It was visited by presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson.

The chapel was designed in the Carpenter Gothic style by the New York architectural firm of William Appleton Potter, and Robert Henderson Robertson.

The firm was famous in the era for designing South Congregational Church, Springfield, Massachusetts (1871-1875) and the Brown University Library (1875).

[5] In August 1861, Mary Todd Lincoln took a vacation in Long Branch and began a tradition of dignitaries from the nation's capital to become regular guests.

From the Gilded Age up until the era before World War I, Long Branch was one of the nation's premier summer vacation spots, drawing the wealthy to its stately large homes.

A New York real estate magnate, Henry Levy, paid off its back taxes, despite not being a member of the church, or a Christian.

The church has been named as an official project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Save America's Treasures program.

The wood frame was repaired, missing pieces were replaced, new gutters and a drainage system were installed, and the belfry was renovated.

Previous grants from the MCHC were used to install new rain gutters, to restore the Garfield Tea House, the church bell, and belfry.

Currently, the Long Branch Historical Museum Association is undertaking fundraising efforts to finish the renovation before the Church of the Presidents can re-open to the public.