St. Peter’s Church was the original dream of its sole benefactor, Alexander Livingston Kean who was a descendant of Governor William Livingston, the first governor of the state of New Jersey and the man for whom Livingston Township was named. St. Peter’s Chapel, built by Alexander Kean as a temporary place of worship, was a pre-fabricated structure made in sections and held together with nuts and bolts. It was erected on the church’s present site on E. Mt. Pleasant Ave, on property covered with wild strawberries and known as Strawberry Hill. The first service was held on Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1916 with 64 people in attendance. The offering for the day, $44.55, was given to St. Barnabas Hospital in Newark, the same institution as is now located in Livingston. Kean’s intent was to ultimately build a large chapel patterned after the cathedral in Cologne, Germany. You can see portions of the architect’s plans at the top right of the screen next to the photo of our church building today. After Kean’s death, these plans were abandoned.
Growth and New Buildings
In 1916 there were only two known Episcopalians in Livingston, Alexander Kean and Mrs. Ralph Decamp. By 1949 St. Peter’s had 282 communicants and by 1956 the number was approaching 500. The church school enrollment was in excess of 200. A building drive was launched in 1954 to provide new buildings to accommodate the growing congregation. A new school building was built and opened in February 1955. A new church with a chapel, choir loft, large undercroft and seating for 350 worshipers was built in 1961. The first service in the new church was held on Christmas Eve 1961. (The original pre-fabricated church was taken apart, moved to another location and used for worship by another church). The original vicarage (the vicar’s home) was built right by the road on E. Mt. Pleasant Ave. When E. Mt. Pleasant Ave. was widened, the vicarage front steps were torn down. The front door then opened to an immediate drop of about 6 feet to the road and passing traffic. A new L-shaped ranch style house for use as a vicarage/rectory was built, far from the road, and ready for occupancy in March 1965. The most recent addition to the church property was the Marlier Garden in honor of the church’s retired vicar whose cremated ashes were the first to be buried there.
Attaining “Parish” Status
St. Peter’s was formed in 1916 as a “mission“ church, i.e. not a self-supporting congregation. At the death in 1922 of the church’s founder, Alexander Kean, his heirs deeded the church property to the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. A new mortgage had been needed to finance the combined cost of more than $350,000 for the three new church buildings built between 1954 and 1965. By November 1977 this mortgage was completely paid off and a mortgage burning celebration ceremony was held that December. Debt-free and self-supporting, the deed to the property was transferred from the diocese to St. Peter’s Church and St. Peter’s attained “parish” status in 1978.
