As I had been in 1948, I was again guest of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar for a week in his palace. I was called only a few miles from my former parish in Belmont to the Second Church in Boston, at 874 Beacon Street, one of the most magnificent church edifices in America. The eighth building since its founding in 1649, its stone and brick tower was higher than the Statue of Liberty, and it contained the first elevator installed in a Boston church.

The historic large Old North Church (Second Church) and its steeple in 1775

Having heard rumors that our 1770s structure was really the true Old North Church site of the Paul Revere signal lanterns, when located in the north end of Boston, I spent over a year researching 18th century records—letters, journals, diaries, books, church and state documents, surveys of sight lines, military shifts, and ship anchorages. Conclusion: a grave historical error had occurred. In the appendix of my 1959 book The Story of the Second Church in Boston (The Original Old North), I concluded that the records of the revolutionary period prove the Second Church's claim, as well as reveal the human failings that caused the misidentification of another building as the lantern site. The Second Church building had been destroyed by British troops really because rebels had used it as a signal tower.

I concluded that the main problems of Second Church arose because its Trinitarian services clashed with its Unitarian theological and social message. Slowly I phased out the communion service. My predecessor at this historic church, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the brilliant essayist and Unitarian minister, had tried and failed to accomplish this, thus causing his reluctant resignation on principle as the church's pastor in the early 1830s. Gradually I instituted change after change, accompanied by interpretations of "why," leading to an appropriate, simple and more meaningful service in Unitarian terms.

Challenged, I immediately called a legal meeting, in fairness to critics, to resolve the congregation's desires. Both sides expressed deep emotional feelings in a civil manner; nevertheless, the assembly approved the transformation by a five to one vote percentage. The historic decision was front page Boston Herald news.

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