The First Baptist Church (or "Brattle Square Church") is an historic

American Baptist Churches USA The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...

congregation, established in 1665. It is one of the oldest Baptist churches in the United States. It first met secretly in members homes, and the doors of the first church were nailed shut by a decree from the Puritans in March 1680. The church was forced to move to

Noddle's Island Noddle's Island was historically one of the Boston Harbor Islands off Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the original land of Noddle's Island now makes up the southern part of the neighborhood of East Boston; it is now part of the mainland since the ...

. The church was forced to be disguised as a tavern and members traveled by water to worship. Rev. Dr. Stillman led the church in the North End for over 40 years, from 1764 to 1807. The church moved to Beacon Hill in 1854, where it was the tallest steeple in the city. After a slow demise under Rev. Dr. Rollin Heber Neale, the church briefly joined with the Shawmut Ave. Church, and the Warren Avenue Tabernacle, and merged and bought the current church in 1881, for $100,000.00. Since 1882 it has been located at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Clarendon Street in the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

. The interior is currently a pending

Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...

through the

Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975 History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Preside ...

History

1665–1837

The congregation was founded in 1665 despite a Massachusetts law prohibiting opposition to

infant baptism Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that ...

. Many of the early members of the church were persecuted and imprisoned by the

state church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

for

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

, including the first pastor, Thomas Gould. Shortly before the founding of the church, the first

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

president,

Henry Dunster Henry Dunster (November 26, 1609 (baptized) – February 27, 1658/59) was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. Brackney says Dunster was "an important precursor" of the Baptist denomination in America, ...

, was forced to resign his position for refusing to baptize his infant. Dunster had been theologically influenced by Dr. John Clarke and other Rhode Island Baptists persecuted in Massachusetts. During

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, John Myles pastored the church while on hiatus from the

First Baptist Church in Swansea The First Baptist Church and Society is a historic Baptist church in Swansea, Massachusetts. The congregation, founded in 1663, is the oldest Baptist congregation in Massachusetts and one of the oldest in the United States. The congregation w ...

, which was the first church in the state. "In 1679, the Boston Baptists built a meetinghouse in the North End of Boston, at the corner of Salem and Stillman Streets. ...In the early 1700s, the small building was replaced by a larger wooden one on the same site. Here the Church flourished, for 43 years (1764–1807) under the leadership of

Samuel Stillman Samuel Stillman (1737–1807) was an American Baptist minister. From 1765 until his death in 1807, Stillman served as pastor of Boston's First Baptist Church of Boston, Massachusetts; for these 42 years, Stillman was considered "the leading Bapti ...

." Samuel Stillman kept the doors open for services while the British invaded Boston and is said to have preached against them every single service. In 1682, under the watch of

William Screven William Screven (c. 1629 – 1713) was a 17th-century Reformed Baptist church planter and preacher from England who founded the first Baptist church in the South. William Augustine Screven was born in the town of Somerton in Somerset, Engla ...

, the church organised a spinoff mission in present-day

Kittery, Maine Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in t ...

; as a result of issues with

Congregationalism Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...

in the 1690s, the church moved to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

and is the modern day First Baptist Church meeting in

James Island, South Carolina James Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. It is located in the central and southern parts of James Island. James Island is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville metropolitan area and the C ...

1837–1882

In 1837 the First Baptist congregation moved into a new brick church building (fourth meeting house) on the corner of Hanover Street and Union Street. Preachers included Rollin Heber Neale. The congregation remained at this location until 1882.Boston Directory. 1850

1882–present

The current church building (fifth meeting house) was designed by the notable architect

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

and built in 1869–71. It opened in 1872 to serve the Unitarian congregation of the

Brattle Street Church The Brattle Street Church (1698–1876) was a Congregational (1698 – c. 1805) and Unitarian (c. 1805–1876) church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts. History In January 1698, " Thomas Brattle conveyed the land on which the meetin ...

, also known as the Church in Brattle Square, which had been demolished in 1872. The Unitarian congregation dissolved soon after moving to this building. The First Baptist congregation bought the building in 1881 for a sum of $100,000/00. The historic and prominent tower with distinctive friezes carved "in-situ" by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (sculptor of the Statue of Liberty) representing four sacraments, with faces of famous Bostonians (including

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

and

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, and Bartholdi's friends of that era, (including Garibaldi). This building was Richardson's first church in Boston before he designed his masterpiece, Trinity Church. This church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1972. The congregation is affiliated with the

References

External links

First Baptist Church of Boston Official Website
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Churches completed in 1875 19th-century Baptist churches in the United States Baptist churches in Boston Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Towers in Massachusetts Romanesque Revival church buildings in Massachusetts Religious organizations established in 1665 Henry Hobson Richardson church buildings Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts 17th-century Baptist churches North End, Boston Back Bay, Boston Stone churches in Massachusetts 1665 establishments in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts