Even an Englewoodian with a time machine could easily recognize this structure at Tenafly Road and Demarest Avenue. When it was dedicated this week, 144 years ago, it was the True Dutch Reformed Church. All these years later people continue to worship there, now as the Calvary Baptist Church.
As shown in the images above—the left from over a century ago, and the right as the church looks today—time has barely altered this little corner of Englewood.
The people of the True Dutch Reformed Church had been meeting at Englewood Hall, on the third floor of Stagg’s Hotel on Palisade Avenue, since the 1860s.
By the 1870s the congregants had saved enough money to build their own church. They secured a lot at Demarest Avenue and Tenafly Road. The church’s first pastor, John P. Voorhis, was also the carpenter who constructed the building. He lived on Demarest Avenue.
The building was dedicated May 23, 1875. By 1882 the congregation numbered 70 individuals, with Voorhis still the pastor. He served in the role until 1887.
Starting around 1890, the church was known as the Christian Reformed Church of Englewood. It would continue to operate on Demarest Avenue for the next eight decades.
The church has been Mount Calvary Baptist since 1972.
