History
The Associate Reformed Church was formed in Bloomingburg in 1799. Twenty years later, in 1819, some members who wished for a pastor recognized by the Dutch Reformed Church broke away to form the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Bloomingburgh (as it was then spelled). They chose the small Gillen's Hill, which overlooked the village, and established a building committee.
The cornerstone was laid in 1821. Church records credit Peter Weller, an elder of the church and George Miller, a local builder and carpenter who was not a member of the congregation, with the construction. A year later, the pews were finished and subscribed. The church was dedicated in spring 1822 and opened in December.
At the time, the church interior was slightly different. The altar was at the entrance end, and a small semicircular window in the gable apex opened into the rear. These were changed in the middle of the century, along with the conversion of the box pews into slips, the extension of the galleries and construction of the choir loft and accompanying stairways. A new bell was installed in 1868.
In the late 1880s, the exterior got renovated. The roof eaves were extended and the brackets installed, per the late Italianate trends of the era. A memorial stained-glass window was installed in 1901 above the front door. Other stained-glass windows installed shortly afterwards have since been lost. New carpets and pews were installed later in that decade.
To celebrate the church's centennial, in 1922 the parsonage was built. In 1950 the roof was converted from tin to asphalt shingling, the last major change to the church's exterior. A decade later, in 1962, the dwindling congregation merged with Bloomingburg's Methodist Church to form the Community Church of Bloomingburg. The old Reformed Church building was for a time used as a church school, but then a new educational wing was added to the Community Church building, and the old church was sold to the county.
It was neglected for a few years, with some of the interior furnishings stolen and vandalized. In 1977 the Bloomingburg Restoration Foundation was established to preserve the church and use it as a regional history museum; it is open today for that purpose by appointment. In 1999 the county transferred the church to the Town of Mamakating.
Read more about this topic: Bloomingburg Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
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