[Illustration: Presbyterian Church, Carteret Street. The first church organized in the house of Mr. C. C. Hine.] THE FIRST CHURCH OF WOODSIDE. The following “Annals of the First Presbyterian Church of Woodside” are copied from memoranda in Mr. Hine’s handwriting:— “Woodside, Essex County, N. J. “June, 1867. “The first Public Worship held in Woodside was at 8 o’clock on the Evening of Sunday, June 9, 1867, in the house of Mr. C. C. Hine on Belleville avenue. “Rev. Wm. C. Scofield of the Central Presbyterian Church, Newark, preached a stirring discourse from the text, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ “After the sermon it was announced that a Sunday school would be organized in the same place at 2-1/2 o’clock p. m. on the following Sabbath; and on a vote to establish and maintain a Social prayer meeting twenty hands were raised pledging attendance. “At this date the village of Woodside is a mere suburban settlement, containing some forty houses that have all been built within the past sixteen months (this, of course, refers to the Washington avenue neighborhood). The want of Church privileges has been deeply felt, and this movement is designed to supply that want, draw the people of Christ together and build up a Church wherein and whereby He may be honored and souls saved. “Saturday, June 8th, was a rainy day. The storm continued furious over night and until after midday Sunday. At sunset it was fair. Notice had been inserted in the Newark evening paper, and on Sunday afternoon forty-one houses were visited (by Mr. Hine himself) and personal invitation extended. About one hundred people assembled and the accommodations were crowded to their utmost capacity. “Wednesday Evening, June 12, 1867. “Twenty-five persons attended the first prayer meeting to-night. Messrs. Hine, Teal, Bennett and Pettit prayed—in the order written, and with singing and remarks and reading a part of Luke 12th the hour was profitably spent.” MR. HINE’S HOUSE THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING. The parlor of Mr. Hine’s house was left unfurnished; it was a room 15x25 feet and the arrangement was such that the hall and the “library” across the hall could be used as an overflow. He purchased benches for the main room and placed a speaker’s table at the front end of the room, so that it commanded the hall and beyond, as well as the parlor. A bell so heavy that it shook the entire house, when in use, was hung in the tower, and his eldest, who, though young, was a husky lad, recalls with many a smile how he used to shift those long, heavy benches to meet the varying requirements of the day, displaying a species of muscular Christianity at this time which greatly pleased his sire, and how he would sit on the tower stairs and study his Sunday school lesson while he rang the bell for church or school.