The Second Congregational Church in New York, organized in 1825, was a Unitarian congregation which had three permanent homes in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City, the second of which became a theater after they left it. In 1919 the congregation joined the Community Church Movement and changed its name to Community Church of New York. The same year its church, on 34th Street, was damaged by fire. Since 1948 the congregation has been located at 40 East 35th Street. It is currently part of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Origins

The first Unitarian Society in New York was founded May 24, 1819, and incorporated on November 15th under the name "First Congregational Church in the City of New York" (later "

Unitarian Church of All Souls The Unitarian Church of All Souls at 1157 Lexington Avenue at East 80th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1932 and was designed by Hobart Upjohn – Richard Upjohn's grandson – in the Neo-colonial ...

"), although there had been between three and five Congregational churches in the city before that. On January 20, 1821, the congregation dedicated a newly built church on Chambers Street, west of Church Street. By 1825, the church had become crowded, and many of the pew holders lived above Canal Street. A meeting was held March 19 of persons disposed to unite in building a church there for Unitarian worship, and "The Second Congregational Unitarian Society" was formed. They built a church on the northwest corner of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

and Mercer Streets, opening on December 7, 1826.

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Chann ...

preached a sermon and

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

, a member of the congregation, wrote a hymn for the occasion. Designed by Josiah R. Brady, the edifice was one of the earliest

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

buildings in New York.

Orville Dewey Orville Dewey (March 28, 1794 – March 21, 1882) was an American Unitarian minister. Early life Dewey was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Sheffield, where he spent his early life, alternately ...

became pastor in 1835, a position he held until 1848. During his tenure, on November 26, 1837, the church building was completely destroyed by fire. The congregation took temporary quarters until May 2, 1839, when their new church, which they called Church of the Messiah, opened for worship at 728–30

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, opposite

Waverly Place Waverly Place is a narrow street in the Greenwich Village section of the New York City borough of Manhattan, that runs from Bank Street to Broadway. Waverly changes direction roughly at its midpoint at Christopher Street, turning about 120 d ...

. In January 1865 that church was sold to department store magnate A. T. Stewart and converted into a theater, which subsequently operated under a series of names, including Globe Theatre, and ending with

New Theatre Comique The Church of the Messiah at 728–30 Broadway, near Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a ...

. It burned down in 1884.

34th Street

The congregation's third church, on 34th Street at the northwest corner of Fourth (Park) Avenue, was inaugurated in 1867. It was designed in Victorian Romanesque style by Carl Pfeiffer. On May 25, 1919, Rev.

John Haynes Holmes John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879 – April 3, 1964) was an American Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU. He is noted for his anti-war activism. Early life Holmes was born in Philadelphia on November 2 ...

, minister from 1907 to 1949, announced the church's change of name to Community Church of New York. He explained:

I have left Unitarianism, cut myself off from all denominational connections of every kind, that I may preach a universal, humanistic religion which knows no bounds of any kind, not even Christianity. We have … placed the support of the church on the … basis of free voluntary subscriptions. We have rewritten our covenant, eliminating every last vestige of theology, thus relegating all matters of belief to private individual opinion. … ny personis welcome to our church, whether he be rich or poor, black or white, Christian, Jew, Hindu, or Parsee.

In 2019, Community Church of New York, called their first woman to the position of Senior Minister, Rev. Peggy Clarke.

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 40.74753, -73.98160, type:landmark_region:US_NY, display=inline, name=34th Street and Park Avenue Churches in Manhattan Building and structure fires in New York City Church fires in the United States Demolished churches in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Churches completed in 1826 Churches completed in 1839 Churches completed in 1867 1864 disestablishments in New York (state) West Village SoHo, Manhattan Murray Hill, Manhattan Gothic Revival church buildings in New York City Greek Revival church buildings in New York City Romanesque Revival church buildings in New York City Victorian architecture in New York City Broadway (Manhattan) 1825 establishments in New York (state)