Old South Meeting House

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The Old South Meeting House was built in 1729 and is one of the oldest churches remaining in Boston.

The Georgian style brick structure stands in the same spot as its wooden predecessor which was built in 1669.  Benjamin Franklin was baptized in that building.

The meeting house was often used for gatherings when the crowd was too large to fit in nearby Faneuil Hall.  The most famous of these is the meeting of 5000 people which preceded the Boston Tea Party.

During the Siege of Boston, the meeting house was treated shabbily by the occupying British: a grog shop was established in the lower galleries, the pews were used for kindling, and the entire building was filled with two feet of soil so that it could be used as a riding school for the cavalry.  It took 8 years to repair the damage.

The church was threatened again in 1872 during the Great Boston Fire.

Then in 1876, the congregation moved to a new home away from the city center and the building was put up for sale.  An effort by the community raised over $430,000 to buy the meeting house, saving it from demolition.

The meeting house was opened as a museum in 1877.