Exploring Boston’s Religious History It is impossible to understand Other Historical Destinations in Downtown Boston Old South Church 645 Boylston Street On the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets Copley T Stop

Granary Burying Ground Tremont Street, next to Park Street Church, Park Street T Stop Burial Site of Samuel Adams and others

New North Church (Now Saint Stephen’s) 140 Hanover Street Boston’s North End

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground Hull Street Haymarket and North Station T Stops Burial Site of the Mathers

Site of Old North Church (Second Church) 2 North Square

King’s Chapel Burying Ground Tremont Street, next to King’s Chapel Government Center T Stop Burial Site of John Cotton, John Winthrop and others

John Winthrop's Home Site Near 60 State Street

14 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108

(617) 523-0470 www.CongregationalLibrary.org [email protected]

Boston without knowing something about its religious past. The city was founded in 1630 by settlers from England, popularly known as Puritans, who wished to build a model Christian community. Their “city on a hill,” as Governor John Winthrop so memorably put it, was to be an example to all the world. Central to this goal was the establishment of independent local churches, in which all members had a voice and worship was simple and participatory. These Puritan religious ideals, which were later embodied in the Congregational churches, shaped Boston’s early patterns of settlement and government, as well as its conflicts and controversies. Not many original buildings remain, of course, but this tour of Boston’s “old downtown” will take you to sites important to the story of American Congregationalists, to their religious neighbors, and to one of the nation’s oldest and most intriguing cities.

Congregational House: 14 Beacon

Park Street Proceed down Tremont and past the Granary Burying Ground (if you are so inclined, stop in for a visit) to the corner of Tremont and Park.

Corner of Tremont and Park Streets Park Street Church was organized in 1809, when all but one of Boston’s Congregational churches (Old South)

Leave the Congregational House and cross Beacon to the opposite side of the street, near City Convenience. Look up at the Congregational House building façade. The building which stands at 14 Beacon Street, just half a block from the Massachusetts State House, was for many years the unofficial headquarters of the Congregational churches in the United States. Completed in 1898, it housed many denominational organizations, including the original Library and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the nation’s oldest Protestant missionary society. In subsequent years, 14 Beacon Street would become an address familiar to Congregationalists around the world. In the 1960s, most of the Congregational Christian churches became part of the United Church of Christ, and the denominational agencies followed to new headquarters in New York and later Cleveland. Today the Congrega-

tional House hosts a diverse array of nonprofit organizations, as well as the Congregational Library and Archive. The front façade of the building includes four large bas-reliefs, each depicting an important ideal of the Congregational churches. The bas-reliefs are carved from Knoxville marble, known for its pinkish-gray coloring, and are six feet wide and five feet tall. They were originally designed by Domingo Mora, a Spaniard who was unable to continue his work due to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Mora’s work was completed by Stadtler, a Swiss artist who worked from plaster casts when carving the tableaux on the building.

had become Unitarian. Park Street’s founding members were determined to restore an orthodox presence in downtown Boston. They selected a prominent street corner and erected a building with a spire measurably taller than the Massachusetts State House at

the top of Beacon Hill. Park Street has a long and colorful history. William Lloyd Garrison, the famous abolitionist, gave his first antislavery speech in its pulpit; the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time on Park Street’s steps. The first Protestant missionaries to Hawaii were commissioned in the sanctuary, and evangelist Billy Graham’s began his famous Boston Crusade here in 1950. Park Street Church sits on Boston’s famous “brimstone corner,” a site long associated with protest and free speech—one reason why its Mayflower Pulpit jutting out from a second-storey window in the front of the church, still faces Boston Common. Today Park Street is a thriving church with multiple worship services on Sunday. It is also a site of the Freedom Trail, and during the spring and summer months historical displays and tours are available for all visitors free of charge.

We hope you enjoyed your short journey into Boston’s religious past. Those who want to know more are always welcome at the Congregational Library & Archive (we are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). With advance notice we are glad to conduct tours for visitors.

Tremont Temple

Religious Faith

Law

The first carving, looking from left to right, commemorates the Pilgrims’ observance of the Sabbath on Clark’s Island in Plymouth Bay on Sunday, December 20, 1620, and speaks to the ideal that one should “worship according to conscience.”

The second carving depicts the signing of the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620, in Cape Cod Harbor (Provincetown). The tableau represents the Puritan belief that there should be “rule under law by consent of the governed.”

Education

Philanthropy

The third carving represents the ideal of “education for service” and shows the General Court of Massachusetts founding Harvard College at Newtown (Cambridge) in October of 1636.

The final carving shows John Eliot preaching among the Native Americans at Waban’s Wigwam, Nonantum in 1642 and symbolizes the ideal of philanthropy and “community witness.”

Cross Tremont Street and turn left, heading toward Citizens Bank. Continue down Tremont until you are about halfway down the block, just outside 73 Tremont, and look across the street.

88 Tremont Street By the early nineteenth century, Congregationalists had many religious neighbors on Beacon Hill. In 1838 Timothy Gilbert, an antislavery activist, left the wealthy Charles Street Baptist Church to protest their refusal to seat an African American in his rented pew. Gilbert’s “free church,” later named Tremont Temple, opened its sanctuary to anyone who wished to worship and thus became one of the city’s first interracial congregations. By the late nineteenth century, Tremont Temple’s large theatre-style building was Boston’s largest indoor space. The church helped pay its bills by renting its facilities to all comers—revivals, animal shows, abolitionist meetings, and political rallies. In its early years, the Congregational Library even rented space in the old Tremont Temple building.

The Granary Burying Ground

The present building was erected after fire destroyed the previous one in 1893, and it was modeled after a Venetian palace. By the early 1900s Tremont Temple was nationally famous for vigorous revival preaching and for the thousands of people from rural New England, the Canadian Maritimes, and around the world who flocked to the “stranger’s Sabbath home,” sometimes impeding traffic on Tremont Street. Today the church houses several racial-ethnic congregations. The Granary Burying Ground is across the street from Tremont Temple and just below the windows of Congregational House. It is the final resting place of many members of Third Church, including “witch judge” Samuel Sewall.

The First Congregational House From the sidewalk in front of City Convenience, facing the Congregational House, proceed left, to the corner of Beacon and Somerset, walking away from the State House. Stop at the corner. The Corner of Beacon & Somerset Streets The Library’s original home was a mansion at 23 Chauncy Street (near the old Jordan’s and Filene’s department stores in Downtown Crossing). In 1871, after the collection had outgrown this space, the American Congregational Association purchased the Somerset Club House and the Gardner Estate, owned by the family of Boston philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner. The two buildings were remodeled and two years later, in 1873, the first Congregational House was dedicated.

ed a central location for Congregational organizations previously sited all around the city. The reading room was large and gracious, and the Library collection continued to grow. To help cover costs, the Congregational This building, sitting at the very top of House also rented space to several Boston’s oldest neighborhood, provid- businesses, including a carpet company and Professor Robert R. Raymond’s School of Oratory and Elocution. In the 1870s and 1880s the Congregational House at the corner of Beacon and Somerset was fast becoming the denomination’s spiritual home. It was the physical expression of a growing unity, gathering ground after the churches joined together under the framework of a National Council in 1871. But the Somerset Street building was also becoming too small. In 1896, the building was sold and lots purchased at 12 and 14 Beacon Street, where the Congregational House stands today.

King’s Chapel & King’s Chapel Burying Ground Continue up School Street and cross to the other side at the crosswalk in front of Old City Hall. Keep walking up School Street until you arrive at King’s Chapel.

Corner of School and Tremont Streets King’s Chapel was the Anglican church established by Edmund Andros, who was appointed royal governor by King James II in 1686. Needless to say, Andros was not a popular figure in Boston, and during his three short years as governor was forced to remain at home for fear of his safety. The colonists were used to managing their own affairs, and they resented the presence of an Anglican chapel in the heart of Congregational Boston.

many of its most famous members are buried here: John Cotton and Governor John Winthrop, as well as Hezekiah Usher, the colony’s first printer and publisher, and Charles Bulfinch, famed architect of many Boston landmarks.

The King’s Chapel Burying Ground is right next door to the Church, down Tremont Street. Though named for its proximity to the Chapel, its historic connection is with First Church, and

For a small contribution you may visit inside King’s Chapel. The central aisle, the fenced altar section, the stained glass and ornamentation, and the pulpit set off to one side pose a sharp contrast to the spare interior of Third Church, symbolizing the deep social and theological differences between Anglicans and Congregationalists.

French Huguenot Church Cross to the other side of Washington Street and across the square in front of Borders to the corner of School Street. Turn left up School Street and continue a short way until you reach 24 School Street. You will find a plaque on the left side of the entrance. Plaque Commemorating the French Huguenot Church Boston’s first French Huguenot Church was organized in 1716 by Protestant refugees from France. Its appearance marks a new stage in Boston’s religious history: after Massachusetts Bay lost its original charter and fell under the authority of the English crown in 1684, new laws required “toleration” of other Protestant faiths. The path was not always smooth, however. Although Boston authorities did set aside some money to assist the

“French Saints,” there are records of private complaints about the Huguenot tradition of celebrating Christmas (which many in the Colony would have considered idolatry) and kissing in public. The church, whose membership included Peter Faneuil of Faneuil Hall fame, was always small and it disbanded in 1748. The building was sold to the 11th Congregational Church, and then became the site of the city’s first public Roman Catholic mass, celebrated by French naval chaplain l’Abbe de la Poterie in 1788.

John Cotton Turn down Somerset and cross the street when able. Across from Suffolk University’s Nathan B. Miller Residence Hall you will see a set of stairs. These steps will lead to a large plaza. Cross the plaza to the shorter of the two round brick structures. Pemberton Square – Plaque Commemorating John Cotton John Cotton (1585-1652) was the minister of the St. Botolph’s church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. A learned and highly respected leader of the Puritan movement, he ran afoul of Anglican Archbishop Laud, the leader of the Church of England who regarded him as a dangerous upstart. Cotton left for New England to become minister of Boston’s First Church in 1633, sharing his duties with John Wilson. When Cotton arrived here he was granted no special rank or privilege. Congregational churches emphasized the equality of all members and required everyone to provide a public account of their conversion and to promise to live an upright life. Cotton therefore had to stand for questioning by the congregation and, once admitted to membership, wait for them to

invite him to be their pastor. Cotton became a major figure in Boston’s cultural and religious life; the city in fact took its name from his former church in Lincolnshire. He was involved in controversies with Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, both under fire for disturbing the close-knit doctrinal unity of the city’s Puritan churches. He was also a prolific writer, penning several treatises and the preface to the Cambridge Platform of 1648, a document known as the “constitution” of the Congregational churches. Cotton was also one of the chief contributors/translators of the Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This plaque notes the site of Cotton’s home on Pemberton Hill, one of the three hills on the original Shawmut Peninsula where Boston was founded (the other two are Beacon and Fort Hill, forming the “Trimountain,” from whence Tremont Street got its name).

The North End

Old South Meeting House

Turn towards 3 Center Plaza and take the steps located between 2 and 3 Center Plaza. These will take you to Tremont Street. Using the crosswalk directly in front of the stairs, cross Tremont half-way, pausing on the triangular island in the middle of the street. Ahead and slightly to the left, you will see City Hall. Use this as your point of reference for the next two sites.

Continue down Washington Street, headed towards Old South Meeting House on the corner of Washington and Milk Streets.

The North End is one of Boston’s oldest and most religiously diverse neighborhoods. To the left of City Hall, you can see the spire of the Old North Church, where Paul Revere is said to have hung his famous lanterns. Founded in 1723, it was the second Anglican church—the official church of the English crown—to be built in Boston. The North End was also home to a number of Congregational churches, including Second Church, established in 1650 for those living in the area. The so-called “church of the Mathers” ordained many famous ministers, including Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Cotton Mather, grandson of First Church’s John Cotton, participated

New North Church most notoriously in the witch trials of the 1690s, but was more widely known for his wide learning and scholarly accomplishments. North End Congregationalists had a complicated history. In 1714 a group of congregants broke off from Second Church and formed New North Church (see etching). Later, a group from New North left to form the New Brick Church. When Second Church’s building was ordered torn down for firewood in 1775—their minister John Lathrop was an ardent patriot—the displaced congregation joined with the New Brick Church. Second Church moved to the Back Bay in 1914, and joined with First Church in 1970.

310 Washington Street Boston’s Third Church was formed in 1669 by members of First Church who objected to the “Half-Way Covenant.” This was a measure instituted by the Congregational churches allowing a special form of membership for people who were not able or ready to give a public testimony of faith. Halfway members could have their children baptized but could not participate in the Lord’s Supper (a community observance memorializing the death of Christ). Proponents of the controversial measure hoped it would keep families coming to church and under the regular influence of Sunday sermons. Opponents worried that it would create lukewarm faith. Like many of Boston’s Congregational churches Old South played a political as well as religious role. In the 1680s, when the English crown sent Edmund Andros as governor, he comman-

deered the Third Church sanctuary for an Anglican service on Easter Sunday, held while angry parishioners were forced to wait outside in the cold. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party began with a meeting in the Old South sanctuary, where Sam Adams called on his Sons of Liberty to get rid of the tea sitting on ships nearby in the harbor. British authorities did not forget. They turned Old South into a riding school for British cavalry, tearing out the pews and burning them, as well as a good portion of Rev. Thomas Prince’s famous library. Third Church, also called South Church because of its location, became Old South in 1717 after another New South was organized nearby. The building you see now was built in 1730, remaining behind as an historic structure after the congregation relocated to the Back Bay in 1875. If you wish to see more of Old South you may enter for a small fee. The interior provides a wonderful example of Congregational architecture, with box pews and a plain white interior devoid of stained glass or religious images. There is no central aisle or an altar; a small wooden Communion table simply lifted up from the base of the pulpit. The pulpit, set high and in the center of the long wall, highlights the Congregational insistence on the preached word rather than liturgy or sacraments.

Anne Hutchinson’s House Continue walking along Devonshire until you reach Water Street. Turn right onto Water headed toward Washington Street. Stop at Washington and look across the street

Corner of School and Washington Streets Anne Marbury Hutchinson was born in Alford, England in 1591. She married William Hutchinson in 1612 and emigrated to New England in 1634, following her pastor John Cotton, whom she much admired. Soon after the Hutchinson family settled in Boston and joined the First Church, Anne began holding meetings in her house where church members discussed the sermon from the previous Sunday. Such meetings were not necessarily a problem—good Congregationalists were expected to take the preached word very seriously—but it was unsettling to have a woman in charge. As Anne’s group grew to sixty or more, and as she became increasingly critical of the Boston clergy, she attracted trouble. Anne Hutchinson and the “Antinomians” who shared her criticisms worried that the Congregational churches were overemphasizing good behavior as a means of salvation, especially with their strict requirements for membership. Only the grace of God could save, she argued, and anything else smacked of pride. In 1637 Anne went on trial before the

General Court of Massachusetts, charged with maligning the ministers of the colony. At first she matched her accusers text by biblical text. But when the case against her actually looked like it might fail, she sealed her fate with the insistence that she had such a close relationship with God that she could actually hear “his own spirit in my soul.” This was too much for the assembled clergy, who found her guilty of insubordination and banished her from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Six days after the Court’s ruling, Anne and her family moved to Rhode Island and, a few years later, to what is now Pelham Bay, New York. There Anne and her entire family save one were killed in a raid by Native Americans in 1643.

The “Manifesto” Church To the Right of City Hall To the right of City Hall (the southwest corner of the building) is the likely location of Boston’s Fourth Congregational Church. It was also known as the Brattle Street Church, for the family donating the land, and as the Manifesto Church, because of its public disagreements with Congregational practice around church membership. Founded in 1698, Brattle Street reflected growing dissatisfaction with the strict standards laid down by the early settlers. While the first Congregationalists had required public testimony of personal conversion for all new members, Brattle Street required only evidence of “visible sanctity.” Instead of requiring a lengthy commentary every time the Bible was read in Sunday worship, the church allowed members the freedom to listen and reflect on their own. Brattle Street was also the first church in Boston to have an or-

gan, a sharp contrast to the plain, unadorned worship typical of Congregational churches. Benjamin Coleman, Brattle Street’s first minister, was also a great supporter of the First Great Awakening, an upsurge of religious fervor in the 1730s and 1740s. He hosted the famous English preacher George Whitefield and helped publicize the work of Northampton pastor Jonathan Edwards, one of the Awakening’s most fervent advocates. The etching below depicts Brattle Street’s second building, completed in 1773 after a previous wooden structure was demolished. In 1871, shortly after the congregation moved to elegant new quarters in the Back Bay, it disbanded and the building became home to the First Baptist Church.

First Church

Quaker Meeting House

Finish crossing Tremont to the right side of Court Street, opposite Starbucks. Continue along Court Street, crossing Washington Street and passing the Old State House. Stop on the sidewalk behind the Old State House and look to your right at the Wine & Spirits Store, located just to the left of the 1st National Bank of Ipswich.

Turn right down Devonshire Street, and walk until you reach the first three-way intersection.

State & Devonshire Streets The founding of First Church in 1630 marks the founding of Boston. The first members originally settled in Charlestown in 1628, but were unable to find a good water supply; they gladly accepted John Blaxton’s invitation to join him on the nearby Shawmut Peninsula where Boston is now located. The original First Church building, a simple thatched-roof meetinghouse erected in 1632, was the nucleus of the developing town, located near the waterfront and the Town House. The congregation rebuilt in 1711 after a fire destroyed their sanctuary and the city passed an ordinance forbidding

constructing public buildings out of wood. The new First Church, known as “Old Brick,” is visible in the background of Paul Revere’s famous etching of the Boston Massacre. In the early 1700s, First Church minister Charles Chauncy became a leading critic of the Great Awakening and the highly emotional style of religion associated with it. Under Chauncy the church shifted its identity from Congregational to Unitarian, and parted ways with strict Calvinist orthodoxy. In 1880, the Church celebrated its 250th anniversary by moving to Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, where it still resides.

Devonshire Street and Quaker Lane In the early 1700s a Quaker meeting house stood on this spot. This was a significant achievement since for many decades Quakers had been forbidden to enter the Massachusetts Bay Colony; those who persisted, including Mary Dyer, were executed. Quakers were known for their fervent, sometimes ecstatic religious practices, based on their conviction that God’s “inner light” resided in every human heart. This individualistic spirituality put them at odds with the Congregational churches, which emphasized the importance of the gathered communi-

ty. It did not help matters when a group of Quakers came up from Rhode Island, naked and covered in soot, to denounce the wickedness of Third (Old South) Church in their meetinghouse. In 1684, however, the English crown revoked the Colony’s original charter, and Massachusetts Bay became subject to English law, including an Act of Toleration issued in 1689. This meant that Congregationalists could no longer maintain their religious monopoly in Boston, and soon Quakers, Baptists, Anglicans, and others began to gain a visible presence on the outskirts of Beacon Hill.

First Church

Quaker Meeting House

Finish crossing Tremont to the right side of Court Street, opposite Starbucks. Continue along Court Street, crossing Washington Street and passing the Old State House. Stop on the sidewalk behind the Old State House and look to your right at the Wine & Spirits Store, located just to the left of the 1st National Bank of Ipswich.

Turn right down Devonshire Street, and walk until you reach the first three-way intersection.

State & Devonshire Streets The founding of First Church in 1630 marks the founding of Boston. The first members originally settled in Charlestown in 1628, but were unable to find a good water supply; they gladly accepted John Blaxton’s invitation to join him on the nearby Shawmut Peninsula where Boston is now located. The original First Church building, a simple thatched-roof meetinghouse erected in 1632, was the nucleus of the developing town, located near the waterfront and the Town House. The congregation rebuilt in 1711 after a fire destroyed their sanctuary and the city passed an ordinance forbidding

constructing public buildings out of wood. The new First Church, known as “Old Brick,” is visible in the background of Paul Revere’s famous etching of the Boston Massacre. In the early 1700s, First Church minister Charles Chauncy became a leading critic of the Great Awakening and the highly emotional style of religion associated with it. Under Chauncy the church shifted its identity from Congregational to Unitarian, and parted ways with strict Calvinist orthodoxy. In 1880, the Church celebrated its 250th anniversary by moving to Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, where it still resides.

Devonshire Street and Quaker Lane In the early 1700s a Quaker meeting house stood on this spot. This was a significant achievement since for many decades Quakers had been forbidden to enter the Massachusetts Bay Colony; those who persisted, including Mary Dyer, were executed. Quakers were known for their fervent, sometimes ecstatic religious practices, based on their conviction that God’s “inner light” resided in every human heart. This individualistic spirituality put them at odds with the Congregational churches, which emphasized the importance of the gathered communi-

ty. It did not help matters when a group of Quakers came up from Rhode Island, naked and covered in soot, to denounce the wickedness of Third (Old South) Church in their meetinghouse. In 1684, however, the English crown revoked the Colony’s original charter, and Massachusetts Bay became subject to English law, including an Act of Toleration issued in 1689. This meant that Congregationalists could no longer maintain their religious monopoly in Boston, and soon Quakers, Baptists, Anglicans, and others began to gain a visible presence on the outskirts of Beacon Hill.

Anne Hutchinson’s House Continue walking along Devonshire until you reach Water Street. Turn right onto Water headed toward Washington Street. Stop at Washington and look across the street

Corner of School and Washington Streets Anne Marbury Hutchinson was born in Alford, England in 1591. She married William Hutchinson in 1612 and emigrated to New England in 1634, following her pastor John Cotton, whom she much admired. Soon after the Hutchinson family settled in Boston and joined the First Church, Anne began holding meetings in her house where church members discussed the sermon from the previous Sunday. Such meetings were not necessarily a problem—good Congregationalists were expected to take the preached word very seriously—but it was unsettling to have a woman in charge. As Anne’s group grew to sixty or more, and as she became increasingly critical of the Boston clergy, she attracted trouble. Anne Hutchinson and the “Antinomians” who shared her criticisms worried that the Congregational churches were overemphasizing good behavior as a means of salvation, especially with their strict requirements for membership. Only the grace of God could save, she argued, and anything else smacked of pride. In 1637 Anne went on trial before the

General Court of Massachusetts, charged with maligning the ministers of the colony. At first she matched her accusers text by biblical text. But when the case against her actually looked like it might fail, she sealed her fate with the insistence that she had such a close relationship with God that she could actually hear “his own spirit in my soul.” This was too much for the assembled clergy, who found her guilty of insubordination and banished her from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Six days after the Court’s ruling, Anne and her family moved to Rhode Island and, a few years later, to what is now Pelham Bay, New York. There Anne and her entire family save one were killed in a raid by Native Americans in 1643.

The “Manifesto” Church To the Right of City Hall To the right of City Hall (the southwest corner of the building) is the likely location of Boston’s Fourth Congregational Church. It was also known as the Brattle Street Church, for the family donating the land, and as the Manifesto Church, because of its public disagreements with Congregational practice around church membership. Founded in 1698, Brattle Street reflected growing dissatisfaction with the strict standards laid down by the early settlers. While the first Congregationalists had required public testimony of personal conversion for all new members, Brattle Street required only evidence of “visible sanctity.” Instead of requiring a lengthy commentary every time the Bible was read in Sunday worship, the church allowed members the freedom to listen and reflect on their own. Brattle Street was also the first church in Boston to have an or-

gan, a sharp contrast to the plain, unadorned worship typical of Congregational churches. Benjamin Coleman, Brattle Street’s first minister, was also a great supporter of the First Great Awakening, an upsurge of religious fervor in the 1730s and 1740s. He hosted the famous English preacher George Whitefield and helped publicize the work of Northampton pastor Jonathan Edwards, one of the Awakening’s most fervent advocates. The etching below depicts Brattle Street’s second building, completed in 1773 after a previous wooden structure was demolished. In 1871, shortly after the congregation moved to elegant new quarters in the Back Bay, it disbanded and the building became home to the First Baptist Church.

The North End

Old South Meeting House

Turn towards 3 Center Plaza and take the steps located between 2 and 3 Center Plaza. These will take you to Tremont Street. Using the crosswalk directly in front of the stairs, cross Tremont half-way, pausing on the triangular island in the middle of the street. Ahead and slightly to the left, you will see City Hall. Use this as your point of reference for the next two sites.

Continue down Washington Street, headed towards Old South Meeting House on the corner of Washington and Milk Streets.

The North End is one of Boston’s oldest and most religiously diverse neighborhoods. To the left of City Hall, you can see the spire of the Old North Church, where Paul Revere is said to have hung his famous lanterns. Founded in 1723, it was the second Anglican church—the official church of the English crown—to be built in Boston. The North End was also home to a number of Congregational churches, including Second Church, established in 1650 for those living in the area. The so-called “church of the Mathers” ordained many famous ministers, including Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Cotton Mather, grandson of First Church’s John Cotton, participated

New North Church most notoriously in the witch trials of the 1690s, but was more widely known for his wide learning and scholarly accomplishments. North End Congregationalists had a complicated history. In 1714 a group of congregants broke off from Second Church and formed New North Church (see etching). Later, a group from New North left to form the New Brick Church. When Second Church’s building was ordered torn down for firewood in 1775—their minister John Lathrop was an ardent patriot—the displaced congregation joined with the New Brick Church. Second Church moved to the Back Bay in 1914, and joined with First Church in 1970.

310 Washington Street Boston’s Third Church was formed in 1669 by members of First Church who objected to the “Half-Way Covenant.” This was a measure instituted by the Congregational churches allowing a special form of membership for people who were not able or ready to give a public testimony of faith. Halfway members could have their children baptized but could not participate in the Lord’s Supper (a community observance memorializing the death of Christ). Proponents of the controversial measure hoped it would keep families coming to church and under the regular influence of Sunday sermons. Opponents worried that it would create lukewarm faith. Like many of Boston’s Congregational churches Old South played a political as well as religious role. In the 1680s, when the English crown sent Edmund Andros as governor, he comman-

deered the Third Church sanctuary for an Anglican service on Easter Sunday, held while angry parishioners were forced to wait outside in the cold. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party began with a meeting in the Old South sanctuary, where Sam Adams called on his Sons of Liberty to get rid of the tea sitting on ships nearby in the harbor. British authorities did not forget. They turned Old South into a riding school for British cavalry, tearing out the pews and burning them, as well as a good portion of Rev. Thomas Prince’s famous library. Third Church, also called South Church because of its location, became Old South in 1717 after another New South was organized nearby. The building you see now was built in 1730, remaining behind as an historic structure after the congregation relocated to the Back Bay in 1875. If you wish to see more of Old South you may enter for a small fee. The interior provides a wonderful example of Congregational architecture, with box pews and a plain white interior devoid of stained glass or religious images. There is no central aisle or an altar; a small wooden Communion table simply lifted up from the base of the pulpit. The pulpit, set high and in the center of the long wall, highlights the Congregational insistence on the preached word rather than liturgy or sacraments.

French Huguenot Church Cross to the other side of Washington Street and across the square in front of Borders to the corner of School Street. Turn left up School Street and continue a short way until you reach 24 School Street. You will find a plaque on the left side of the entrance. Plaque Commemorating the French Huguenot Church Boston’s first French Huguenot Church was organized in 1716 by Protestant refugees from France. Its appearance marks a new stage in Boston’s religious history: after Massachusetts Bay lost its original charter and fell under the authority of the English crown in 1684, new laws required “toleration” of other Protestant faiths. The path was not always smooth, however. Although Boston authorities did set aside some money to assist the

“French Saints,” there are records of private complaints about the Huguenot tradition of celebrating Christmas (which many in the Colony would have considered idolatry) and kissing in public. The church, whose membership included Peter Faneuil of Faneuil Hall fame, was always small and it disbanded in 1748. The building was sold to the 11th Congregational Church, and then became the site of the city’s first public Roman Catholic mass, celebrated by French naval chaplain l’Abbe de la Poterie in 1788.

John Cotton Turn down Somerset and cross the street when able. Across from Suffolk University’s Nathan B. Miller Residence Hall you will see a set of stairs. These steps will lead to a large plaza. Cross the plaza to the shorter of the two round brick structures. Pemberton Square – Plaque Commemorating John Cotton John Cotton (1585-1652) was the minister of the St. Botolph’s church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. A learned and highly respected leader of the Puritan movement, he ran afoul of Anglican Archbishop Laud, the leader of the Church of England who regarded him as a dangerous upstart. Cotton left for New England to become minister of Boston’s First Church in 1633, sharing his duties with John Wilson. When Cotton arrived here he was granted no special rank or privilege. Congregational churches emphasized the equality of all members and required everyone to provide a public account of their conversion and to promise to live an upright life. Cotton therefore had to stand for questioning by the congregation and, once admitted to membership, wait for them to

invite him to be their pastor. Cotton became a major figure in Boston’s cultural and religious life; the city in fact took its name from his former church in Lincolnshire. He was involved in controversies with Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, both under fire for disturbing the close-knit doctrinal unity of the city’s Puritan churches. He was also a prolific writer, penning several treatises and the preface to the Cambridge Platform of 1648, a document known as the “constitution” of the Congregational churches. Cotton was also one of the chief contributors/translators of the Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This plaque notes the site of Cotton’s home on Pemberton Hill, one of the three hills on the original Shawmut Peninsula where Boston was founded (the other two are Beacon and Fort Hill, forming the “Trimountain,” from whence Tremont Street got its name).

The First Congregational House From the sidewalk in front of City Convenience, facing the Congregational House, proceed left, to the corner of Beacon and Somerset, walking away from the State House. Stop at the corner. The Corner of Beacon & Somerset Streets The Library’s original home was a mansion at 23 Chauncy Street (near the old Jordan’s and Filene’s department stores in Downtown Crossing). In 1871, after the collection had outgrown this space, the American Congregational Association purchased the Somerset Club House and the Gardner Estate, owned by the family of Boston philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner. The two buildings were remodeled and two years later, in 1873, the first Congregational House was dedicated.

ed a central location for Congregational organizations previously sited all around the city. The reading room was large and gracious, and the Library collection continued to grow. To help cover costs, the Congregational This building, sitting at the very top of House also rented space to several Boston’s oldest neighborhood, provid- businesses, including a carpet company and Professor Robert R. Raymond’s School of Oratory and Elocution. In the 1870s and 1880s the Congregational House at the corner of Beacon and Somerset was fast becoming the denomination’s spiritual home. It was the physical expression of a growing unity, gathering ground after the churches joined together under the framework of a National Council in 1871. But the Somerset Street building was also becoming too small. In 1896, the building was sold and lots purchased at 12 and 14 Beacon Street, where the Congregational House stands today.

King’s Chapel & King’s Chapel Burying Ground Continue up School Street and cross to the other side at the crosswalk in front of Old City Hall. Keep walking up School Street until you arrive at King’s Chapel.

Corner of School and Tremont Streets King’s Chapel was the Anglican church established by Edmund Andros, who was appointed royal governor by King James II in 1686. Needless to say, Andros was not a popular figure in Boston, and during his three short years as governor was forced to remain at home for fear of his safety. The colonists were used to managing their own affairs, and they resented the presence of an Anglican chapel in the heart of Congregational Boston.

many of its most famous members are buried here: John Cotton and Governor John Winthrop, as well as Hezekiah Usher, the colony’s first printer and publisher, and Charles Bulfinch, famed architect of many Boston landmarks.

The King’s Chapel Burying Ground is right next door to the Church, down Tremont Street. Though named for its proximity to the Chapel, its historic connection is with First Church, and

For a small contribution you may visit inside King’s Chapel. The central aisle, the fenced altar section, the stained glass and ornamentation, and the pulpit set off to one side pose a sharp contrast to the spare interior of Third Church, symbolizing the deep social and theological differences between Anglicans and Congregationalists.

Tremont Temple

Religious Faith

Law

The first carving, looking from left to right, commemorates the Pilgrims’ observance of the Sabbath on Clark’s Island in Plymouth Bay on Sunday, December 20, 1620, and speaks to the ideal that one should “worship according to conscience.”

The second carving depicts the signing of the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620, in Cape Cod Harbor (Provincetown). The tableau represents the Puritan belief that there should be “rule under law by consent of the governed.”

Education

Philanthropy

The third carving represents the ideal of “education for service” and shows the General Court of Massachusetts founding Harvard College at Newtown (Cambridge) in October of 1636.

The final carving shows John Eliot preaching among the Native Americans at Waban’s Wigwam, Nonantum in 1642 and symbolizes the ideal of philanthropy and “community witness.”

Cross Tremont Street and turn left, heading toward Citizens Bank. Continue down Tremont until you are about halfway down the block, just outside 73 Tremont, and look across the street.

88 Tremont Street By the early nineteenth century, Congregationalists had many religious neighbors on Beacon Hill. In 1838 Timothy Gilbert, an antislavery activist, left the wealthy Charles Street Baptist Church to protest their refusal to seat an African American in his rented pew. Gilbert’s “free church,” later named Tremont Temple, opened its sanctuary to anyone who wished to worship and thus became one of the city’s first interracial congregations. By the late nineteenth century, Tremont Temple’s large theatre-style building was Boston’s largest indoor space. The church helped pay its bills by renting its facilities to all comers—revivals, animal shows, abolitionist meetings, and political rallies. In its early years, the Congregational Library even rented space in the old Tremont Temple building.

The Granary Burying Ground

The present building was erected after fire destroyed the previous one in 1893, and it was modeled after a Venetian palace. By the early 1900s Tremont Temple was nationally famous for vigorous revival preaching and for the thousands of people from rural New England, the Canadian Maritimes, and around the world who flocked to the “stranger’s Sabbath home,” sometimes impeding traffic on Tremont Street. Today the church houses several racial-ethnic congregations. The Granary Burying Ground is across the street from Tremont Temple and just below the windows of Congregational House. It is the final resting place of many members of Third Church, including “witch judge” Samuel Sewall.

Congregational House: 14 Beacon

Park Street Proceed down Tremont and past the Granary Burying Ground (if you are so inclined, stop in for a visit) to the corner of Tremont and Park.

Corner of Tremont and Park Streets Park Street Church was organized in 1809, when all but one of Boston’s Congregational churches (Old South)

Leave the Congregational House and cross Beacon to the opposite side of the street, near City Convenience. Look up at the Congregational House building façade. The building which stands at 14 Beacon Street, just half a block from the Massachusetts State House, was for many years the unofficial headquarters of the Congregational churches in the United States. Completed in 1898, it housed many denominational organizations, including the original Library and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the nation’s oldest Protestant missionary society. In subsequent years, 14 Beacon Street would become an address familiar to Congregationalists around the world. In the 1960s, most of the Congregational Christian churches became part of the United Church of Christ, and the denominational agencies followed to new headquarters in New York and later Cleveland. Today the Congrega-

tional House hosts a diverse array of nonprofit organizations, as well as the Congregational Library and Archive. The front façade of the building includes four large bas-reliefs, each depicting an important ideal of the Congregational churches. The bas-reliefs are carved from Knoxville marble, known for its pinkish-gray coloring, and are six feet wide and five feet tall. They were originally designed by Domingo Mora, a Spaniard who was unable to continue his work due to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Mora’s work was completed by Stadtler, a Swiss artist who worked from plaster casts when carving the tableaux on the building.

had become Unitarian. Park Street’s founding members were determined to restore an orthodox presence in downtown Boston. They selected a prominent street corner and erected a building with a spire measurably taller than the Massachusetts State House at

the top of Beacon Hill. Park Street has a long and colorful history. William Lloyd Garrison, the famous abolitionist, gave his first antislavery speech in its pulpit; the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time on Park Street’s steps. The first Protestant missionaries to Hawaii were commissioned in the sanctuary, and evangelist Billy Graham’s began his famous Boston Crusade here in 1950. Park Street Church sits on Boston’s famous “brimstone corner,” a site long associated with protest and free speech—one reason why its Mayflower Pulpit jutting out from a second-storey window in the front of the church, still faces Boston Common. Today Park Street is a thriving church with multiple worship services on Sunday. It is also a site of the Freedom Trail, and during the spring and summer months historical displays and tours are available for all visitors free of charge.

We hope you enjoyed your short journey into Boston’s religious past. Those who want to know more are always welcome at the Congregational Library & Archive (we are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). With advance notice we are glad to conduct tours for visitors.

Exploring Boston’s Religious History It is impossible to understand Other Historical Destinations in Downtown Boston Old South Church 645 Boylston Street On the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets Copley T Stop

Granary Burying Ground Tremont Street, next to Park Street Church, Park Street T Stop Burial Site of Samuel Adams and others

New North Church (Now Saint Stephen’s) 140 Hanover Street Boston’s North End

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground Hull Street Haymarket and North Station T Stops Burial Site of the Mathers

Site of Old North Church (Second Church) 2 North Square

King’s Chapel Burying Ground Tremont Street, next to King’s Chapel Government Center T Stop Burial Site of John Cotton, John Winthrop and others

John Winthrop's Home Site Near 60 State Street

14 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108

(617) 523-0470 www.CongregationalLibrary.org [email protected]

Boston without knowing something about its religious past. The city was founded in 1630 by settlers from England, popularly known as Puritans, who wished to build a model Christian community. Their “city on a hill,” as Governor John Winthrop so memorably put it, was to be an example to all the world. Central to this goal was the establishment of independent local churches, in which all members had a voice and worship was simple and participatory. These Puritan religious ideals, which were later embodied in the Congregational churches, shaped Boston’s early patterns of settlement and government, as well as its conflicts and controversies. Not many original buildings remain, of course, but this tour of Boston’s “old downtown” will take you to sites important to the story of American Congregationalists, to their religious neighbors, and to one of the nation’s oldest and most intriguing cities.