Plymouth United Church of Christ - Oakland

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Oakland, California ¹

Plymouth United Church of Christ was formed by the merger of two congregations in 1904: the Oak Chapel Congregational Church (est. 1894) near Piedmont Avenue 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 Boulevard, Oakland, California.

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Oakland, California ¹

In 1954, the present site at the corner of Oakland Avenue and Monte Vista Avenue 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. ¹

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Oakland, California ¹

Plymouth Church'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.

Crosses representing violent deaths in 2007. photo CC BY-NC 2.0 by Thomas Hawk
Inspired by St Columba's on San Pablo, Plymouth Church started putting up crosses in 2006 representing those who had died violent deaths. The stated goal was to show that, even in the hills, all of Oakland was affected by violence.