The doors remain open and welcome to all. First Church on Fifth Avenue is a visible marker of an institution whose reputation for progressive thought and action continues, as it has for three hundred years, to the present.
A Historic City Church Looking to the Future
The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York celebrated its three hundredth birthday in 2016. From its first home in 1716 in a small building on Wall Street in the center of the young city, it has grown and prospered to become a landmark on lower Fifth Avenue. Throughout its history, whenever there was a choice to be made, it has emerged on the side of tolerance and open-mindedness.
Delve Deeper into Our History and Heritage
Read A City Church: The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York by Dorothy Fowler and Donna Hurley. This second edition published to coincide with First Presbyterian’s 300-year anniversary chronicles the church and city’s evolution from 1716 through 2016 reconstructing the past of an historic city church and recounting its ministry and mission in a changing world.
Learn more about the church’s origins and development, key church events and milestones, including decisions that have changed the direction of the church, transitions in programs and leadership, and the periods of change and renewal that have enabled it to prosper for over three centuries.
The book incorporates material from church archives and interviews with key figures. Historic photos and color illustrations of the church’s more recent history are spread throughout the book. To order a copy, please call the church office at 212.675.6150.
