UNITED METHODIST CHURCH AT MILLTOWN

     47 North Main Street, Milltown, New Jersey 08850 | 732-828-0610

A short history of the United Methodist Church at Milltown
by James Strimple, Sr.

It was 1844 when the first meeting of the Methodists in Milltown was held. Prior to this date it was necessary to travel to New Brunswick for Methodist services. Happily, the Milltown Methodist Church has survived through the years -- although there were some bumps along the way -- and continues to serve the Borough and surrounding communities.

Meetings were held in an old schoolhouse until 1851 when a new church building was dedicated on the property where the present church building now stands.  The property was donated by Mr. Ford of the Ford Rubber Company and the bell (still in use today), weighing 358 pounds, was donated by Mrs. Ford.

The 1800's were the formative years for the church with many fluctuations in membership.  Revivals were an annual occurrence through these years resulting in many conversions "unto God."  These revivals apparently met the needs of the people of that day as evidenced by the increase in membership of the Methodist Church as well as other churches who benefited from these meetings.

The ministers of those days made ends meet on an annual salary of $400 until 1880 when it was raised to $700.  Even then, owing to financial difficulties, the minister was owed $125.  Fortunately, the Ladies Aid Society did what they could to improve the parsonage.

By 1872 it was determined the church building should be replaced.  The present building was erected at a cost of $14,000 and dedicated on Thanksgiving Day of 1873. They built well because this structure still serves Milltown Methodists although it has had several face lifts and additions as the church membership grew.

With the building of the new church, the German members decided to strike out on their own and formed the German Reformed Church (now St. Paul's United Church of Christ).

For quite a few years a "Harvest Home" festival was a very popular annual fund raiser with various flavors of ice cream heading up the menu.

Paying the organist was an equally difficult problem with her salary varying from $1 per Sunday to $75 per year.

The turn of the century saw improvements in the heating system of the parsonage and in 1906 electrification of the church building.  In 1908 the parsonage was declared inadequate and moved to Cottage Avenue where it still serves as a home. The new parsonage (now the Church House and Office) was built in 1909.

The church building underwent a major renovation in 1926 with installation of stained glass windows, new pews and a lowered ceiling -- a Sunday School addition was built on the back of the church.  In 1952 another renovation and in 1959 addition of more Sunday School classrooms was necessary to handle the greatly increased membership of both adults and children.  There were two morning services and in 1958 membership was 1240 with 427 young Sunday School members.

In 1963 our membership was split by action of the South Jersey Conference and the founding of Aldersgate in East Brunswick.  Thus, the Milltown church has been the mother of two additional churches. Membership has declined since those heady days to about 370 today -- very active members dedicated to serving God.