The Second Church (1649–1970) in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

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, and then beginning in 1802, a

Unitarian Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present ...

church. The congregation occupied a number of successive locations around town, including North Square, Hanover Street,

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 i ...

, and the

Fenway Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

. Ministers included

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a serie ...

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 administrati ...

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 Meetin ...

, 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 cham ...

. 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 Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and Church (building), ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival style. Cram and ...

, now home to

Ruggles Baptist Church The Second Church in Boston (also known as the Ruggles Baptist Church) is a historic church building at 874 Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1914 in Colonial Revival style to designs by the firm of architect Ralph Adams ...

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. Henry Ware Jr. (April 21, 1794 – September 22, 1843) was an influential Unitarian theologian, early member of the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, and first president of the Harvard Musical Association. He was a mentor of Ralph Waldo Eme ...

(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