Almost 200 years of history as a Presbyterian church.
The congregation that is now known as Clinton Presbyterian Church began in 1825 as a ‘Sabbath School’ in the village then called “Hunts Mills.” At this time the village consisted of four houses, a wool mill, a grist mill and a chair and spinning wheel factory. The village took the name of Clinton in 1828 for DeWitt Clinton, Governor of NY, in honor of his leadership in the construction of the Erie Canal.
Early in 1829, the New Jersey Missionary Society sent a student from Princeton Seminary to preach at a series of services here. Later that year, the Presbytery of Newton agreed to regularly send pulpit supply preachers. At this time the land where our current church is located was donated and by the end of 1830 a stone church was built here. In June 1831 the church was officially organized by the Presbytery with 10 communicants and 3 ruling elders. Two years later, Alexander Macklin was ordained and installed as the first Pastor; he served for 2 years. Over the next 50 years six pastors served our church [see end of this history]. In May of 1884, Samuel J Rowland was installed as Pastor of CPC where he served for 43 years until retiring in 1927. During the 84 years from 1927 to 2011, 14 pastors have served the congregation [including our Co-Pastors from 2001 to 2009 and an Associate Pastor from 2008-2010].
Interestingly, our connection to Princeton Seminary remained through the decades. From the 1980’s through the early 2000’s, Clinton Presbyterian Church regularly hosted Princeton Seminary Students who completed their year-long Fieldwork under the tutelage of our Pastors. These students preached, taught Sunday school, lead music programs and performed many other duties among our congregation. Many have become life- long friends, whom we count as members of our Church Family, even as their careers in ministry take them all over the world.
Our Church Building
 In September 1845 the original church building burned down, but a new building was constructed soon after. In the 1860’s the bell steeple was added but was, sadly, blown down in the “blizzard of 1888”. As part of the restoration, in addition to a new steeple, the sanctuary was expanded to its present size and an organ was added. The central stained glass window at the back of our church which depicts an Angel holding a banner was installed in 1890. Our Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows along the east and west sides were added in 1906. To this day the Sanctuary of CPC continues to be a beautiful and highly cherished place of gathering and worship for our congregation.
In 1961 a successful building campaign resulted in the addition of classrooms, a Fellowship Hall, a new kitchen and a new heating system. In 1986 the “Wolverton Building” which had been a shed was converted to a classroom to help accommodate the growing Christian Education programs at CPC. In the 1990’s the kitchen was modernized, with the important addition of an automatic dishwasher which enabled us to meet local health code standards in order to serve meals to the public.
Our Community
When the Sabbath School was founded in 1825, the area was largely agricultural, along with a small but growing area of commerce in and around the area where the North Branch of the Raritan River and Spruce Run meet in what is now ‘down town’ Clinton. The town and surrounding areas of northern Hunterdon County remained predominantly farmland for many years, and church membership was comprised mostly of local dairy and chicken farmers, along with a few merchants and business people. With the completion of Interstate 78 in 1986, the rural town of Clinton was now only an hour’s drive to New York City, and changes in the population and the land soon ensued. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s many of the farms were sold to developers who built expensive homes to accommodate the growing economy of Central New Jersey and those who chose to commute to NYC. Businesses and services followed, and the area changed from an agricultural community to a mixture of both local, long time residents and newcomers. The 80’s and 90’s were a time of change, and in some ways tension between the ‘old and new’ in North Hunterdon county. This was evident in the school districts where new families asked for expanded programs and facilities, in the government where they sought more services, and even in the church where they sought expanded opportunities in which to be involved and new forms of worship through which to express their faith. From the ‘90’s into this decade the town of Clinton and the surrounding townships experienced true ‘growing pains’ and CPC did as well. With most of the farms gone, and most of the ‘old’ farming families gone as well, the area has become predominantly comprised of relatively high income, highly educated, families headed by two, career professional parents.
Our current congregational membership reflects this 21st century population of the Clinton area. We are, predominantly, a congregation of busy professionals and their families. We struggle with balancing family, work and school demands, while serving Christ through our church. We are a church family joined by our love for Christ, our desire to bring our children into His Word and our strong devotion to this historic community of believers.
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