182 Macon

182 Macon was once owned by the famous Reverend Edward Beecher. The house simple, handsome and dignified with three stories above high basements is crowned by a series of French Second Empire mansard roof that I am sure were once topped by iron cresting. Long gone hand railing at the stoops and roof cornices could have given a better indication of the late date of this structure. The residence still radiate a feeling of quiet intimacy, emphasized by a now modern gate which separate the front yard from the side walks. This home is not protected or on any historic registers.




Part of Brooklyn Daily Eagle Obituary

Edward Beecher was born in East Hampton, New York August 27, 1803 and was slated to follow in the tradition of his father Lyman Beecher. He is the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. He graduated from Yale and studied briefly at the Andover Seminary. He became the pastor of Park Street Church in Boston in 1826, and in 1830 he became the first president of Illinois College at Jacksonville. The college grew under his leadership and he remained president for fourteen years. The reform spirit took hold of Edward and he organized the first anti-slavery society in Illinois. He resigned his presidency in 1844 after financial misfortune; religious controversies and opposition to his anti-slavery beliefs made the offer of the position of pastor of the Salem Street Church in Boston seem very desirable. He returned to the West in 1855, where he became the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Galesburg, Illinois, where he remained until 1871. That year he moved to Brooklyn and settle on 182 Macon Street where he remained until his death on July 28,1895.

Brooklyn 1880 Census