Old South Church in
Boston, Massachusetts, (also known as New Old South Church or Third Church) is a historic
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style by
Charles Amos Cummings
Charles Amos Cummings (June 26, 1833 – August 11, 1905) was a nineteenth-century American architect and architectural historian who worked primarily in the Venetian Gothic style. Cummings followed the precepts of British cultural theorist ...
and
Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears (November 5, 1837 – May 21, 1920) was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles.
In 1861, Sears opened ...
, completed in 1873, and amplified by the architects
Allen & Collens
Allen & Collens was an architectural partnership between Francis Richmond Allen and Charles Collens that was active from 1904 to 1931. ''See also:'' Allen had previously worked in the Boston-based partnerships Allen & Kenway (1878–91) and ...
between 1935–1937. The church, which was built on newly filled land 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 ...
section of Boston, is located at 645
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...
on
Copley Square
Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...
. It was designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1970 for its architectural significance as one of the finest High Victorian Gothic churches in New England.
It is home to one of the oldest religious communities in the United States.
History of the congregation
Established in 1669, Old South Church is one of the older religious communities in the United States. It was organized by
Congregationalist dissenters from
Boston's First Church and was known as the Third Church (to distinguish it from the First and
Second Congregational Churches in the city). The Third Church's congregation met first in their Cedar Meeting House (1670), then at the
Old South Meeting House
The Old South Meeting House is a historic Congregational church building located at the corner of Milk and Washington Streets in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, built in 1729. It gained fame as the organizing point for th ...
(1729) at the corner of Washington and
Milk Streets 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 ...
.
![Old South Church Christmas Eve Services 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Old_South_Church_Christmas_Eve_Services_2017.png)
Members of the congregation have included founders Edward Raynsford, Thomas Savage,
John Alden
John Alden (c. 1598 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Sou ...
,
John Hull (
mintmaster), Judith Quincy Hull and parishioners
Daniel Quincy
Daniel Quincy (16511690), trained as a silversmith under John Hull, his uncle by marriage (Judith Quincy Hull). Daniel lived with John and Judith Hull from the age of seven and was trained in the Hull and Sanderson mint on Summer Street (Bosto ...
,
John Alden Jr., Members of the congregation have included
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
,
William Dawes
William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outse ...
,
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
,
Samuel Sewall
Samuel Sewall (; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay ''The Selling ...
, and
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...
. In 1773, Samuel Adams gave the signals from the Old South Meeting House for the "war whoops" that started the
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...
.
During the
Unitarian Movement of the early 19th century, Old South was the sole Congregational Church in Boston to adhere to the doctrine of
Trinitarianism
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
. In 1816 Old South Church joined with
Park Street Church
Park Street Church, founded in 1804, is a historic and active evangelical congregational megachurch in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The Park Street Church is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. Typical attendance a ...
to form the
City Mission Society
The City Mission Society, is a social justice agency founded in 1816 by the congregations of Old South Church and Park Street Church with a mission to serve the urban poor of metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts.
Nearly 200 years old, the City Missi ...
, a social justice society to serve Boston's urban poor. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, Old South became a recruiting center for the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
under minister Jacob Manning. Though the congregation was not entirely abolitionist, it strongly supported the Union cause. The conclusion of the Civil War was followed by an expansive time of increased inclusion for the congregation. Under minister George Angier Gordon the congregation moved from its meeting house at Washington Street to its
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 ...
location in 1875, occupying the present church constructed on newly filled land.
Old South's commitment to urban ministry and care continued on into the 20th century becoming a segue for the inclusion of new members increasingly diverse by race, class, and sexual orientation. The congregation has formally adopted a platform of equality, social justice, and peace.
Architecture
The church building was designed between 1870 and 1872 by the Boston architectural firm of
Cummings and Sears
Cummings and Sears (est. 1864) was an architecture firm in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, established by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears.
History and legacy
In the 1860s they kept an office in the Studio Building on Tremont Stre ...
in the
Venetian Gothic
Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice, originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture, and some from Islamic architecture, reflecting Venice's trading ...
style. The style follows the precepts of the British cultural theorist and architectural critic
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
(1819–1900) as outlined in his treatise
''The Stones of Venice.'' Old South Church in Boston remains one of the most significant examples of Ruskin's influence on American architecture. The architects,
Charles Amos Cummings
Charles Amos Cummings (June 26, 1833 – August 11, 1905) was a nineteenth-century American architect and architectural historian who worked primarily in the Venetian Gothic style. Cummings followed the precepts of British cultural theorist ...
and
Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears (November 5, 1837 – May 21, 1920) was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles.
In 1861, Sears opened ...
, also designed the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
. The exterior of the church is primarily built of
Roxbury Conglomerate
The Roxbury Conglomerate, also informally known as Roxbury puddingstone, is a name for a rock formation that forms the bedrock underlying most of Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of the city of Boston. The bedrock formation extends well beyond t ...
commonly called puddingstone. Many arches, and several walls of stone, are striped with alternating courses of yellow-beige and deep red sandstone. The porticos and large open arches in the
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
are decorated with simple
plate tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
. The upper arches of the porticos are decorated with screens of ornate
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
. The building is
roof
A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...
ed in alternating bands of red and dark gray slate and the roofline finished with ornamental iron cresting.
Campanile
![OSClantern](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/OSClantern.JPG)
A tall tower, or ''
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
'', is the trademark feature of Old South and is visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The tower, on the western end of the church, rises to a height of 246' and houses the church's 2,020-pound bell. This is the second campanile built on the same site, designed by Allen & Collens it is similar to the 1875 design in its use of Moorish arches. The first tower, completed in 1875 along with the present Narthex and sanctuary, had begun to list by the late 1920s. The cause was determined to be the faulty footings and piles anchored in the soft former swampland. They were insufficient for the load of the tower. The congregation engaged the architectural firm of Allen & Collens to design a replacement campanile and a new chapel to be named in memory of the Reverend George Angier Gordon. The tower was dismantled, and early 1930s technology of steam shovel and steel pilings provided a lasting solution. Today, the pitch and height of the tower are tested annually and records attest to its enduring stability. The bell wheel, which by motion of a heavy rope swings the large bell, had deteriorated by the late 20th century requiring that the bell be rung by an external hammer. A faithful reconstruction of the original 1931 bell wheel, installed in early fall 2006, returned Old South's bell to "full swing."
Lantern
Centered above the Sanctuary on the east side of the church is a copper clad cupola surrounded by twelve ornate gothic arched windows. This feature is reminiscent of the cupolas of the
Basilica of St. Mark
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Pat ...
in Venice. While the lantern provides a striking visual presence, it was also built with function in mind. In the days before mechanical fans and air conditioning, a series of mechanically operated louvers allowed for window panels to be opened to help cool the sanctuary inside.
Decorative arts
![OldSouthMainDoor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/OldSouthMainDoor.JPG)
The interior of Old South is exuberant yet quietly modulates the mix of rich materials: highly carved Italian cherry woodwork, limestone, stenciled plaster, and stained glass. The sanctuary is entered from the
narthex
The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...
through a screen carved in the Venetian Gothic style from French ''
Caen limestone
Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 1 ...
''. Hidden among the carved foliage that decorates the screen can be found a squirrel, lizard, owl, and snail. A similar theme of animals is also found in the carving of the building's exterior. The interior of the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
at the east end of the church, behind the choir, is faced by a running screen of wooden arches with ''
quatrefoil
A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
'' lunettes adapted from the upper arcade of the
Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace ( it, Palazzo Ducale; vec, Pałaso Dogal) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme auth ...
in Venice. The stained glass windows are by the English stained glass manufacturers
Clayton and Bell
Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832 ...
and were produced in the style of 15th-century English glass.
1875 Cummings and Sears interior
When Old South's church opened in 1875 it looked very much as it does today, based upon the design of Cummings and Sears. The walls were decorated in
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
stenciling in shades of complex tertiary colors: a
rose madder
Rose madder (also known as madder) is a red paint made from the pigment madder lake, a traditional lake pigment extracted from the common madder plant '' Rubia tinctorum''.
Madder lake contains two organic red dyes: alizarin and purpurin.
...
background with overlays of ochre, bay leaf green, warm gray, and persimmon, and highlights of metallic gold. Most of the interior structure, except for the carved wood frieze along the balconies, was already in place by 1875. High above the crossing of the transepts and nave is the lantern, or cupola. The ceiling of the lantern was painted a deep
Prussian blue
Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue or, in painting, Parisian or Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula Fe CN)">Cyanide.html" ;"title="e(Cyani ...
with a pattern of gilded stars to represent the
firmament
In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during his creation of the world to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent ...
of God. The limestone tracery of the west wall of the sanctuary, with its foliage and animals, combined with the highly carved foliated woodwork and the overhead representation of the nighttime sky was intended to echo God's creation. Above the doors on the east chancel walls are glass mosaics of the tree of life by
Antonio Salviati
Antonio Salviati (18 March 1816 – 25 January 1890) was an Italian glass manufacturer and founder of the Salviati family firm.
Biography
A native of Vicenza, Salviati was a lawyer who became interested in glass work after participating in re ...
. A third mosaic by Salviati originally hung in the
tympanum above the tower's front doors. That mosaic was relocated to the vestibule when the tower was rebuilt 1922-1937. The combined effect was extremely rich; at once a spiritual and sensuous experience, and in great contrast to the chaste interior of Old South Meeting House on Washington Street. Stylistically the 1875 interior was in harmony with the Ruskinian Gothic exterior, and expressed Ruskin's ideal that it is "in art that the heart, the head, and the hand of a man come together."
1905 Tiffany interior
In 1905 the congregation engaged
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
to redecorate the sanctuary. Tiffany headed a group of artisans called the Associated Artists who worked largely in a style now described as the
Aesthetic Movement
Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be prod ...
. Tiffany was a part of an emerging American view of design in the United States, increasingly taking fewer cues from Europe. Tiffany had decorated Mark Twain's home in Hartford, Connecticut, the state rooms at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, and several Back Bay homes. In some ways Tiffany was an expected choice to redecorate Old South. He followed many of the ideas of John Ruskin; he believed in the dignity and importance of the human hand and eye in the decorative arts. Yet Tiffany arrived at Old South at a time when his gilded age style had begun a decline. A new wave of neoclassicism called
Beaux-Arts, and the
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...
style were replacing Victorian ornament with a simpler classicism. Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 White House renovation removed all of the Tiffany influence. In Tiffany's redecoration, Old South's stained glass windows were covered by insets of translucent tinted purple glass. The original polychrome stenciled plaster walls were painted purple, then stenciled in a series of geometric patterns with metallic silver paint intended to appear as mother of pearl inlay. Similar to Tiffany's work at Mark Twain's Hartford, Connecticut home, or his design for the White House's
Red Room. The resulting work at Old South was a highly ornamented visual experience, unified by a limited color palette.
1950s minimalism
![Old South Church (interior), Boston, Massachusetts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Old_South_Church_%28interior%29%2C_Boston%2C_Massachusetts.JPG)
In the early 1950s, possibly influenced by the minimalism of the
International Style, a second renovation of the Sanctuary took place. The mid-20th-century renovation largely ignored the architectural history of the church. Louis Comfort Tiffany's paint and stenciling was obscured by a coat of light gray paint, and the purple Tiffany glass installed over the stained glass was removed. The
oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following
Architecture
* Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
of the cupola was closed up. In some ways the removal of decoration recalled the congregation's Puritan roots.
Recognition and restoration
Old South Church's building was designated a U.S.
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1970.
In 1984 a research-driven restoration was begun. The period of the building's construction was adopted, using old photographs and engravings as sources, and paint analysis to replicate original colors, the interior spaces were returned closely to their 1875 appearance. Walls were repainted rose madder and the original Cummings and Sears' stencil patterns were recreated. The cupola was reopened, once more admitting light to the Sanctuary below. Polychrome stenciling repeated the original palette of ochre, bay leaf green, warm gray, and persimmon with metallic gold.
Organ
The church's present organ, ''Opus 308,'' was built in 1921 by
E. M. Skinner & Company of Boston for the Municipal Auditorium Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, and brought to the church in 1985 when that building was demolished. Originally 82 ranks and 5,728 pipes, it now has 115 ranks and 7,625 pipes ranging from to in length. The church had previously installed another Skinner organ in 1915; its successful inaugural concert series featured organists
William C. Hammond,
Gaston Dethier
Gaston Marie Dethier (1875 – 1958) was an American organist, pianist, and composer of Belgian birth.
Early life
Born in Liège, he was the son of organist Emile Jean Joseph Dethier (1849-1933), the brother of violinist Edouard Dethier, an ...
,
Edwin Arthur Kraft
Edwin Arthur Kraft (January 8, 1883 - July 15, 1962) was an American organist and choir-director.
Biography
Kraft was born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 8, 1883. At age 15 he became organist at New Haven's Grace Methodist Church, and soon a ...
, Charles Heinroth, and
T. Tertius Noble
Thomas Tertius Noble (May 5, 1867 – May 4, 1953) was an English-born organist and composer, who lived in the United States for the latter part of his career.
He served as organist and choirmaster at a number of churches including Ely Cath ...
.
The organ console is located behind the pulpit and is on a hydraulic platform so that it may be raised for concerts and recessed for worship services. The organ's pipes are located behind and to the right and left of the chancel and also at the back of the rear balcony above the entrance to the Sanctuary (32' and chamade). Ten ornately painted wooden pipes are mounted at the front of each side balcony.
In December 2008, construction at the adjacent
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
Copley station created a crack in the church's exterior and damage in the sanctuary.
Out of fear that its use might cause further damage, the organ was not used from then until just before Easter in 2009.
Bay Psalm Book
Old South Church is the owner of one of eleven remaining first-edition copies of the
Bay Psalm Book
''The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre'', commonly called the Bay Psalm Book, is a metrical psalter first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first book printed in British North America. The psa ...
.
The Bay Psalm Book, printed in 1640 by Stephen Daye, "was the first book printed in the what became the United States." Until 2013, when one copy was sold at auction to David Rubenstein, Old South Church owned two of the eleven first-edition copies.
Old South Church's copy of the Bay Psalm Book is currently housed in the Rare Books Department of the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
.
[Boston Public Library, Special Collections List http://www.bpl.org/research/special/collections.htm Retrieved October 23, 2016]
Senior ministers
![OSCcornerstone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/OSCcornerstone.JPG)
To date twenty ministers have served Old South's congregation as Senior Minister; they are:
;At Cedar Meeting House:
*
Thomas Thacher
Thomas Thacher (May 3, 1850 – July 30, 1919) was an American lawyer.
Life
Thomas Thacher was born in New Haven, Connecticut on May 3, 1850. He was a descendant of the Rev. Peter Thacher, the rector of St. Edmonds, Salisbury, England; and of hi ...
1670-1678
*
Samuel Willard
Samuel Willard (January 31, 1640 – September 12, 1707) was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by ...
1678-1707
*
Ebenezer Pemberton
Ebenezer Pemberton (1746 – June 25, 1835) was an American educator and 2nd Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1786 to 1793. Refusing to follow his uncle's wishes to become a clergyman, Pemberton pursued a teaching career that would ...
1700-1717
* Joseph Sewall 1713-1769
*
Thomas Prince 1718-1730
;At Old South Meeting House:
* Thomas Prince 1730-1758
* Alexander Cumming 1761-1763
* Samuel Blair 1766-1769
* John Hunt/John Bacon 1771-1775
* Joseph Eckley 1779-1811
*
Joshua Huntington
Joshua Huntington (31 January 1786 in Norwich, Connecticut – 11 September 1819 in Groton, Massachusetts) was a United States clergyman.
Biography
He was a son of Jedidiah Huntington, a general in the Continental Army during the American Rev ...
1808-1819
*
Benjamin B. Wisner
Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...
1821-1832 (departed in 1832 to become a Corresponding Secretary of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
)
* Samuel H. Stearns 1834-1836
*
George W. Blagden 1836-1872
* Jacob M. Manning 1857-1882
;At Old South Church
* George Angier Gordon 1884-1927
* Russell Henry Stafford 1927-1945
* Frederick M. Meek 1946-1973
* James W. Crawford 1974-2002
* Carl F. Schultz Jr. 2002-2005 (Interim)
* Nancy S. Taylor 2005-
See also
![Old South Church Boston 08132015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Old_South_Church_Boston_08132015.jpg)
*
Old South Meeting House
The Old South Meeting House is a historic Congregational church building located at the corner of Milk and Washington Streets in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, built in 1729. It gained fame as the organizing point for th ...
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston
This is a list of National Historic Landmarks in Boston, Massachusetts. It includes 57 properties and districts designated as National Historic Landmarks in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Another 131 National Historic Landmarks ...
*
References
* Aldrich, Megan. ''Gothic Revival.'' Phaidon Press Ltd: 1994. .
* Bunting, Bainbridge. ''Houses of Boston's Back Bay: An Architectural History, 1840-1917.'' Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: 1967. .
*
Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. ''Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.'' Yale University Press, Penguin History of Art, Second edition: 1963. .
* Hill, Hamilton Andrews. ''History of the Old South Church (Third Church) Boston, 1669–1884.'' Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press: 1890.
* Bigelow, George Frederick. ''An Historical Catalogue History of the Old South Church (Third Church)'' Private Distribution: 1883.
* O'Gorman, James F. ''On the Boards: Drawings by Nineteenth-Century Boston Architects.'' University of Pennsylvania Press:1989. .
* Placzek, Adolf K. Macmillan. ''Encyclopedia of Architects.'' 4 vols. Free Press: 1982. .
* Shand-Tucci, Douglas. ''Built in Boston: City and Suburb, 1800–2000.'' The
University of Massachusetts Press
The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
: 1999. .
* Waters, Henry Fritz-Gilbert. "Genealogical gleanings in England." ''The New England Historical and Genealogical Register." Vols. 37-52, 1883-98.
* Withey, Henry F. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased).'' Hennessey & Ingalls: 1970.
* ''History of the Old South Church of Boston.'' Published for the benefit of the Old South Fund: 1890.
External links
Old South Church in Boston official website
''The Diaries of John Hull, Mint-master and Treasurer of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay''Satellite image of Old South Churchat the site of the United Church of Christ
Boston history and architecture* 2007
{{Authority control
19th-century United Church of Christ church buildings
Bell towers in the United States
Church buildings with domes
Churches completed in 1874
Churches in Boston
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Cummings and Sears buildings
Gothic Revival church buildings in Massachusetts
Landmarks in Copley Square
Members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
National Historic Landmarks in Boston
National Register of Historic Places in Boston
Stone churches in Massachusetts
Towers in Massachusetts
United Church of Christ churches in Massachusetts
Venetian Gothic architecture in the United States