The Vedder Research Library

Greenville Free Academy, pre-1906

The Greenville Academy, left, and the Presbyterian Church stand in stark solitude on this winter day, circa 1875. The Academy was razed in 1905 to make way for the present Library building. Young trees and a decrepit picket fence front what is now a National Historic Register area.

One of the largest oaks in the Town of Greenville, this white oak of twenty feet circumference dominates this view of the Freehold Congregational Church. The earlier Freehold Cemetery is located 1/4 mile south of Freehold.

View of Freehold Congregational Church, looking toward hamlet center.

One of the half-dozen oldest active churches in the town, Freehold Congregational Church, located almost one-quarter mile east of Freehold on County Route 67, was formed in 1812 as the Christian Church of Freehold. The first structure was probably built by 1825. In 1915, the kerosene lamps were replaced by gas, which were replace eight years later by electricity. The stained glass windows were given in memorial of Yeomans Haight, Calvin and Alice Mygatt, Jotham Place, Mrs. John Jones, and Hannah and Leonard Vincent, while Mr. and Mrs. C.R. Lacy gave another. Long-term pastors included John Spoor (1816-1856) and Sion Lynam (1928-1928, 1967-1975).

Completed in 1857, the Christ Episcopal Church was consecrated on October 22 of that year. The stone for the foundation came from the George Calhoun farm (recently owned by Mary Stevens) west of Greenville, and the stone for the building came from the Truman L Sanford farm east of the village (the Turon farm on Rt. 26), according to a church document. Nationally known architect Richard Upjohn drew up the plans. The earliest activities of the Episcopal Church refer to a marriage in 1805. The first building was consecrated in 1827 in East Greenville on Route 26 before the present building was erected on its current site. The Christ Episcopal Church rests a couple hundred yards north of Greenville’s four corners.

The Presbyterian Church of Greenville, located one-tenth mile north of the four corners on Rt 32, is one of the dominant buildings of Greenville. Built on land donated by Augustine Prevost, this structure is the fourth one on the site, completed in 1860 after a 1859 fire destroyed the third structure. The church was first organized in 1790, with its first minister Beriah Hotchkin. Long-term pastors include Ezekiel VanDyck who served 35 years from 1893-1928, and Harold Page, the church’s most recent pastor from 1967-1999. Mainstays of the church for the 20th century’s second half have been Harry and Clarissa Ketchum, Clerks of the session, and Vi Reed, organist.

Located one-quarter mile west of Greenville’s four corners, on Rt. 81, St. John the Baptist Church was erected in 1933 to serve Catholic followers. The early parish was led by Fathers Crowley, Downey, Thompson, and McGarrahan. In the mid-1950s, a parish hall provided space for church activities and for church services when the number of parishioners surpassed the capacity of the original church. In 1967, the current church building was built to accommodate a growing congregation, and the history of the church was recorded in the 1968 book “Saint John the Baptist, Greenville, New York.”