The First Presbyterian congregation was founded in 1822, at a time when affluent merchants were beginning to move to Brooklyn from Manhattan. Their original church was located on Cranberry Street between Henry and Hicks Streets, and was where the celebration of Brooklyn’s official incorporation as a city was held.
First Presbyterian Church (124 Henry Street south of Clark, Brooklyn, New York) was built in 1846 and was designed by William B. Olmstead in the Gothic Revival style. The church’s memorial doorway was added in 1921 and was designed by James Gamble Rogers. The doors are constructed of Teek wood and cost more than the entire structure.
Architecturally, the church’s dominant feature is its 90-foot tower with pointed arch windows. Many of the stained glass windows in the church are by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios.
American Presbyterianism split over the issue of slavery, some members of the church, in reaction to the “New School” abolitionist preaching of Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox – who was the church’s pastor for 17 years – split to start a conservative “Old School” church, located at Remsen and Clinton Streets, while others left to help start the Church of the Pilgrims or joined the Plymouth Church.
First Presbyterian minister Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox, became known as “Brooklyn’s first abolitionist.”
The church is part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 23, 1965.