![]() ![]() Old South continues to serve as a catalyst for intellectual thought and energy by sponsoring public forums, debates, concerts and theatrical presentations year round. ![]() In the 1920s, Old South enacted a policy to grant the use of the building to groups otherwise denied a public platform. Since 1877, Old South has served as a museum, historic site, educational institution, and a sanctuary for free speech. The movement to save Old South helped to usher in the nation's historic preservation movement, which has led to the preservation of thousands of historically significant buildings nationwide. Philanthropist Mary Hemenway, abolitionist Wendell Phillips, and the writers Julia Ward Howe and Ralph Waldo Emerson led this effort. Old South narrowly escaped the wrecking ball as a result of one of the first successful efforts to preserve a historic structure. Though the British forces evacuated Boston in the March of 1776, it was not until 1783 when the congregation at last restored Old South as a place of worship.Ī century later, and after surviving the 1872 Great Fire of Boston, the Old South congregation sold the building and moved to Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. They ripped out the pews, installed a bar in the first balcony, and used Old South as a riding school for the British Cavalry. During the occupation of Boston by British troops, the British avenged the night of the Tea Party by turning Old South into a riding stable. War broke out hardly a year after this punishment for the Tea Party took place. The punishment for the Boston Tea Party meant a return of British soldiers, a closure of the economically vital Boston Harbor, and many restrictions to local government and public meetings by June of 1774. When the negotiations failed, disguised men took action and destroyed over 1.5 million dollars worth of tea in today's money. Some 5,000 angry colonists gathered at Old South to protest a tax on tea. And then, on the night of December 16, 1773, they acted. They argued about the Boston Massacre, and they protested impressment of American sailors into the British Navy. When rumblings started to shake the colonies and the Revolution grew imminent, patriots flocked to Old South to debate the most pressing issues of the day. ![]() Phillis Wheatley, the first published Black poet, was a member, as were patriots James Otis, Thomas Cushing, and William Dawes. In colonial times, statesman Benjamin Franklin was baptized here. Built in 1729, Old South Meeting House has played an integral role in American history, a role unforseen by its founding Puritan congregation. ![]()
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