Plymouth Church started in a bar! That's right, when a seminary student looked for a location for a neighborhood Sunday School, a local German saloon owner offered his beer garden for the children. When the benches didn't arrive on time, he offered fifty beer kegs to use as chairs.

Our history is closely linked with the history of Oakland, specifically the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood. Plymouth Church was formed by the merger of two congregations in 1904: the Oak Chapel Congregational Church (est. 1894) near Piedmont Ave. on Linda and the Plymouth Avenue Church (est. 1874), formerly located near the present site of Summit Medical Center.

The first sanctuary was a little wooden church on Howe Street near MacArthur Blvd.

F rom its earliest period, Plymouth Church was among the pioneers in the field of social service and youth activities. A well-baby clinic was established, staffed by doctors, nurses, and the first clinical psychiatrist to be on a church staff. At the outbreak of World War II, Plymouth was among the few churches that we know of to take a stand against the internment of Japanese-Americans.

Plymouth Church's community center, equipped for basketball, bowling, and billiards, carried on a full program of activities. However, with the growth of other facilities for recreation in schools and playgrounds, the need for athletic community programs tapered off. It was therefore decided to build a new church of more compact size with modern equipment and parking facilities.

In 1954, the present site at the corner of Oakland and Monte Vista Ave. was acquired, and funds were gathered for a new building. In 1958, the old property was sold to Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (now the Kaiser garage), and in November 1959, the present building was dedicated.

Plymouth's denominational roots extend to the first Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock and the New England Congregationalists who defended the rights of the Africans on the Amistad, worked for the abolition of slavery, and ordained the first woman minister in 1853. Plymouth Church joined the new denomination, the United Church of Christ, formed in 1957 by a merger of the Congregational-Christian and Evangelical-Reformed churches. We are proud to be a member of the United Church of Christ, which continues to strive to live out Christ's mission of inclusion, peace, compassion and justice.