[4] The present-day church building, built in 1870, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[4] Reverend Samuel Y. Lum of Middletown, New York was sent by the American Home Missionary Society to establish what was to become the first church in the new city of Lawrence and the entire Kansas Territory.

[5][6] The first service of Plymouth Congregational Church was held by Lum on October 1, 1854 in a mudbrick boarding house, also called the "hay tent," with settlers who had come from New England.

[3][6] Reverend Richard Cordley became pastor in 1857, when the congregation moved into its first permanent building, called the "Stone Church," though it was not completed until 1862.

[3] During the American Civil War, several members were killed by pro-Confederate forces led by William Quantrill in the Lawrence Massacre of 1863.