tennent was ordained pastor of the congregation. The church records were destroyed or lost, during the American Revolution when British soldiers were quartered in the manse. The records of the First Presbyterian Church (Newark, NJ) were destroyed at the same time. Because of damage to the church from the war, a new building was set up to replace the damaged one.

In 1937 John Gresham Machen was condemned by the Presbytery of New Brunswick for disobeying higher authorities in a religious court hearing held in Trenton, New Jersey.

In 1947 a fire caused $147,000 in damages (equivalent to $1,683,000 in 2019).

In 1952, a cornerstone dedicated to a new church building at 100 Livingston Avenue replacing the previous church destroyed by fire
Around 1956, Alfred Yorston removed 520 bodies from the church’s cemetery to Van Liew Cemetery to make way for new construction at the church.

In 2010, Rev. Dr. Szabi Nagy, the Pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in New Brunswick for 33 years announced his retirement.

In 2018, the Presbyterian Church in New Brunswick property was sold but the congregation remains as a tenant in the building and continues with its mission.