Over a century ago, a group of people began meeting at the at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Maples, who lived on Grove Street to form
what would become the first Episcopal Church in the area. The mission was organized in March 1901 under the leadership
of C. Thatcher Pfeiffer, then a student minister attending General Theological
Seminary in New York City. That same year, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Rover, who lived on Old Boulevard in the
section then known as Peetzburg (now a part of New Milford), the mission group obtained the use of a lecture room in the old
public school and community hall on Kinderkamack Rd (then called Linden Ave). The first Episcopal service in Oradell
was celebrated there on Easter Day 1901.
During the summer,
the women of the mission group raised funds to buy the piece of land in the center of town next door to the new public school
(now the old Borough Hall). A construction loan was obtained through Frederick Crum, a sea captain living
in the neighboring town of River Edge. The corner stone of the present church was laid in November 1901. The
church was completed in time to hold its first service on Easter Day 1902. The old bell from the community
hall was placed in the belfry tower (a gift of the Bellis family), where it still rings every Sunday.
The first vicar of the church, the Rev. Charles S. Champlin, suggested that since the mission was organized nearest to the Feast of the Annunciation, the church be named in its honor.
In
1912, the first pipe organ was installed. It was pumped by hand, and during the winter sermons the
pumper kept warm beside his own personal oil stove. He was paid 35 cents per Sunday. A
new Baldwin electric organ was purchased and dedicated in 1948 to replace the dilapidated pipe organ. The
organ was most recently replaced with an Allen electric organ, in 1996.
Additional land adjoining the rear of the church was purchased
from Mr. Leopold Hague in 1920 for the rectory and parish hall sites. A building formerly used as a residence
and drugstore by Dr. Frederick O. Blenckstone, located on Kinderkamack Road between Centre Street and Oradell Avenue, was
then acquired as a rectory. This building was moved to the church property later that same year.
In the early 1920’s,
the parish hall was added to the rear of the church. In 1964 this area was enlarged and modernized to include a small
stage and lounge.
Late in 1945, the last mortgage was finally paid off
and symbolically “burned,” and the mission became a fully self-supporting parish. In the mid
1950’s, disaster struck and fire gutted the interior of the wooden church. While rebuilding, the parishioners
also enlarged and modernized the church to its present size.
In addition to locum tenens and interim clergy, nineteen
priests have served the Church of the Annunciation:
|
The Rev. C. Thatcher Pfeiffer |
1901 |
|
The Rev. Charles S. Champlin |
1901-1904 |
|
The Rev. L. S. Johnson
|
1904-1906 |
|
The Rev. John C. Fair
|
1906-1911 |
|
The Rev. William K. Berry, S.T.D. |
1911-1918 |
|
The Rev. F. Sandeman DeMattos |
1919-1922 |
|
The Rev. Lewis E. Wettling |
1922-1928 |
|
The Rev. John A. Frampton |
1928-1933 |
|
The Rev. F. Randall Williams |
1933-1937 |
|
The Rev. Charles Stires
|
1937-1942 |
|
The Rev. Walter N. Welsh |
1942-1949 |
|
The Rev. Herbert Lewis-Jones |
1949-1966 |
|
The Rev. Craig Biddle, III
|
1966-1970 |
|
The Rev. Oscar A. Mockridge, III |
1970-1971 |
|
The Rev. David R. Covell, Jr. |
1972-1975 |
|
The Rev. James G. Callaway, Jr. |
1975-1981 |
|
The Rev. George C. Allen II |
1981-1999 |
|
The Rev. Kimberly A. Haag |
2000-2003 |
|
The Rev. J. Barrington Bates |
2007- |
