First Church in Boston is a

Unitarian Universalist Church 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) ...

(originally Congregationalist) founded in 1630 by

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

's original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building, located on 66 Marlborough Street 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 ...

neighborhood, was designed by Paul Rudolph in a modernist style after a fire in 1968. It incorporates part of the earlier gothic revival building designed by William Robert Ware and

Henry Van Brunt Henry Van Brunt FAIA (September 5, 1832 – April 8, 1903) was a 19th-century American architect and architectural writer. Life and work Van Brunt was born in Boston in 1832 to Gershom Jacques Van Brunt and Elizabeth Price Bradlee. Van Brun ...

in 1867. The church has long been associated with

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

History

The church congregation was established in 1630, when the settlers on the ''

Arbella ''Arbella'' or ''Arabella'' was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet on which Governor John Winthrop, other members of the Company (including William Gager), and Puritan emigrants transported themselves and the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Co ...

'' arrived at the site of present-day

Charlestown, Massachusetts Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett tribe, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins ...

. John Wilson was the first minister, and the only minister while the church was in Charlestown. Two years later they constructed a meeting house across the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles bac ...

near what is now State Street in Boston, and Wilson was officially installed as minister there. In 1633 John Cotton arrived from England, and was a teaching elder at the church, helping to establish the foundation of the

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 ...

, the official

state church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

of Massachusetts. In 1677 Dorcas ye blackmore, a freed slave, became the first African American allowed to become a member of the church. In the 18th century, Charles Chauncy was a minister at First Church for sixty years, where he gained a reputation for opposing what he believed was the emotionalism of Jonathan Edwards during the

Great Awakening Great Awakening refers to a number of periods of religious revival in American Christian history. Historians and theologians identify three, or sometimes four, waves of increased religious enthusiasm between the early 18th century and the lat ...

. A schism developed at the turn of the 19th century: this Trinitarian Christian church eventually transformed into a Unitarian congregation by the mid-19th century, as did many of the other state churches in Massachusetts. Massachusetts' state churches (largely Unitarian and Congregationalist, including First Church), were officially disaffiliated from the government in 1833. In the 19th century, the First Church moved to

in Boston. The building at 66 Marlborough Street in Boston dated from 1868, and was designed by Boston architects William Robert Ware and

. Second Church, also known as the "Church of the Mathers", was founded in 1649 when the population spread to the North End and justified an additional congregation sited closer to those individuals' homes. From 1664 to 1741, its clergy consisted of

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 admini ...

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 Samuel Mather. Both churches were examples of the westward movement of Boston churches from the crowded, older downtown area to the newer, more fashionable Back Bay. This area was developed for residential use after lowlands were filled in during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Second Church's Back Bay location in the Fenway was sold (it is now owned by the Ruggles St. Baptist congregation) just before the merger. After a disastrous fire in 1968, First Church and Second Church merged and built a new building at the 66 Marlborough Street location.

Architecture

The current building incorporates the ruined street facade and " puddingstone" steeple tower of the previous church on the site (by Ware & van Brunt, 1868), which had burned in 1968. After a call for designs, the congregation voted for the proposal by Paul Rudolph, which was completed in 1972. The light-flooded, soaring interior is finished with Rudolph's characteristic

bush hammer A bush hammer, also known as an axe hammer, is a masonry tool used to texturize stone and concrete. The term is derived from the German word ''bosshammer'', where Old German ''bossen'' meant "to beat". Description and use Bush hammers exist i ...

ed "corduroy concrete" surfaces. Decades later, the interiors are immaculately preserved. Great care has been taken not to permanently change the walls, and to reproduce the original textile decorations. However, the congregation has made an inspired non-permanent repurposing of the corrugated concrete interior finish, by pressing copper foil ribbons with names of members into the vertical grooves, in a non-hierarchical fashion. File:2007 1stChurch Boston MA 382333230 a5f3856548 o.jpg, 1868 steeple tower File:2007 1stChurch Boston MA 382336789.jpg, Charred

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window' ...

frame and facade File:2007 1stChurch Boston MA 382334061.jpg, Exterior steps forming an

amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

File:2007 1stChurch Boston MA 2070348322.jpg, View towards sanctuary File:2007 1stChurch Boston MA 2067441398.jpg, Organ loft, finished in "corduroy concrete"

Notable people associated with the church

Lowell Mason Lowell Mason (January 8, 1792 – August 11, 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known ...

(organist 1807-1811) * John Wilson (pastor 1632–1667; died 1667) * John Cotton (pastor 1633–1652) *

, founder and governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony * John Norton (pastor 1656–1663) * John Davenport (pastor 1668–1670) * James Allen (pastor 1668–1710; died 1710) * John Oxenbridge (pastor 1670–1674) * Joshua Moodey (pastor 1684–1692; died 1697) * John Bailey (pastor 1693–1697; died 1697) * Benjamin Wadsworth (pastor 1696–1737) * Thomas Bridge (pastor 1705–1715; died 1715) * Thomas Foxcroft (pastor 1717–1769) * Charles Chauncy (pastor 1727–1787) * John Clarke (pastor 1778–1798) * William Emerson (pastor 1799–1811) * John Lovejoy Abbot (pastor 1813–1814) * Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (minister 1815–1850) * Sophia Henrietta Emma Hewitt (music director 1815–17(?), daughter of

James Hewitt James Lifford Hewitt (born 30 April 1958) is a British former cavalry officer in the British Army. He came to public attention in the mid-1990s after he disclosed an affair with Diana, Princess of Wales, while she was still married to then-Pri ...

Charles Zeuner Grave in Paris ( Cimetière de Montmartre). Charles Zeuner (20 September 1795 Eisleben, Saxony - 7 November 1857 Philadelphia) was an American organist and composer originally active in Germany, then in Boston and Philadelphia in the United State ...

(music director 1839–?) * Lucien H Southard (music director 1848–?) * Rufus Ellis (pastor 1853–c. 1885; died 1885) *

Whitney Eugene Thayer Whitney Eugene Thayer (December 11, 1838, Mendon, Massachusetts – June 27, 1889, Burlington, Vermont) was an American organist and composer. Thayer gave his first concert just after the installation of the new organ in the Boston Music Hall i ...

(music director 1869–1875) * Arthur Foote (music director 1878–1910) * Charles Edwards Park (minister 1906–1946, emeritus 1946–1962) * Rhys Williams (minister 1960–2000) * Stephen Kendrick (minister 2001–present) *

Paul Cienniwa Paul Cienniwa is an American harpsichordist, organist, choral conductor, and arts administrator. He is the Executive Director of the Binghamton Philharmonic. Previously, he was a Music Director at First Church in Boston and Chorus Master at the Ne ...

(music director 2006–2017)

Gallery

State St. (1632–1639)

File:1stMeetingHouse KingsBoston1881.png, First meeting house, built 1632 File:JohnWilson 1stChurch Boston.png, John Wilson (pastor 1632–1667) File:JohnCotton.jpg, John Cotton (pastor 1633–1652)

Washington St. (1639–1808)

File:17thcMap CourtSt SchoolSt Boston Drake1917.png, Location near Old State House, 17th century File:JohnDavenport 1stChurch Boston.png, John Davenport (pastor 1668–1670) File:Old Brick Church, built 1712, demolished 1808 by unknown artist Old State House Museum, Boston, MA - IMG 6790.JPG, Old Brick Church, Washington St., built 1713 File:JohnClarke 1stChurch Boston.png, John Clarke (pastor 1778–1798)

Chauncy Place (1808–1867)

File:WilliamEmerson 1stChurch Boston.png, William Emerson (pastor 1799–1811) File:1808 ChauncyPlace 1stChurch Boston.png, Chauncy Place, 1808–1867 File:1stCong ChauncyPl Boston HomansSketches1851.jpg, Chauncy Place, 1808–1867 File:NathanielFrothingham 1stChurch Boston.png, Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (pastor 1815–1850)

Marlborough St. (1868–present)

File:Unitarian Church, Marlborough and Berkeley St, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, 19th century File:RufusEllis 1stChurch Boston.png, Rufus Ellis (pastor 1853 – c. 1885) File:2590347158 BerkeleySt Boston.jpg, Marlborough St. and Berkeley St., 1920

References

External links

First Church in Boston website

1630 Christian Covenant of First Church in Boston
{{Coord, 42, 21, 13.7, N, 71, 4, 28.3, W, region:US, display=title 1630 establishments in Massachusetts Back Bay, Boston Churches in Boston Religious organizations established in the 1630s Towers in Massachusetts Unitarian Universalist churches in Massachusetts