Bay Ridge United Church

Bay Ridge United Church (BRUC) was located on Bay Ridge Parkway (636) in the Bay Ridge Section of Brooklyn, New York. The congregation was a blend of two churches from two similar but different denominations and was a member of both the Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The South Reformed Church, an offshoot of the Old First Reformed Church (Brooklyn, New York) was organized in 1838. Its first building was a plain wooden structure measuring 40 by 55 feet which stood on the corner of 43rd Street and Third Avenue. Mr. George King was the architect, the Messrs. Rhoades, the carpenters, and the Messrs. Buchanan and Van Nostrand the masons, having completed it at a contract price of $1660 on June 23, 1840.

Its first pastor was Rev. Cornelius Cullan Ardsdale. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr.Samuel Merrill Woodbridge who was installed on Dec. 12 in 1841. In 1890 he was Dean of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey.

During his pastorate the consistory bought the building then owned by the Fourth Presbyterian Church (New School) of the City of Brooklyn (Brooklyn Fourth) located on 3rd Avenue between 20th and 21st Street, Brooklyn, which was organized by the Third Presbytery of New York in the Village of Gowanus, in February, 1838. A house of worship was erected soon after, and the Rev. Robert R. Kellogg was installed June 4, 1839, by the Presbytery of Brooklyn. He was dismissed on the 7th of December following, and the congregation being few, and oppressed with debt, the church was dissolved by the presbytery, May 9, 1842. Subsequently, the building was purchased by the Third Dutch church, and for several years services were held alternately in the morning and evening in the two churches. About 1850, the congregation divided into two portions; those worshipping in the 22nd Street church known as the North Gowanus Church moved to Twelfth Street, where they were then known as the Twelfth Street Reformed Church. At the South Reformed Church the Rev. Dr. Woodbridge’s pastorate ended on April 29, 1850. He was succeeded by the Rev. Jonathan M. Rowland, who was called from the Presbyterian Church on May 18, 1852 but who died suddenly on Sunday Oct. 2, 1853.

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