OLD PARISHES 

 TO BE UNITED 



Dr. Hale's Church and 

 South Congregational 

 Society Plan Merger 



SALE OF LATTER'S 

 BUILDING PLANNED 



Negotiations for a union of the 

 First Church in Boston, Berkeley 

 and Marlboro streets, and the South 

 Cong-regational Society, Dr. Edward 

 Everett Hale's church, Newbury, 

 corner of Exeter street, are nearing 

 the final stage, and it is confidently 

 expected that, with the meeting Fri- 

 day afternoon of the governing body 

 of the South Congregational Soci- 

 ety, all the details of merging will 

 have been worked out. A meeting 

 was held at the First Church yes- 

 terday afternoon of the church com- 

 mittee, the trustees and the corpora- 

 tion of that church. 



If the plan goes through It is expect- 

 ed to result In the sale of the South 

 Conpresratlonal building. Changing 

 conditions In the Bacl< Bay are as- 

 cribed as the reasons for the contem- 

 plated change. Committees of the two 

 churches have studied the matter and 

 have stated they believe that the union 

 of the two congregations will greatly 

 strengthen their position. The com- 

 mittee for the First Church consists of 

 Jaraea P. Munroe, chairman; Arthur 

 W. Moors and Philip T>. Spaulding. ' 

 That of the South Congregational > 

 church is: P. RocI<welI Hall, chairman; 

 Edmund S. Brlgham and Augustus P. i 

 Lorlng. ' E 



WINDOWS WILL BE MOVED [ 



It is understood that it the present [ 

 plan is put into effect and the South r 

 Congregational Church building is sold, f 

 its windows and the Evans memorial I 

 organ will be removed to the First 

 Church. The chapel there -will be made 

 into the Edward Everett Hale Memor- I 



ilal Chapel, re-arrani^ed to receive three 

 or four of the windows, the busts and 

 [munil tablets, and the painting of Iho 

 jniitlvlty. now In the South Congrcga- 

 jtionul Church, and the work of Dr. 

 j Hale's da ughter. Miss Ellen Hale. 

 Those who are commomoratod by the 

 two large windows, which there is not 

 j.suincipnt space to install In the rc- 

 niiido chapel, will lie coinniomoratod In 

 some other suitablo manner. 

 I The memorabilia, now in the base- 

 rnent of the South Congregational 

 Church, it is planned to place in the 

 ba.scment of the First Church, which 

 is to be re-nrranged and retinishcd. 



The Rev. Dr. Charles E. Park, it is 

 understood, Is to continue as minister 

 of the First Church after the consolida- 

 tion. The Rev. Edward Cummings will 

 be made minister emeritus. William 

 E. Zeuch will be the organist and chor- 

 ister .and John P. Marshall* wlU be or- 

 ganist emeritus. 



The proceeds of the sale of the land 

 and buildings of the South Congrega- 

 tional Church, after the removal of the 

 treasures, wil be applied first to the ex- 

 penses of the removal and refitting, and 

 the balance constituted as the "Edward 

 Everett Hale Fund" for maintenance of 

 the memorial chapel and other pur- 

 poses. 



The plan calls for acceptance of all 

 members of the South Congregational 

 Society as members of the First 

 Church, subject to the bylaw of the lat- 

 ter governing admission to membership. 



It is further planned to elect new of- 

 ficers of the First Church in May next. 

 Meanwhile, the committees and trus- 

 tees of both churches are to hold Joint 

 control. 



HISTORY OF FIRST CHURCH 



The First Church In Boston was or- 

 ganized by John Winthrop, Thomas 

 Dudley and others In Charlestown in 

 1630 and was removed to Boston in 1632. 

 when the first meeting house was built 

 on the south side of what is now State 

 street, at the Devonshire street corner. 

 A more elaborate structure was built 

 in Cornhfll in 1640, but was burned in 

 1711. In 171.? what was later known as 



; the "Olif Brick" was built. In ISOS, the 

 society moved into a new church in 



1 Chauncy place, and In ISSS the present 



, building at Berkeley and Marlboro 



, streets was erected. 



Among its ministers were John Cot- 



j ton. John Wilson, John Xorton, John 

 Davenport, Charles Chauncy, John 



• Clarke, William Emerson, John D, Ab- 



. hot, Nathani«;l L. Frothingham, Rufus 

 Ellis, S. W.' Brooke, J. Ells and Dr. 

 Park. Under Charles Chauncy, the 

 church became liberal, and under Will- 

 iam Emerson it became definitely Uni- 

 tarian. 



The South Congregational Society 

 -was organized in 1S27, two years after 

 the American Unitarian Association 

 was organized. Its ministries have in- 

 cluded those of the Rev. Mollis I. Motte, 

 Frederic D. Huntington, and Edward 

 Everett Hale. The Rev. Mr. Cummings 

 was installed in 1900. 



In 18S8, the South Congregational 

 Church took over the Hollls Street 

 Church. The windows of the present ' 

 structure are those of the Hollis SircQt 

 CHiurch with the exception of the Starr 

 King window. One window is the Anne 

 Morgan memorial io her ancestor, John 

 Pierpont, grandfather of the late John 

 Pierpont Morgan. 



THE BOSTON HERALD 



<^'EDN ESDA Y, JUNE 24. 1925] 



The Old Hollis 



In the now contemplated conroli- 

 datiou of the First Church, of which 

 the Rev. Dr. Charles E. Park is the ^ 

 minister, and the South Congrega- 

 tional, identified with the Rev. Dr ! 

 Edward Everett Hale and its present j 

 minister, llic Rev. Dr. Edward Cum-; 

 mings — we sliould not forget tliat 

 the latter had itself absorbed 

 the Hollis Street, which once occu- 

 pied what is now the theatre of that 



[.name. Even though removed from 

 the thoroughfare which gave the i 

 designation to the society, the church 



' continued, on Newbury street, to call 

 itself the Hollis Street. Thus three 



I religious societies of long and dis- 

 tinguished history are in process of 

 welding. Let us recall the story of 

 the Hollis Street Church. 



' Its first edifice, a little wooden 

 building, dates back to 17.32. Its first 

 minister was Iilather Byles, a wit 

 and a scholar, who contested the 

 right of his people to dismiss him in 

 revolutionary days tecause of his 

 ■loyalty to the King. The street had 



I been named for- Thomas Hollis of 

 London, one of the great benefactors 

 of Harvard College, whose name 

 has also been perpetuated in Hollis 

 hall. This first meeting house was 



'burned in 1787; the one built in its 

 place was allowed to remain only 



,; until 1810, when it gave place to the 



' present structure, the walls of which 

 now enclose the theatre. 



As a church, Hollis Street's line 



!of pastors proved 'distinguished. 

 They included Samuel West, John 

 rierpont — the poet-preacher and 

 great-grandfather of the present J. 

 Pierpont Morgan — and Thomas 



I Starr King, who helped as a San 

 Francisco minister to save California i 

 I., the Union, and whose Journeys in 

 llic White mountains brought that ! 

 region to the knowledge of the pub- 



'lic. Benjamin Bussey, another of 

 Harvard's great benefactors, pre- ; 

 scntcd to the old church tables bear- 

 ing the ten com mandnicnts. Thus re- , 



i plctc with historic memorials was i 



'the old Hollis Street Church. 



Among the ministers in its Back 

 Bay homo the Rev. TL Bernard Car- 

 penter proved one of the most vig- 

 orous and interesting, lle^bolongcd 

 to thtj last quarter of the" old cen- 

 tury. 



