The Hollis Street Church (1732 - 1887) in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, was a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

(1732 - c. 1800) and Unitarian (c. 1800 - 1887) church. It merged with the South Congregational Society of Boston in 1887.

Brief history

1732-1825

In the early years of the church, pew-holders included Benjamin Church,

Caleb Davis Caleb Davis (October 25, 1738 – July 6, 1797) was an American merchant, revolutionary patriot, and public servant in Boston, Massachusetts. He held several positions of public trust, including state legislator (1776–1788), Speaker of the Mass ...

, and Benjamin West. A fire in 1787 destroyed the church building. Architect

Charles Bulfinch Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Tra ...

designed the replacement in 1788. In 1810-1811, a brick building replaced Bulfinch's wood structure. "The wooden age yields to the brick; comfort now aspires to elegance." The old Bulfinch building "was purchased by the Union Religious Society of Braintree and Weymouth, ... taken down piece by piece, floated on a raft to Braintree and rebuilt on Quincy Ave near Commercial St. next to the railroad tracks. The church design was slightly altered and a new bell, forged by Paul Revere, was placed in the clock tower. First services were held in the church in November 1810." Hollis Street Church Boston 1810-1885

1825-1887

By 1825, some of the congregation sought to create another church to alleviate overcrowding, and so established the South Congregational Society. In 1883-1884 the church congregation erected a new building 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 ...

area of Boston, on

Newbury Street Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east–west, from the Boston Public Garden to Brookline Avenue. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entranc ...

at Exeter Street. It was designed by architect George Meacham. Ministers included

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union dur ...

. In 1887 the New Hollis Street Church congregation joined the South Congregational Society, which in 1925 merged with the

First Church of Boston First Church in Boston is a Unitarian Universalist Church (originally Congregationalist) founded in 1630 by John Winthrop's original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building, located on 66 Marlborough Street in the Back ...

. The old Hollis Street building was sold, and later the site became the Hollis Street Theatre.

Ministers

Mather Byles Mather Byles (born 26 March 1706, Boston, Massachusetts – 5 July 1788), was an American clergyman active in British North America. Byles was descended, on his mother's side, from John Cotton and Richard Mather and was a grandson of ...

(1732-1777)Hollis Street Church (Boston, Mass.) Records (bMS 5)
Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School. * Ebenezer Wight (1778-1788) * Samuel West (1789-1808) * Horace Holley (1809-1818) *

John Pierpont John Pierpont (April 6, 1785 – August 27, 1866) was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His poem '' The Airs of Palestine'' made him one of the best-known poets in the U.S. in his da ...

(1819-1845) * David Fosdick (1846-1847) *

Thomas Starr King Thomas Starr King (December 17, 1824 – March 4, 1864), often known as Starr King, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War, and Freemason. Starr King spoke z ...

(1848-1860) * George Leonard Chaney (1862-1877) * Henry Bernard Carpenter (1878-1887).

Gallery

File:HollisStChurch Bowen PictureOfBoston 1838.png, Hollis Street Church, 1838 File:HollisStChurch Boston HomansSketches1851.jpg, Hollis Street Church, 1851 File:Historic American Buildings Survey, (a) Ext- Old view from northeast. (Old Photo taken about 1870) From Bostonian Society Collection - Hollis Street Church, Hollis Street, HABS MASS,13-BOST,48-2.tif, Hollis Street Church, c. 1870 File:Historic American Buildings Survey (d) Int- Old view showing gallery and organ at east end. (old photo taken about 1870) From Bostonian Society Collection - Hollis Street Church HABS MASS,13-BOST,48-4.tif, View of organ, c. 1870 File:HollisStChurch crop BPL.jpg, View of pulpit File:Reverend John Pierpont.png, Reverend John Pierpont

Brief history

1732-1825

1825-1887

Ministers

Gallery

References

Further reading