Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1731
Old South Church, Dorchester 1848 (Second Church)
Source of description: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1997
Codman Square’s earliest notable building is Second Church, a Federal-style meeting house originally built in 1806, with numerous later additions.
Codman Square existed primarily as a crossroads in a farming district until 1805-6, when it became necessary to build a new church to relieve the overcrowding and theological differences within the first Church at Meeting House Hill. Thus the Second Church, a pure example of neoclassicism, was built on the north corner of the square. The first minister of the new church was Reverend John Codman, after whom the square was named. Its bell was cast by Paul Revere and placed in the tower in 1816. The tower clock was a gift from Walter Baker of the Baker chocolate factory in Lower Mills. Early visitors to the church included Daniel Webster and John Adams, and today it is the oldest Congregational Meeting House in Boston still used as a church.
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