Park Street Church

Park Street Church is a historic evangelical congregation and landmark church beside Boston Common, and a stop on the Freedom Trail. Its white steeple has been part of the downtown skyline since the early 1800s, and the church remains an active place of worship rather than a museum. Its founding covenant, written by the original members in 1809, commits them to public worship and to the mutual care and encouragement of one another as fellow Christians.

The congregation was organized in February 1809, and its building was completed in 1810. The church played a notable role in nineteenth-century Boston: William Lloyd Garrison gave his first major public antislavery address there in 1829, and the hymn “America,” also known as “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” was first sung there in 1831. Its leaders describe a steady dedication to worship despite changing culture and politics.

What to Know

• The church stands next to the Granary Burying Ground, resting place of Paul Revere and John Hancock.
• Its steeple rises about 217 feet.
• The building was designed by the architect Peter Banner.