Old South Church, viewed from the Hancock Tower, 19th Floor
645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA see map | oldsouth.org/
United Church of Christ
- at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets
- at Copley stop on the MBTA Green Line
- across the street from the Boston Public Library
- at the northeast corner of Copley Square
- at the Boston Marathon finish line
Constructed between 1872 and 1875 for a congregation founded in 1669. Members of this historic congregation include
- Samuel Adams, Revolutionary patriot and brewer
- Samuel Sewall, judge and diarist
- Thomas Prince, minister and book collector
- William Dawes, Paul Revere’s fellow rider in 1775
- Phillis Wheatley, America’s first published black poet
- Elizabeth Vergoose, said to be the Mother Goose of nursery rhymes.
Old South Church played a significant role in American history through the bold actions of the Sons of Liberty at the Old South Meeting House. There, in 1773, Samuel Adams gave the signal for the “war whoops” that started the Boston Tea Party. During the Civil War, 1,019 men enlisted in one day at Old South to fight for the Union cause. Old South’s ministry has been distinguished by eloquent preaching on matters of theology and conscience by Samuel Willard, Benjamin Wisner, Jacob Manning, George Gordon, Frederick Meek and James Crawford. As poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “So long as Boston shall Boston be, And her bay tides rise and fall, Shall freedom stand in the Old South Church, And plead for the rights of all.” – oldsouth.org/about/history
