New Hurley Reformed Church

New Hurley Reformed Church
West profile and south (front) elevation, 2013
Religion
Affiliation	Reformed Church in America
Leadership	The Rev. Ken Kobza[1]
Year consecrated	1835
Location
Location	Wallkill, NY, US
Location within New York
Geographic coordinates	41°38′17″N 74°08′38″W / 41.63817°N 74.14375°W / 41.63817; -74.14375
Architecture
Style	Greek Revival
Completed	1835[2]
Specifications
Direction of façade	South
Length	80 feet (24 m)[2]
Width	50 feet (15 m)[2]
Materials	Wood, stone, brick
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Added to NRHP	November 10, 1982[3]
NRHP Reference no.	82001273
Website
New Hurley Reformed Church

The New Hurley Reformed Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as the Reformed Dutch Church of New Hurley, is located on New York State Route 208 roughly 3 miles (4.8 km)^[2] north of the hamlet of Wallkill, New York, United States, midway between it and Gardiner to the north, in the town of Plattekill. It is a wooden structure built in the Greek Revival style during the 1830s. In 1982 it was listed on the NRHP.^[3]

The church was established in the late 18th century, shortly before the Revolutionary War, when a flood on the nearby Wallkill River washed out a bridge that Dutch settlers in the area had used to reach services at another nearby Dutch Reformed Church. After several years, they were granted permission to establish a new church on the condition it was located away from the river. The site was purchased several years afterwards, and a primitive church built on the spot, with a parsonage and cemetery added later. For its first half-century it shared a pastor with another Reformed church in New Paltz.^[4]

It was replaced by the current building in 1835. While the Greek Revival style was used for many American churches at the time, the New Hurley church's implementation is unusually large, and visibly restrained in its use of decoration, per the austere style favored by the Reformed Church. Its front columns were created by laying brick in a circular pattern and then plastering over them to create the fluting on the exposed points.^[2]

In the early 20th century the current stained glass windows were installed; during the 1920s the aging building was renovated after a period in which church membership had declined to the point that a vote had to be taken to save it from closure. A second renovation, in the middle of the century, focused on the interior; around the same time a new church hall was built on the property to replace one that had been located a short distance away. Further work was done on the interior in the 1970s.