The following is derived from
George Reeser Prowell's
History of Camden County, New Jersey
published in 1886

In 1856 a mission school, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was organized in the house of Jesse Perkins, No. 1722 Broadway, and was superintended by John Dobbins and Mrs. Shuttleworth. Soon after its organization it was removed to the house of William Hammond, on Fillmore Street, opposite to the site of the present church, and Samuel Duval became superintendent. The school was a success, the number of scholars increased, and in 1868 the Fifth Street Methodist Episcopal Church adopted measures to procure land and build a church in that locality.

A one-story frame building, with a small chapel to the rear, was built by Clayton Peacock in 1859, and dedicated by Key. William Brown.   The building committee were William Boom, William Hammond, John Dobbins, Thomas B. Jones, John S. Bundick, Josiah Matlack and William Brown, the pastor. A large number of members joined the church at this time and the Sunday school had eight teachers and sixty pupils. The pastors who have been assigned to this charge, from the time of the organization to the present time, have been George W. Smith, J. T. Price, Joseph Hopkins, G.H. Tullis, Lewis Atkinson, John Y. Dobbins, David Stewart, Edward Messier, William Mitchell, George Musseroll, D.W.C. McIntire and James E. Diverty, the present pastor. The congregation in the year 1886 built a new church, fifty-two by eighty-two feet in size, of stone, with modern improvements and neatness of architectural design, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. Two large lots were donated by Mrs. John Dobbins for the site of the new church and a parsonage. These lots are on Broadway, corner of Van Hook Street. The building committee, to draft the plans and superintend the building of the new church, is composed of John Dobbins, chairman; Herman Helmbold, treasurer; Benjamin E. Mellor, secretary; and Geo. W. Burroughs, George W. Lacomey, James O. Smith, Joseph Cline, Thomas Harman, G. W. Laird, Robert H. Comey, Frederick Kifferly and Henry Davis.

The church at present (1886) has a membership of one hundred and seventy-two communicants, and in the Sunday school there are two hundred and eighty-nine pupils and teachers, with George W. Burroughs as superintendent.