Site 5
Charles Street Meeting House
Mt. Vernon and Charles Street
This
meeting house was built in 1807 by the white Third Baptist Church of
Boston. The question arose sometime later as to whether this name was
not strictly the property of the African church on Smith Court. The name
was consequently changed to Charles Street Baptist Church.
The segregationist tradition of New England church seating patterns prevailed here. In
the mid-1830s, they were challenged by one of the church's abolitionist members, Timothy
Gilbert, who invited some black friends to his pew one Sunday to test the rule. Gilbert
was expelled.
Joined by other white abolitionist Baptists, Gilbert went on to found the First Baptist
Free Church which became the Tremont Temple, "the first integrated church in
America."
After the Civil War, the black population of Boston increased considerably, and the
largest of its churches purchased this building in 1876. The African Methodist Episcopal
Church (A.M.E.) remained here until 1939. It was the last black institution to leave
Beacon Hill. Today the Charles Street A.M.E. is located on Elm Hill Avenue and Warren
Street in Roxbury.
Photo credit: Boston Athenaeum
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