Fewsmith Memorial/ Pilgrim Baptist Church

The late 1800s saw the growth of all types of religion in the city. By far, one of the most prominent denominations was the Presbyterian Church. They established their first worship space in the city in the 1660's. Two centuries later the group was building santuaries all over Newark. One example was the Fewsmith Memorial Presbyterian Church. At first the group worshipped inside a small Carpenter Gothic structure that was built along Jay Street in 1886. By 1893 the congregation had grown so much that they decided to build a large beautiful brick sanctuary along Hudson Street. 

The new sanctuary was a beautiful Gothic building, complete with a large bell tower. Despite the beautiful, relatively new building,  Fewsmith merged with the Roseville Presbyterian Church in 1924. Over 150 former Fewsmith members started attending mass at Roseville, which was about 10 blocks west of their original home. A new Fewsmith Memorial Church was also established in neighboring Belleville the same year. Around the same time, a small group that had split off from Bethany Baptist began working out plans for a new congregation. The group would go on to become Pilgrim Baptist Church. After several months of meeting in different members houses, they purchased the Fewsmith building from the Newark Presbytery and moved in on December 14th. 

A few decades passed, and with it came several new leaders. In 1939 Reverend Charles C. Withers resigned, and Elder Wilson of the Bethlehem Baptist church was called in to lead while they determined who would take charge next. Instead, Bethlehem was actually absorbed by the Pilgrim congregation to worship in their Hudson Street building. To memorialize this, a new cornerstone was installed at the base of the bell tower.

Pilgrim was a critical part of the city and region as a whole, which is reflected in some of the hosuing initiatives undertaken by the church. Under the stewardship of Reverend Arthur Washington Jones in 1979 Pilgrim Baptist Village was constructed to help provide low and moderate income housing to the city. The apartments were built on Bergen Ave at 18th St. on land that was once held dozens of abandoned residences. They also helped get single family housing built all throughout the City of Orange. 

The main sanctuary underwent a large renovation project in 1992. Included in the project were new pews, air conditioning and the iconic blue stained glass windows in the main sanctuary. The work was done under the stewardship of Reverend Clarence E. Thomas. 

Pilgrim Baptist continued to do good work in the community decades. Unfortunately over time, as is often the case, the congregation began to dwindle. As the group got smaller and smaller, the bills got bigger. The large brick and wooden structures needed extensive maintenance and repair work. Then in March of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. 

Churches all over the country were forced to close their doors to worship, while the needs of their respective communities skyrocketed. Pilgrim Baptist was no exception. By the time the pandemic was officially declared over, the congregation had essentially disappeared. They hadn't used their Facebook account in years, but reviews and photos indicate that services were still being held in 2020. The following year they updated the copywrite on their website, but that seems to be the last sign of life I can find.

The buildings were listed for sale in December of 2022, ninety eight years after Pilgrim Baptist moved in. It was on the market for less than a year, before selling for nearly one million dollars. Unfortunately the new owners had no intention of keeping the old church buildings around. Demolition began in November of 2023, just a month after the new owners closed on the property. 

I'm guessing they wanted to act swiftly, to ensure nobody tried to get the old buildings listed on the city or national registers of historic places. Work started with the original 1886 chapel on Jay Street. The large equipment made short work of the old rotted timbers. They paused briefly, to ensure they could get everything of value out of the main sanctuary. However, they made sure to put a gigantic hole in the back wall to ensure it would be too late for any last minute preservation attempts. 

Salvaging the interior elements took about a week, after which demolition commenced in full stride. By the end of 2023, the lot was clear.

Pilgrim joins the long list of city churches that have been unceremoniously demolished in the last few decades. I'm not sure which historic building will be targeted next, but I know this won't be the last. 

Drone photo courtesy of my brother.