The Second Unitarian Church in Brooklyn was a historic church in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York City. It was built from 1857 to 1858 and was demolished in 1962. The Church became known as a prominent cultural center in Brooklyn. One of the church's members, Mary White Ovington, co-founded the NAACP, and the church was an abolitionist hub.
The former site of the church is now Cobble Hill Park.
Background
In the mid-nineteenth century, new religious congregations arose in the Cobble Hill area due to the proximity to South Ferry and Manhattan. Immigrant centers developed around their respective churches, and more churches were built. In 1887, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called Clinton Street "a highway of churches," and described twelve churches erected between 1841 and 1869 in the area between Pierrepont Street and Third Place on Clinton Street. One of these was the Second Unitarian Church, built on the corner of Clinton and Congress Streets.
History
19th Century
Unitarian liberal families moved to Brooklyn mainly from New England and Europe, and between 1833 and 1902 organized four congregations in Brooklyn, New York. The first service of the Unitarian Congregation in Brooklyn was held in 1833. In 1835, the congregation purchased the existing Second Presbyterian Church on Adams Street for their use. In 1837, Frederick W. Holland became a minister of the congregation. Holland's preaching was deemed too orthodox by some of the families and the congregation was divided.
The new Society, called the Second Unitarian Congregational Society, was formed in 1840 with Frederick A. Farley as its Minister. When Holland resigned from the First Unitarian Society in 1842, the congregations reunited for a short time, but differences in ideology opened old wounds, and in 1851 the Second Unitarian Society began to hold separate services again. For several years, in order to hold service and Sunday School, the Second Society rented rooms in various locations throughout Brooklyn Heights.
In 1853, Samuel Longfellow became minister of the Second Church and the decision was made to build a permanent home for the congregation. Jacob Wrey Mould was commissioned as the architect and ground was broken in June 1857. The estimated cost of the building was originally US$14,000, but it would eventually cost more than US$25,000, leaving the Congregation with a debt of more than US$10,000 that would not be paid off until 1872. On March 2, 1858, Longfellow dedicated the New Chapel on the corner of Clinton and Congress for its use.
Longfellow's strong abolitionist preaching was not popular among the new members of the church. However, the liberal members of the Congregation loved their minister. Because of Longfellow's strong abolitionist preaching, the Church was controversial and grew in debt as some members felt offended. Longfellow resigned from his ministry in the Second Church in April 1860.
Following Longfellow, the Reverend, Nathan Augustus Staples (1861–63) became head of the church. His preaching strongly supported abolitionism and the science of the Herbert Spencer and Charles Darwin’s discoveries. During the American Civil War, the Second Church was involved in organizing donations to the Union front. His successor, the John White Chadwick, also a supporter of Darwinism, lead the church from 1864 to 1904. He continued preaching previous ministers' theology in most of his sermons. Chadwick attracted many new members with his preaching and the Congregation was finally able to pay its debt in 1872.
The Brooklyn Ethical Association held its first meetings in the Second Unitarian Church in 1880s, having Chadwick as one of its most valuable members. The Second Church’s Female Employment Society had also grown out of “the Little Church on the Corner”. According to Olive Hoogenboom, "The Second Church remained a center of controversy for half of its seventy-four-year existence".
20th Century
After John White Chadwick, the Second Unitarian Church was led by Caleb S. S. Dutton (1907–14) and Charles H. Lyttle (1914–24), the last minister of the Second Church who brought the two Societies together in 1924.