REPURPOSING A LANDMARK: Trenton’s First Presbyterian Church is being transformed into a multi-use gathering place for the community. The 120 East State Street project (120ES) has been the recipient of public and private funding.
By Anne Levin
Like so many houses of worship, the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton has been getting smaller — not its campus, which includes the 1839 building, an even older cemetery, and six neighboring properties — but the size of its congregation.
It was that fact, along with the ongoing maintenance of the historic church with its steeple towering over Trenton’s East State Street, that led to a recent reconsideration of its purpose. The result is a comprehensive, ambitious plan to transform the church into a place where local residents and visitors can meet at a cafe, hold events, experience the arts, and feel welcome.
A $1 million gift from the First Presbyterian Church in July 2022 launched the 120 East State (120ES) project. Grants have followed from the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Kearney Foundation, along with private donations and a $12 million tax credit from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Since its inception, 120ES has raised over $24 million. A capital campaign is ongoing, visit 120eaststate.org to contribute.
“It was apparent to us that the building needed some work,” said the Rev. Molly Dykstra, acting executive director of 120ES and one of the pastors at the church. “We started to analyze the situation. We hired Historic Building Architects [of Trenton], and took a good, hard look at the conditions. And we began to imagine how we could be useful again. This is a discussion going on across the nation— about huge buildings in urban centers that congregations can no longer support.”
The history of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton dates from 1712. The current building is the third; the first was built in 1726. The church and churchyard cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places for significance in architecture, politics, religion, and social history on September 9, 2005. Also listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, the Greek Revival style church has a distinctive steeple which is 120 feet high.
When the COVID-19 pandemic put everything on pause, there was time to ask the community what was important about the church, and what its focus should be.
“One of the things we heard very affirmatively was that we need a place that serves people in a different way,” said Dykstra. “We’ve got a lot of social services in Trenton that provide food and shelter. But we need something that will fill some other gaps. One suggestion was for a community arts space that could hold about 300 people. And we learned that the economics of that is a good one.”
Another suggestion was for a space that nonprofits could use to hold events.
“We analyzed all the options, and we realized that the congregation couldn’t do it,” said Dykstra. “Should we sell? We didn’t want to — we’ve been here for 300 years. We want to be a constructive place that brings wellness and allows people to thrive.”
The church hired consultant Michael Goldstein to analyze the situation. “Given timing, politics, and a new state historic program that was just coming, he told us that if we were going to take this risk, this seemed like a good path to actually make this building sing again. So that was his advice — to go for it,” said Dykstra.
Once their path was clear, the congregation created a separate nonprofit to enable it to receive historic preservation funding. The $12 million obtained from the New Jersey Historic Trust in June 2025 was particularly encouraging.
“We’ve been having great success with grants, and have also raised some money to do historic interpretation,” said Dykstra. “We’re excited that we’ll have a number of events during Patriots Week [December 25-31]. And in June or July, we will create a visitor zone with tours and storytelling, for visitors.”
The project is planned to have three uses: a cultural and performing arts center, a fellowship hall, and a community space with a commercial kitchen — and possibly a training kitchen —where residents and nonprofits can rent space. Part of the plan is to provide employment for members of the community, where everyone will be paid prevailing wages, Dykstra said.
“There just aren’t places like that in the downtown,” she said. “Churches do what they can, but there are costs. So we’re hoping to figure out some kind of rubric for how it works, where we can offer the community space for free once in a while. We really want Trentonians, in all their wonderfulness and diverseness, to feel like this is their place. It belongs to the community and the people of the city, to make useful and celebrate and claim as their own.”
Dykstra acknowledges that attracting visitors to the capital city can be a challenge. Trenton’s poverty rate is nearly 25 percent. The city has the highest crime rate in Mercer County. But an uptick in residential construction, not far from the church, is promising.
“It’s a challenge, and we’re completely aware of it,” said Dykstra. “But we feel that the downtown is right on the edge of something. More people are going to be living here. We think that by creating this attractive place where numbers of people will come, because there isn’t another place quite like it, will make a difference. Between the housing going up, and possible museums and other ideas that are being discussed, there is fabulous stuff in the mix. We hope and pray that they all cross the finish line.”
Construction will take approximately two years, and the 120ES hopes to open its doors by the end of 2029. “It’s a lot,” Dykstra said. “But I can’t wait.”