The History of our Church   

Nearly a century ago, a group of people began meeting at the at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Maples, who lived on Grove Street to form what would become the first Episcopal Church in the area.  The mission was organized in March 1901 under the leadership of C. Thatcher Pfeiffer, then a student minister attending General Theological Seminary in New York City.  That same year, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Rover, who lived on Old Boulevard in the section then known as Peetzburg (now a part of New Milford), the mission group obtained the use of a lecture room in the old public school and community hall on Kinderkamack Rd (then called Linden Ave).  The first Episcopal service in Oradell was celebrated there on Easter Sunday, 1901.

During the summer, the women of the mission group raised funds to buy the piece of land in the center of town next door to the new public school (now the old Borough Hall).  A construction loan was obtained through Frederick Crum, a sea captain living in the neighboring town of River Edge.  The corner stone of the present church was laid in November 1901.  The church was completed in time to hold its first service on Easter Sunday, 1902.  The old bell from the community hall was placed in the belfry tower (a gift of the Bellis family), where it still rings every Sunday. 

The first vicar of the church, The Rev. Charles S. Champlin, suggested that since the mission was organized nearest to the Holy Day of the Feast of the Annunciation, the church be named in its honor.

In 1912, the first pipe organ was installed.  It was pumped by hand, and during the winter sermons the pumper kept warm beside his own personal oil stove.  He was paid 35 cents per Sunday.  A new Baldwin electric organ was purchased and dedicated in 1948 to replace the dilapidated pipe organ.  The organ was most recently replaced with an Allen electric organ, in 1996.

Additional land adjoining the rear of the church was purchased from Mr. Leopold Hague in 1920 for the rectory and parish hall sites.  A building formerly used as a residence and drugstore by Dr. Frederick O. Blenckstone, located on Kinderkamack Road between Centre Street and Oradell Avenue, was then acquired as a rectory.  This building was moved to the church property later that same year.

In the early 1920’s, the parish hall was added to the rear of the church.    In 1964 this area was enlarged and modernized to include a small stage and lounge.

Late in 1945, the last mortgage was finally paid off and symbolically “burned,” and the mission became a fully self-supporting parish.  In the mid 1950’s, disaster struck and fire gutted the interior of the wooden church.  While rebuilding, the parishioners also enlarged and modernized the church to its present size.

Eighteen clergy have served the Church of the Annunciation: