Plymouth Church (Brooklyn)

Plymouth Church

(2012)
Location 57 Orange Street
Brooklyn, New York
Coordinates 40°41′57.4″N 73°59′36.8″W / 40.699278°N 73.993556°W / 40.699278; -73.993556Coordinates: 40°41′57.4″N 73°59′36.8″W / 40.699278°N 73.993556°W / 40.699278; -73.993556
Built 1849-50
Architect Joseph C. Wells
Woodruff Leeming[1][2]
NRHP Reference # 66000525
Significant dates
Added to NRHP July 4, 1961[3]
Designated NHL October 15, 1966[4]

Plymouth Church is a historic church located at 57 Orange Street between Henry and Hicks Streets in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City; the Church House has the address 75 Hicks Street. The church was built in 1849–50 and was designed by Joseph C. Wells. Under the leadership of its first minister, Henry Ward Beecher, it became the foremost center of anti-slavery sentiment in the mid-19th century. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1961, and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1966. It is part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965.

The church is a member of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.

History

Plymouth Church was founded in 1847 by 21 transplanted New Englanders.[5] It was the third Congregationalist church to be organized in Brooklyn – then a separate city from New York. The site where the church building would be located was purchased from the First Presbyterian Church, which had been worshipping there since 1822, but which needed more space. It moved to a new site on Henry Street, a few blocks away.[6]

Plymouth Church's first pastor was Henry Ward Beecher, who became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. His sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, noted today as the author of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) that "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War."[7] The church itself became an important station on the Underground Railroad through which slaves from the South were secretly transported to Canada.[1][2][5][8] Locally known as "the Grand Central Depot," slaves were hidden in the tunnel-like basement beneath the church sanctuary.[9] The Rev. Charles B. Ray, an African-American living in Manhattan, and the founding editor of The Colored American newspaper, was quoted as saying, "I regularly drop off fugitives at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn." Plymouth Church is one of the few active Underground Railroad congregations in New York still housed in its original location.[9][10]

Ring given to Pinky.

One of the main recurring events that garnered considerable public attention were Beecher’s mock slave auctions. Imitating events like this in the South, Beecher would bring slaves into the sanctuary, auction them off to the highest bidder, and then set them free. The most famous case involved “Pinky", a 9-year old slave girl that had escaped from Alabama.[11] On February 5, 1860, in front of a crowd of 3000, Mr. Beecher started the bidding and a collection plate was passed around the congregation. When the plate with $900 and a golden ring reached the pulpit, Beecher picked up the ring and placed it on the finger of Pinky. He exclaimed, “Remember, with this ring I do wed thee to freedom.”[12][13] Sixty-seven years later, Pinky returned to Plymouth, now a well educated woman, named Mrs. Rose Ward Hunt, and returned the ring Beecher had given to her.[14][15]

1859 Telegram inviting Lincoln to speak at Plymouth Church.
Plague on pew in Plymouth Church where Abraham Lincoln attended service.

In October 1859, Beecher and his church offered United States Senator Abraham Lincoln $200 for coming to Plymouth Church and giving a lecture to the congregation.[16][17] Lincoln accepted the invitation, traveled to Brooklyn and participate in church services twice in February 1860.[18] Today a plaque marks the pew where Lincoln attended the service. Because of high-demand, Lincoln's address was moved to Cooper Union, where a 25 cents admission fee was charged. Lincoln gave his famous anti-slavery speech before a capacity crowd of 1,500 on February 27, 1860, more than eight months before he was elected President.[19][20][21]

In 1867, a group from the Church, including Beecher, undertook a five-and-a-half month voyage aboard the steamer Quaker City to Europe and the Holy Land. Joining them as a journalist was the young Mark Twain. His satiric account of this pioneering tour group, The Innocents Abroad, was Twain's best-selling work throughout his lifetime.

Beecher died suddenly in 1887. He was succeeded by Lyman Abbott (1887-1899), a lawyer turned minister and religious journalist, Newell Dwight Hillis (1899-1924), who oversaw the completion of the Plymouth campus as it exists today,[22][23] J. Stanley Durkee (1926-1940), a former President of Howard University,[24] L. Wendell Fifield (1941-1955), a pastor of Seattle's Plymouth Congregational Church widely known for his active role in civic affairs throughout the Pacific Northwest,[25][26][27] and Rev. Harry H. Kruener (1960-1984), Dean of the of the chapel at Denison University.[28][29][30] In 1991, Rev. Sharon Blackburn, who had served as associate pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, located a few blocks from Plymouth Church, became the first female minister in the church's history,[31][32] following the short tenures of Rev. Frank Goodwin (1985-88) and Richard Stanger (1988-1991).

In addition to Lincoln and Twain many other famous writers and activists spoke at Plymouth, including William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, John Greenleaf Whittier, Clara Barton, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, and William Thackery.[8] More recently, in February 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a sermon on "The American Dream,"[33] echoed just months later in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.[34]

Plymouth Church (ca. 1866)

In 1934, Plymouth Church merged with the Congregational Church of the Pilgrims, and the resulting combined congregation was named Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. The Congregational Church of the Pilgrims left its Richard Upjohn-designed church building, which later was designated a New York City Landmark as Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church. The building's stained-glass windows, including windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios, were moved to Plymouth Church's nearby Hillis Hall.[2][35] In 1958, the congregation voted against becoming part of the newly formed United Church of Christ, which came about through a merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church;[36] it is now a member of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. The church reverted to its original name, "Plymouth Church", in September, 2011.[5]

On April 17, 2016, it was announced that the Rev. Dr. Brett Younger will be the 11th settled senior minister in Plymouth's 169-year history.[37] He succeeds the Rev. Dr. David C. Fisher who retired in September 2013, after leading the Plymouth congreation for 9 years. Rev. Al Bunis and Rev. Tom Lenhart had served as interim senior ministers during the transition.

Architecture

Photo of the first J&R-Lamb-Studios window installed at Plymouth Church (1907). It depicts the scene of John Hampden appealing for the Bill of Rights before Charles I.

Plymouth Church was built in 1849–50 and was designed by Joseph C. Wells – who was later one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects. The barn-like church building with its pews arranged in an arc before the pulpit became a standard design and layout for other evangelical Protestant churches throughout the United States.[1][38] While the First Presbyterian Church it replaced had its entrance on Cranberry Street, Plymouth Church situated the front of its building facing Orange Street.

Beecher statue and Lincoln relief by Gutzon Borglum in the church garden.

In 1866, the church's original pipe organ was replaced with another by E. and G. G. Hook, which was at the time the largest organ in the United States.[35] In 1907–09, the church installed stained-glass windows by the renowned J&R Lamb Studios.[39][40] This studio opened it doors in 1857 and is now the oldest existing studio of its kind in the US.[41][42] The windows in Plymouth Church are unique in that they do not depict any biblical scenes. Instead they focus on the history of democracy in England and the USA, with a particular emphasis on the influence of the Puritans, Pilgrims and Congregational Churches.[43][44] In 1913 the family of John Arbuckle,[45] a coffee merchant, donated money to create a large garden and the Classic revival parish house. The house and arcade which adjoin the building were designed by Woodruff Leeming.[1][2]

The church garden, fronting on Orange Street and located between the Church House and the Sanctuary, contains a statue of Beecher and a bas-relief of Lincoln. Both were produced by famed sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who later created the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.[1][2] An almost identical statue of Beecher is located less than a mile away, next to Cadman Plaza, in front of Brooklyn's historic Federal Building and Post Office.[46]

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 4, 1961,[3] and was named a National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966.[4][8] It is located within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, designated on November 23, 1965 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.[47]

Tours of the church, including its grounds, the sanctuary, Hillis Hall, and the original Underground Railroad facilities, are available upon request.[48]

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Postal, Matthew A. (ed. and text); Dolkart, Andrew S. (text). (2009) Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.) New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1, p.232
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5., p.668
  3. 1 2 Staff (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  4. 1 2 "Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-18.
  5. 1 2 3 "Our History" on the Plymouth Church website
  6. ↑ "History" First Presbyterian Church website
  7. ↑ Kaufman, Will (2006) The Civil War in American Culture, Edinburgh University Press, p.18. ISBN 978-0748619351
  8. 1 2 3 Hand, Susanne and Grieff, Constance (December 20, 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-06-27. and Accompanying 21 photos, exterior and interior, from 1959, 1975, 1984, and undated PDF (5.53 MB)
  9. 1 2 Decker, Frank (2013) Brooklyn's Plymouth Church in the Civil War Era, The History Press. ISBN 978-1609498108
  10. ↑ John Strausbaugh (October 12, 2007), "On the Trail of Brooklyn’s Underground Railroad," The New York Times.
  11. ↑ "Pinky webpage about Henry Ward Beecher - Leader in Controversy"
  12. ↑ "Pinky looking at her Freedom Ring" on webpage of Brooklyn Public Library
  13. ↑ "Slave girl sold by Beecher found," The New York Times, May 11, 1927
  14. ↑ "Freed slave tells of 'sale' by Beecher," The New York Times, May 16, 1927
  15. ↑ "NEGROES: Again: Pinky," Time Magazin, Monday, May 23, 1927.
  16. ↑ Staff (March 13, 1860) "Mr. Lincoln's Lecture at the Cooper Institute" The New York Times
  17. ↑ "Cooper Union Address" Abraham Lincoln Online
  18. ↑ Rankin, Henry B. (February 11, 1917) "Abraham Lincoln's First Visit to New York City Intimately Described", The New York Times p.62
  19. ↑ New York Tribune (February 28, 1860), p.6
  20. ↑ Poughkeepsie Journal (March 3, 1860), p.2
  21. ↑ Holzer, Harold (2006) Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President New York:Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-0743299640
  22. ↑ Henderson, Rev. Ira Wemmell March 24, 1924) "Newell Dwight Hillis" Brooklyn Daily Eagle p.4A
  23. ↑ Rus, Edward V. (April 20, 1924) "Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, Ending His 25 Years Patorate at Historic Plymouth, Leaves a Rich Legacy to Brooklyn Boro," Brooklyn Daily Eagle p.C5
  24. ↑ Staff (September 20, 1926) "Dr. Durkee Assumes Plymouth Pulpit" The New York Times p.26.
  25. ↑ "Fifield, Rev. L. Wendell (1891-1964)" HistoryLink.org
  26. ↑ Staff (May 21, 1941) "Plymouth Church Calls New Pastor," The New York Times p.46.
  27. ↑ Staff (October 11, 1954) "Leaves Pilgrims Pulpit," The New York Times p.30.
  28. ↑ Staff (February 8, 1960) "Called To Plymouth Church" The New York Times p. 9.
  29. ↑ Staff (February 22, 1960) "Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, Visited by Lincoln, Will be 113" The New York Times p.36
  30. ↑ Staff (February 4, 2001) "Harry H. Kruener; Minister, 85" (obituary) The New York Times
  31. ↑ Bell, Charles W. (Saturday, July 25, 1998) "Rock-Solid Church's 12M" New York Daily News
  32. ↑ Martin, Douglas (December 21, 1997) "Details of a Brooklyn Landmark" The New York Times
  33. ↑ "The American Dream" speech (audio) on the Drew University website
  34. ↑ Kruener, Rev. Harry H. (October 18, 1962) Letter by Rev. Kruener to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The King Center website
  35. 1 2 "Art and Architecture" on the Plymouth Church website
  36. ↑ Staff (February 27, 1958) "Church Merger Opposed" The New York Times p.21.
  37. ↑ Tate, Francesca Norsen (April 19, 2016) "Brooklyn Heights’ Plymouth Church appoints senior minister", Brooklyn Daily Eagle
  38. ↑ Gray, Christopher (August 3, 1997) "An 1850 Brick Meeting House of Dramatic Simplicity", The New York Times
  39. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle (December 30, 1907), p.10
  40. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle (December 21, 1908), p.10
  41. ↑ webpage on the history of stained glass windows by the Stained Glass Association of America Stained Glass Association of America
  42. ↑ J&R Lamb Webpage
  43. ↑ Staff (December 16, 1906) "Decking Plymouth Church" The New York Times
  44. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle (April 1, 1910), p.27.
  45. ↑ "History of Arbuckle's Coffee" at Arbuckles website
  46. ↑ Henry Ward Beecher Monument, on the Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
  47. ↑ Staff (November 23, 1965) "Brooklyn Heights Historic District Designation Report" New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
  48. ↑ "Visitors and Tours" on the Plymouth Church website

Bibliography

External links

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