The Second Church (1649–1970) 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 first a

Congregational church 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 ...

, and then beginning in 1802, a Unitarian church. The congregation occupied a number of successive locations around town, including

North Square ''North Square'' is a British television drama series written and created by Peter Moffat, and broadcast by Channel 4 from 18 October to 20 December 2000. Starring an ensemble cast, including Phil Davis, Rupert Penry-Jones, Helen McCrory and ...

, Hanover Street,

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, and the

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. Ministers included

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Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administ ...

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...

, and

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

. In 1970 it merged with Boston's First Church.

History

Buildings

Through its long history, the Second Church had some eight church buildings successively, located in various parts of Boston:Chandler Robbins
A history of the Second Church
or Old North, in Boston: to which is added a History of the New Brick Church. Boston: John Wilson & Son, 1852 * North Square (1649–1776). In 1677 a new building replaced the old. * Hanover Street (1779–1849). In 1779 the Second Church merged with the New Brick Church, and moved into the New Brick's building on Hanover St. In 1845 a new building replaced the old. * Bedford Street (1854–1872) * Copley Square (1874–1914), on Boylston Street, between Dartmouth and Clarendon. Building designed by N.J. Bradlee, in the gothic revival style.Walter Muir Whitehill. The Making of an Architectural Masterpiece: The Boston Public Library. American Art Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Autumn, 1970). * 874

Beacon Street Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston Uni ...

, at Park Drive (1914–1970). Building designed by Ralph Adams Cram, now home to Ruggles Baptist Church.

Ministers

;17th–18th centuries * John Mayo (minister 1655–1673) *

(minister 1664–1723) *

(minister 1685–1728) * Joshua Gee (minister 1723–1748) * Samuel Mather (minister 1732–1741) * Samuel Checkley Jr. (minister 1747–1768) * John Lathrop (minister 1768–1816) ;19th century * Henry Ware Jr. (minister 1817–1830) *

(junior minister 1829–1832) * Chandler Robbins (1810–1882; minister 1833–1874) * Robert Laird Collier (minister 1876–1878) * Edward Augustus Horton (minister 1880–1892) * Thomas Van Ness (minister 1893–1913) ;20th century * Samuel Raymond Maxwell (minister 1914–1919) * Eugene Rodman Shippen (minister 1920–1929) * Dudley Hays Ferrell (minister 1931–1932) * DuBois LeFevre (minister 1933–1940) * Walton E. Cole (minister 1941–1945) * G. Ernest Lynch Jr. (minister 1947–1949) * Clayton Brooks Hale (minister 1950–1957) * John Nicholls Booth (minister 1958–1964) * John K. Hammon (minister 1964–1970)

Image gallery

File:Portrait of Reverend John Lathrop (1740-1816), Pastor of Old North Church, Boston.jpg , John Lathrop, minister 1768–1816 File:NewBrickChurch Bowen PictureOfBoston 1838.png, New Brick Church, Hanover St., Boston, c. 1838 File:ChandlerRobbins Boston.png, Chandler Robbins, minister 1833–1874 File:2ndChurch AudubonCircle Boston.png, Second Church, Audubon Circle, Beacon St., c. 1916

References

External links