It is part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965.

Plymouth Church was founded in 1847 by 21 transplanted New Englanders, who were part of a circle centered on the wealthy evangelical merchants Arthur and Lewis Tappan.

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.

[1][2][7][10] Locally known as "the Grand Central Depot," slaves were hidden in the tunnel-like basement beneath the church sanctuary.

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."

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.

[23][24][25] In 1867, a group from Plymouth Church undertook a five-and-a-half month voyage aboard the steamer Quaker City to Europe and the Holy Land.

In 1875, a history of rumored extramarital affairs by Beecher and his condemnation from the pulpit of Victoria Woodhull's advocacy of free love among other factors culminated in the "Beecher-Tilton Scandal Case".

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;[26][27] J. Stanley Durkee (1926-1940), a former President of Howard University;[28] 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;[29][30][31] and the Rev.

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.

[2][44] The church also displays a 40-pound (18 kg) piece of Plymouth Rock, from the traditional landing site of the Mayflower Pilgrims.

Its layout, influenced by the Broadway Tabernacle in Manhattan, was designed by Joseph C. Wells – who was later one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects.

[63][64] In 1913 the family of John Arbuckle,[65] a coffee merchant, donated money to create a large garden and the Classic revival parish house.

[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.

[4][10] It is located within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, designated on November 23, 1965, by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

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