The first service of this congregation was held on
October 10, 1702 led by the Reverend George Keith
in the Quaker Meeting House at Topanemus a site
near the present village of Marlboro. The meeting
house was owned by Mr. Thomas Boels a member of the
Society of Friends, who was converted or possibly
brought back to the Anglican faith by the Reverend
Keith. Upon his death in 1709, the church
inherited the meeting house and the 1+ acres
surrounding it. Church services were held in that
building and in homes of members living in and
around Monmouth Court House (former name for
Freehold). In 1736 the congregation received its
charter from King George II.
The land on which the present church is located in the Borough of
Freehold was purchased in 1738. This structure measuring 35 feet
by 52 feet was designed by Robert Smith (1722-77) of Philadelphia,
the leading builder/architect in colonial America and was begun
in 1771. It featured from the beginning a high steeple on the west
gable end. The church was unfinished when the Battle of Monmouth
was fought in 1778. It was probably used as a hospital during the
battle. After the war the Provincial Army used the building as a
storehouse. The original building was completed between 1792 and
1806. There were two entrances located on the long side facing
Main Street and a high pulpit centered on the opposite wall with the
communion table below it on a low platform. A high arched ceiling
was surfaced with boards. There were a few box pews (possibly 8-10)
but most were long pews and there were some benches. Pew rents were
a major source of income and were collected into the 1900's. As you
stand in the present church building, that portion from the outside
entrance doors up to approximately the second pew from the front is
the original structure.
Major interior changes were made after an 1837 visit by the Right
Rev. George W. Doane, Bishop of New Jersey, when he is said to
have been appalled to find the building in a state of deterioration.
Many of the changes made to St. Peter's at that time and later in
1855 reflected the Bishop's support of the Oxford Movement which
was an effort to bring Catholic ritual into the Anglican church. The
congregation responded to the Bishop's concerns and began work
on the church which included putting in a flat ceiling. The pulpit and
communion table were moved to the east end, the pews were turned
to face that direction and the present aisles were created with two
entrances onto Throckmorton Street as well as a balcony.
On May 8, 1838 the Bishop returned and consecrated St. Peter's
after repairs were completed.
In 1841 St. Peter's had the first church pipe organ in Monmouth
County installed. Our first gas lamps were in use in 1859.
In 1870 a new bell weighing 408 pounds and made at the Troy Bell Foundry of Troy, New York was installed in the steeple. With major renovations and additions in the 1890's the church took on the more gothic look we see today. Major work was done in 1950 when the plaster in the Nave had to be replaced, the varnished pews were painted and the present chandeliers were installed.
The ten Stations of the Cross were brought from Belgium and installed
in 1935 with the frames carved in Freehold by A. E. Richard Hornickle
who had come to Freehold from Germany at the time of the First
World War. The present pipe organ was built by Austin Organs of
Hartford, Connecticut and installed in 1958. The altar, chapel and
gallery stained glass windows were made by the Willett Company of
Philadelphia.
Also of interest are the gravestones at the corner of Throckmorton
and Main Streets which were brought here by church volunteers
from the site at Topanemus in the late 1970's to protect them from
being vandalized. The graves remain on the original site of the
meeting house which is in the middle of a housing development on
Topanemus Lane.
Sources of information about the building, are:
A History of St. Peter's Church, Freehold, New Jersey
by The Rev. Bernard McKean Garlick
Architectura1 Historian, Joseph W. Hammond of Freehold
Fran Hurley, October 10, 1996