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 mainl ...
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 Presid ...
.
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 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 i ...
; 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 articulat ...
in the 1690s, the church moved to
Charleston, South Carolina 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 Cha ...
.
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),
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 ...
in 1972. The congregation is affiliated with the
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 mainl ...
.
See also
*
References
Further reading
* Rollin Heber Neale
An address delivered on the two hundredth anniversary of the organization of the First Baptist church Boston, June 7, 1865. Gould and Lincoln, 1865.
* Nathan Eusebius Wood
The history of the First Baptist Church of Boston(1665–1899). American Baptist Publication Society, 1899.
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