I recently purchased 11 photographs of downtown Newark , nine of which were taken from the tower of the Second Presbyterian Church located at the corner of Washington and James Street. While the church is now defunct, the building is still in use as the home of Audible – a division of Amazon. Truly a spectacular adaptive reuse.

The original 2nd Church, built in 1811, was basically a replica of Old First which still stands on Broad Street near Edison Place. The second edifice was dedicated in 1886. That building had an extremely tall spire from which the majority of my photographs were taken. It was destroyed by fire in 1930. The current building was dedicated in 1932. The tower is much shorter than the 1886 tower, which towered above the main sanctuary of the earlier building.

The view I’m sharing today looks west up James Street most likely in the late 1880’s. I estimated the age of the photograph based of the fact that my former home at 263 MLK Blvd. (High Street), constructed in 1891, wasn’t there yet.

Buildings in the view which still exist:

1.St. Michael’s Hospital is visible near the top left of the photograph.

2. The row of townhouses on the west side of MLK Blvd.(High Street)

3. The now truncated row of townhouses on the left side of James Street behind 33 Washington.

There are other structures that can be identified, as well. Enjoy the search. More to follow.

By the way – these photographs came from Davenport, Iowa from the estate of a family that had come from the East.