Clinton Avenue Congregational Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

The practice of Congregationalism in the United States began in the 17th century when Pilgrim settlers from England founded the Plymouth Colony in the southeastern portion of modern-day Massachusetts. Congregationalism slowly spread to New York as the Pilgrims migrated. Church of the Pilgrims, located in Brooklyn Heights, was the first Congregational church established in the city of Brooklyn in 1844. The neighboring Plymouth Church was founded in 1847, and was home to the famed Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. While Congregationalism flourished throughout the 19th century, membership in these Brooklyn churches declined in the mid-20th century. Plymouth Church and the Church of the Pilgrims consolidated in 1934, becoming Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, and many Congregational churches joined the United Church of Christ in the late 1950s.

From the guide to the Congregational churches of Brooklyn collection, 1847-1961, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

Brooklyn's Plymouth Church was founded in the Congregationalist tradition in 1847 in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. Its first building was erected on Cranberry Street between Hicks and Henry Streets in that same year. The Church's first pastor, the charismatic orator Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), quickly catapulted the church to a position of national prominence and regularly filled the pews to overflowing. When the church's building was destroyed by fire in 1849, a new red brick building, known as the Sanctuary, was quickly constructed directly behind the church's original site, facing Orange Street, and opened for worship in 1850. Designed by English architect J.C. Wells, the Sanctuary was built to seat 2,800 parishioners and was distinctive for its open design, cast iron columns, and balconies, providing the feel of an auditorium more than a traditional church. The church's original building on Cranberry Street was rebuilt in 1862 to house offices, parlors, and Sunday school rooms.

During the mid-19th century, Plymouth Church was famous not only for Beecher's magnetic oratorical style and widely published sermons, but also for its role as a vehicle for the anti-slavery movement. Beecher held mock slave auctions at the Church through which parishioners could actually purchase the freedom of slaves, and invited some of the most distinguished abolitionists of the period, including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Sojourner Truth, to speak at the Church. Documentary evidence suggests that the Church was also a major site of activity for the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist network that secretly transported slaves to freedom in the North and Canada. In the early 1870s, Plymouth Church's prestige was briefly shattered when Beecher was accused of adultery, a charge that led to what would become the most widely publicized court trial in 19th-century America. Beecher was eventually acquitted in 1875, and despite the damage done to his reputation, he was able to overcome the scandal and continued to lead Plymouth Church until his death in 1887. He was succeeded by former lawyer Lyman Abbott, who resigned as pastor in 1899.

Plymouth Church continued to merit distinction throughout the 20th century as well. In 1934, it united with the neighboring Church of the Pilgrims (the former congregation of famed pastor Richard Salter Storrs) and was known afterwards as the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. During the 1950s, when Congregational churches across America were compelled to join either one of two national denominations, the liberal United Church of Christ or the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims decided to remain independent. It then aligned itself with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, an organization comprised of autonomous Congregational churches. In 1961, the National Register of Historic Places deemed Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its significant place in American history. As of 2010, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims continues to serve the Brooklyn community, and its campus has grown to include five buildings: Hillis Hall (occupying the site of the Church's original edifice), the Sanctuary, a Church House, a Gymnasium, and an Arcade.

From the guide to the Plymouth Church publications and ephemera, 1850-1963, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

In 1958, near the end of his long life, Herbert Stavely Sammond (1871-1964) authored a brief recollection of his musical career, Seventy Years at the Console . In it he credits his friends with the suggestion to write his life story, yet nonetheless finds purpose in the enterprise: "I am carrying out the suggestion, hoping that those who read it may find courage and inspiration to keep a’going, despite any handicap one may encounter along the way."

Sammond's life was a success story in spite of inauspicious early years. He was born December 4, 1871 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father, Charles Edward Sammond, emigrated from England and settled in Brooklyn where he married and had three of his four children. The family headed west and settled in Milwaukee where they remained until the untimely death of Charles around 1875. The youngest of four children, Herbert migrated to Brooklyn with his mother, brother, and two sisters to be near his mother's family. Two years later his mother followed his father to the grave, and Herbert and his two sisters were sent to the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum. Herbert spent four years at the asylum until he was adopted by an aunt and uncle (Jane and Joseph Ward) in Brooklyn, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Sammond developed an aptitude for music early on, taking piano lessons and becoming organist and choirmaster of the Greenwood Heights Reformed Church (42nd Street and 7th Avenue, Brooklyn) while still an adolescent. Greenwood Heights was the first in a long succession of Brooklyn- and Manhattan-based churches that Sammond served as organist and choirmaster. An abbreviated list of these churches includes: Park Congregational Church (7th Street and 6th Avenue, Brooklyn, 1893-1900), Our Lady of Victory Church (Throop Avenue and McDonough Street, Brooklyn, 1900-1904), Classon Avenue Presbyterian Church (Classon Avenue and Monroe Street, Brooklyn, 1904-1907), Clinton Avenue Congregational Church (Clinton and Lafayette Avenues, Brooklyn, 1907-1921), and the Middle Collegiate Church (Second Avenue and 7th Street, Manhattan, 1921-1956) from which he retired with the honorific Minister of Music Emeritus.

Sammond did not limit his activities solely to the console. During World War I he acquired a military job as the Song Leader of forts in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Rockaway County. He granted private music lessons and served as conductor of several choral organizations, including the Flushing Oratorio, the Elizabeth (New Jersey) Oratorio Society, the Apollo Men's Club of Asbury Park (New Jersey), and most famously of all, the Morning Choral Society of Brooklyn. The Morning Choral Society was founded in 1919 by Sammond as a women's amateur vocal group. Over the years it gained an esteemed reputation among the churchgoing citizens of Brooklyn, and his retirement from the group in 1949 met with fanfare and local media attention. The Morning Choral Society eventually disbanded in 1962, two years before Sammond's death.

From the guide to the Herbert Stavely Sammond papers, Bulk, 1891-1958, 1885-1964, (Brooklyn Historical Society)