1636-1660 … Beginnings

A church was gathered in 1633 of which Thomas Hooker was minister, but he and the church moved to Connecticut in 1636… in part, at least, to secure additional land for cattle and crops. The meeting house was the location in 1637 of the trial of Anne Hutchinson who had claimed that most of the ministers of the colony were guilty of unsound teaching and that God spoke to her “by an immediate revelation”.…

The Church Gathering

In the fall of 1635, there came to Newtowne a new company of settlers under the guidance of Thomas Shepard. They purchased the properties of the Hooker company, who were then preparing to leave for Connecticut. On February 1, 1636, they gathered a new church, as described in detail in the journal of Governor John Winthrop.…

The Church And College

Legend for the Cambridge Illustration

1. The Second Meeting House
2. Harvard College
3. House of the Minister Thomas Shepard
4. Market Square
5. Creek Lane with road to Watertown
6. Town Wharf and Ferry Landing
7. Causeway through the Marsh
8. The Great Bridge across the Charles
9. First School House

In 1650, the town voted to repair its meeting house “with a four-square roof covered with shingle.” On second thought, it was decided instead to build anew, in a new location “on the watch-house hill,” close to the present site of Lehman Hall.” At a general meeting of the whole town, it was voted and agreed, that the five men chosen by the town to repair the meeting-house shall desist from the same, and agree with workmen for the building of a new house, about forty foot square and covered as was formerly agreed for the other.” No adequate drawing of the building exists, but a map of Boston dated 1693 shows a square building with a small tower or cupola which seems to be a representation of the meeting house.…

Growing with the Community

The Third Meeting House replaced the second on the same site in 1706. It was larger than the Second and included a gallery with a tower at one end of the building, as shown in the accompanying panoramic view.…