Park Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.).

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The First Presbyterian Church, Newtown (founded in 1652) and the First Presbyterian Church, Jamaica (founded in 1662) were the first organized Presbyterian churches in what is today New York City. Located in the present-day borough of Queens, the original churches faced religious suppression when they were forced to take on Anglican pastors by the ruling Anglican colonial governors. After years of religious persecution, including the imprisonment of the Presbyterian preacher and father of American Presbyterian Francis Makemie, the church eventually was able to expand when the First Presbyterian Church, Manhattan was founded in lower Manhattan in 1716. Soon after, in 1717, another church was organized in Staten Island and in 1822, the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn was formed in what is today the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights.

During the American Revolutionary War, many church members became known for their revolutionary activities against the British. It was also during this period that the church expanded its membership by opening schools and Sunday schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Beginning in the 1830s, the issue over slavery eventually led to a split in the Presbyterian Church when the Southern Presbyterian Church was created in 1861. Anti-slavery churches, such as the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn faced mob violence during the time leading up to the rupture of the church. Following the Civil War, the church turned its attention to missionary work and social reform. In Brooklyn, the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church sent the first Presbyterian missionary to Korea.

The Presbyterian Church in America faced more challenges during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the heresy trial of New York City born theologian and scholar Charles Augustus Briggs. Briggs was one of the early proponents of Higher Criticism, a movement within the church that stressed that the Bible contained errors that should be interpreted as stories and not as facts. This split in doctrine led to what would become the Modernist-Fundamentalist controversy within the American Presbyterian Church, as well as in other Christian denominations in America.

In 1983, the split in the Presbyterian Church that occurred during the Civil War was mended when the church was reunited to form the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.

Sources: Jackson, Kenneth T. "Presbyterians." The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; New York: New-York Historical Society, 1995.

From the guide to the Presbyterian Churches of Brooklyn collection, 1831-1984, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Presbyterian Churches of Brooklyn collection, 1831-1984 Center for Brooklyn History (2020-)
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Bay Ridge-Fort Hamilton Presbytery (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Brooklyn-Nassau Presbytery (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Bushwick Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Central Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith City Park Chapel (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Classon Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Clinton Street Presbyterian Church. corporateBody
associatedWith First Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Fort Hamilton Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Homecrest Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Memorial Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Pacific Street Chapel. corporateBody
associatedWith Second Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith South Brooklyn Presbyterian Church. corporateBody
associatedWith South Third Street Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Spencer Memorial Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Throop Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Union Church of Bay Ridge (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Westminster-Bethany United Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Bushwick (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
Fort Greene (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) |x Religious life and customs
Park Slope (New York, N.Y.)
Bay Ridge (New York, N.Y)
Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)
Subject
Christian life
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

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