Our Beginnings
In the early 1900s, the population of Alpha, NJ was 75% Hungarian. These Hungarians, of Lutheran and Reformed backgrounds, wanted to form a church which they felt was central to their spiritual needs and social lives. In 1904, they officially formed the Hungarian Evangelical Reformed Church of Alpha with 76 members. Their financial support was from the European Hungarian Reformed Church. In 1904, Rev. Zoltan Domenyi conducted the first official service.
In 1905, Rev. John Ujlaky came to serve the people of the Alpha church. Under his guidance, the church made two key steps forward: 1: They applied to become a Presbyterian Church, which was consistent with their Reformed background. They were accepted and became The Hungarian Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church of Alpha in 1907; 2: They purchase and built their “new church” on the corner of what became East Blvd. and North Blvd. The new church was complete in 1909.
Rev. Rudolf Pompl replaced Rev. Ujlaky in 1909 and served the church for one year. In 1910 Rev. Charles Dezsy came to Alpha and stayed for seven years. In 1916, one of the church’s mortgages was burned.
In 1917, under the leadership of Rev. Dezsy, the old church house was constructed next to the church on East and North Blvds. The old manse was built by the labor of many men of the church using Alpha cement blocks and Alpha cement. During the time, in 1917 Rev. Michael Toth came to Alpha church and served until 1921 Under his guidance and leadership the Sunday School was expanded to include religion education at New Village, Phillipsburg and Alpha.
In 1923, Rev. Andrew Szabo, came to Alpha church. He served for 43 years at the Alpha Church. During his time, he managed to guide the church from being an “immigrant” church to being an American “melting pot” church. Originally services were conducted in Hungarian, then in 1950, this changed to both Hungarian and English – then only English. Rev. Szabo raised over fifty thousand dollars towards a dream of building a “new church”.
In 1954, Rev. Szabo retired and was succeeded by Rev Szabolcs Nagy. Rev. Nagy came to Alpha in 1967 and carried on the dream of building a “new church”, which was built on High Street in 1969. Rev. Nagy also worked alongside the people to build the church, which was completed in 1975. At this time, the church name changed to United Presbyterian Church, Alpha.
Rev. Nagy was succeeded by Rev. James Newman in 1978. During his tenure, the “new church’s” mortgage was burned in 1982 and over 100 new members were added to the church roll call. New outreach programs were established to help those in need and to meet the needs of the youth. Growing through the years and across decades of change, the church remained committed to weekly worship, music and choir ministry, Sunday School programs, community outreach, and mission work.
As fellowship increased across generations, our heritage shaped a culture of resilience, community, and devotion that continues today. Many founding families passed down stories, traditions, and memories that remain a meaningful part of our identity. We continue to honor our Hungarian roots throughout the Christmas season, through singing Silent Night or Csendes éj in Hungarian on the Eve of Christmas.
The United Presbyterian Church of Alpha was moved from being an “immigrant” church to a “melting pot” church representing the larger community. UPC of Alpha is a strong family oriented church always seeing new ways to make the gospel message alive and meaningful for Christians.
United Presbyterian Church of Alpha 