Park Street Church - History

History

Park Street Church is a historic stop on the Freedom Trail. It was founded on February 27, 1809 by twenty-six local people, mostly former members of the Old South Meeting House who wanted a plant a church with orthodox Trinitarian theology. The cornerstone of the church was laid on May 1 and construction was completed by the end of the year, under the guidance of Peter Banner (architect), Benajah Young (chief mason) and Solomon Willard (woodcarver). Banner took inspiration from several early pattern books, and his design is reminiscent of a London church by Christopher Wren. Park Street church's steeple rises to 217 feet (66 m), and remains a landmark visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The church is adjacent to the historic Granary Burying Ground. It had its first worship service on January 10, 1810.

The church became known as "Brimstone Corner", in part because of the missionary character of its preaching, and in part because of the storage of gunpowder during the War of 1812.

Park Street Church has a strong tradition of missions, evangelical doctrine, and application of Scripture to social issues as well as a notable list of Firsts. Edward Dorr Griffin (1770–1837) served as the first pastor of the Park Street Church and preached a famous series of Sunday evening sermons attacking the New Divinity. In 1816 Park Street Church joined with Old South Church to form the City Mission Society, a social service society to serve Boston's urban poor. In 1826 Edward Beecher, the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and son of Lyman Beecher, a notable abolitionist, became pastor of the church. On July 4, 1829, William Lloyd Garrison delivered his Address to the Colonization Society at Park Street, making his first major public statement against slavery. From 1829-1831 Lowell Mason, a notable Christian composer, served as choirmaster and organist. The church hosted the debut of My Country, 'Tis of Thee, also known as America, by Samuel Francis Smith on July 4, 1831. Park Street also played a role in founding the First "Homeland" or American Mission to the then Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), where that church still stands; the Handel and Haydn Society started there. Benjamin E. Bates, an industrialist who founded Bates College in Maine in 1855, was a Sunday school teacher and active attendant of Park Street in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1857-58 evangelist, Charles Finney led a revival at Park Street which led the pastor, Andrew Leete Stone, to experience a spiritual awakening. Gleason Archer, a prominent inerrantist theologian was the assistant pastor of Park Street from 1945 to 1948, and his father, Suffolk University founder Gleason Archer, Sr., served as president of the Park Street Men's Club in the 1920s. In 1949 Billy Graham's first transcontinental mid-century crusade at Park Street. Harold J. Ockenga, notable theologian and co-architect of the (Neo-)Evangelical movement was the senior pastor from 1936 to 1969, and during this time co-founded Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with Billy Graham, co-founded Fuller Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, War Relief (which later became World Relief), and the Christian publication Christianity Today.