Plymouth Church and Henry Ward Beecher

Plymouth Church, located in Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, was founded in 1847 by transplanted New Englanders who wanted a Congregational church like those in which they had been raised, with a simple order of worship, governed by the congregation. The 21 men and women who founded the church in Brooklyn Heights called as their first pastor Henry Ward Beecher , thus beginning the most prominent ministry in the second half of 19th century America.

Beecher's powerful preaching and outspoken opposition to slavery filled the pews to overflowing, and his sermons were so wildly popular that the ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn were dubbed “Beecher Boats.” Under Beecher's influence, Plymouth Church developed connections with the Underground Railroad - the secretive network of people who helped slaves escape to the North and Canada.

Beecher was also a master at creating public events to strengthen the fight against slavery. He staged mock “auctions” at Plymouth, urging the congregation to purchase the freedom of actual slaves. During one service, he trampled the chains that had bound John Brown. He invited famous anti-slavery advocates to speak at the Church, including William Lloyd Garrison, Sojourner Truth, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, and Frederick Douglass.

Beecher's sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, also joined in the anti-slavery movement and penned the century's bestselling book "Uncle Tom's Cabin"in 1852.

President Abraham Lincoln worshiped at the church twice in 1860, the only church in New York City Lincoln ever attended.

The Beecher Garden is a formal garden on Orange Street, and is located between the Church House and the Sanctuary. It contains a statue of Henry Ward Beecher and a bas-relief of Abraham Lincoln, both by Gutzon Borglum, who later sculpted Mount Rushmore.

Many celebrated Americans became a part of Plymouth history. In 1867, a group from the Church 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.
Twain spoke at Plymouth, as did many other famous writers and activists, including Clara Barton, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Horace Greeley, and William Thackery.

More recently, in January 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave an early version of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at Plymouth. Later that August, “I Have a Dream” was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Source

Henry Ward Beecher - Cadman Plaza, Columbus Park at Johnson Street, Brooklyn, New York

Unfortunately Beecher's career was rocked by allegations of adultery. In 1872 Theodore Tilton, his longtime friend and sometime journalistic collaborator, accused the preacher of committing adultery with his wife, Elizabeth. A salacious trial resulted which became the most widely covered event of the century, garnering more newspaper headlines than the entire Civil War!

There was a hung jury, and Beecher survived and was ultimately exonerated by the church, but his reputation and some of his causes suffered devastating setbacks.

Beecher suffered a stroke in March of 1887 and died quietly in his sleep two days later. Brooklyn, which was still an independent city at that time, declared a day of mourning. The state legislature recessed, and telegrams of condolence were sent by national figures, including President Cleveland.

Henry Ward Beecher was laid to rest in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery on March 11, 1887, followed by his wife Eunice in 1897.

To learn more about Beecher you can read a fascinating book entitled "The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher" by Debby Applegate, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for biography.