FPC Turns 217 Years Old!
  - A Video History Lesson (stream for high speed)
  - A Video History Lesson (7Mb download for dial-up)

For the purpose of building a church, fifty-four acres of land had been given to Robert Ogden II by the Proprietors of East Jersey. The First Presbyterian Church in Hardyston (as the Sparta church was then called) was incorporated on November 23, 1786. The actual congregation was ten members.

When snow was on the ground in the fall of 1786, the people of Sparta began to build the church. Before Noah Talmage struck the first oak, Robert Ogden II, standing in his sleigh, offered a prayer for the new endeavor.

Two stories in height, the structure was framed in heavy timbers and covered by weatherboard. The church had a single-gable roof running from the front to the back of the 52' x 30' structure and there were three front doors. The original window frames are still in place. In later years they were made to look taller by the use of shutters between windows. Looking at the roof of the church from the side today, one can easily recognize the original church before a basement was constructed underneath in 1869, a small chancel was extended at the rear in 1924 and 1952, and 26 feet were added to the front and the steeple moved forward in 1961.

The main beams supporting the church today are the original hand-hewn logs that were cut and shaped by the early settlers of Sparta. The original church had a dirt floor and was unheated. The parishioners sat on round hand-hewn logs and listened to two hour sermons.