On January 7, 1872, Mrs. Stephen (Emma) Cable and her daughter Mrs. James (Mary Emma) Reading organized the first area Sunday school in Mrs. Cable’s parlor at 475 Franklin Turnpike. This Episcopal mission became the Church of the Epiphany, Allendale’s oldest parish. Given the popularity of Mrs. Cable’s Sunday school, a chapel was fitted up across the street in John J. Zabriskie’s barn on Chapel Street, now Cottage Place. Rev. L.R. Dickinson conducted the first service. Given the need for a more suitable place, a building of Gothic design was constructed, and on June 25, 1876, the Chapel in the Willows was formally opened. In 1894, the building was moved to the corner of Franklin Turnpike and East Orchard Street. A parish was added and later joined to the church via a cloister. In 1956, Rev. Johann Schenk came to Allendale, and the Church of the Epiphany became a full-fledged parish in 1958. With church seating totaling 110 and with Sunday morning attendance topping 200, on April 1, 1959, the church congregation voted to purchase the 10-acre Pilkington property, which bordered West Crescent and Brookside Avenues, Wehner Place, and George Street. The purchase also included an adjoining home on Brookside Avenue. The transaction was completed in May. Architects were hired to develop plans for a new church alongside West Crescent Avenue, and by 1962, the church began a building crusade to raise $271,000 for the construction of a new church and educational building. On July 1, 1964, the Reverend Kenneth A. Polglase became the new rector. The church building on Franklin Turnpike was then put up for sale. The new church was dedicated on May 15, 1965. After building a new rectory on George Street, the congregation’s membership dwindled, resulting in financial difficulties. In 1979, the Epiphany sold its large brick building to the Borough of Allendale and constructed a smaller church at 55 George Street. The official consecration of the church and its furnishings was held on September 30, 1979. In 2010, the Trinity Episcopal Church was formed by the unification of Allendale’s Church of the Epiphany with Midland Park’s Church of the Good Shepherd. Fr. Michael Allen became the first rector, retiring in 2020.
Images of America: Allendale