First Presbyterian Church of Belmar

This is the First Presbyterian Church of Belmar, stop #4 on the Belmar Treasure Trail. The congregation was founded on March 20, 1877. It’s interesting that before construction of Belmar’s diverse churches, many people in the community worshipped in the same place – and that was a former pavilion from the Centennial Expo in Philadelphia, more commonly known as the World’s Fair. In the summer of 1880, when Belmar was known as Ocean Beach, the pavilion was brought from Philly to Belmar. As a side note, several of our beautiful homes throughout town were originally structures from that same 1876 World’s Fair. These huge buildings were transferred by waterway to Belmar, where they were then “rolled” on giant telephone-pole-like logs to their destinations. Anyway, the pavilion relevant to the churches was set up at the corner of 7th Avenue and A Street and called an Undenominational Summer Tabernacle. Later that summer, the First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Beach was incorporated and the small congregation started to plan for a church of their own. The Ocean Beach Association donated two lots at the current location of 9th Avenue and E Street. The current church building was built and dedicated in 1959. Prior to the construction of an Office Wing addition on the E Street side of the building in the early 1980's, there was a multi-purpose meeting space and gymnasium facility. During the summer in the early 1960's a young High School aged talent, Bruce Springsteen, and his band practiced in that church space. The congregation has an appreciation for music! On March 20, 2022, the congregation celebrated its 145th Anniversary.