BOSTON
Julian Hall, 1832
Orson Hyde and Samuel Smith preached on June 22, 1832, "at Julian Hall, an infidel establishment." By the end of the year Orson Hyde reported a branch of "some 25 or 30 members."
Winchester Hall, 1841
Freeman Nickerson spoke on May 30 1841 at Winchester Hall, and continued preaching in Boston for several months.
82 Commercial Street, 1842
On March 9, 1842 a branch of the church was organized in Boston in the offices of Abijah Tewksbury, 82 Commercial Street, the first regular meeting place of the church.
Boylston Hall, 1843, 1847
Boylston and Washington Streets, SW corner (demolished 1888)
Conferences of the church were held here on February 9 and September 8, 1843. Wilford Woodruff reported that the sacrament was administered here in a meeting on May 16, 1847.
Franklin Hall, 1844
16 Franklin Street (now Lincoln Filene Park)
Meetings were held here in June and July.
Melodian Hall, 1844
361 (now 545-547) Washington Street
On July 1, 1844, the State Convention of Jeffersonian Democracy met “during the day and evening” with Brigham Young as President and William Smith and Lyman Wight as Vice Presidents. General Joseph Smith was nominated for president and Sidney Rigdon for vice president of the United States.
CAMBRIDGE
Cantabridgia Club, 100 Mt. Auburn Street, 1930-
The Cambridge Branch was organized in 1930 and met at 100 Mt. Auburn Street.
7 Concord Avenue, 1937-1943
The New England Mission was organized in 1937, and on September 4 the Mission Home at 7 Concord Avenue was dedicated by Apostle John A. Widtsoe.
96 Brattle Street, 1943-1955
In December 1942, Elder Levi Edgar Young, president of the New England Mission, purchased the home at 96 Brattle Street, and it was dedicated as the Cambridge Chapel in March 1943 by David O. McKay, counselor in the First Presidency.
2 Longfellow Park, 1956-present
President David O. McKay dedicated the new Cambridge Chapel on September 23, 1956. Six years later the Cambridge Ward is organized as part of the new Boston Stake. The Cambridge Ward was divided into two wards in 1974. The chapel is now home to the University Ward and the Longfellow Park First and Second Wards.
275 Third Street
Today the Cambridge First and Second Wards meet near MIT in the renovated factory of the Kendall Boiler and Tank Company at 275 Third Street, while design work is completed for a new chapel nearby that will be home to the two Cambridge wards and the Cambridge Stake.
6 comments:
Cambridge Ward thumbnail misses the division of the first University Ward from the Cambridge Ward in about 1968.
My recollection is that there were three wards meeting in Longfellow during my time 1969-71. I know there were at least two, but I am pretty sure there were three. One was a residential ward, and two were student wards. Jamie Lyon was bishop of my student ward (which included John Wright and Tony Kimball).
Allen Lambert
I moved into Cambridge Ward in 1959 when it was still fondly called "the Branch." I was 12 then. It was customary to invite students home for dinner and conversation between Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. We had many great conversatons over good food that lasted a good 3 or 4 hours between meetings. By the time I was 15 I became more interested in the undergraduate students, though the conversation was not quite as good, there were other rewards. I became especially fond of a boy from MIT. The two of us will be in the Cambridge area this weekend for our youngest son's wedding. Hope to see many old familliar faces on Saturday night.
Growing up in Chicago, I was used to a grid system which, like Salt Lake City's, based all street addresses on distance from the city center. In 1970, when I was 15, we moved to Watertown, MA for my father Peter Johnston's sabbatical year with the Harvard Community Mental Program. When we learned we would be living at 16 Fitchburg Street, I wondered how it would be possible to live right downtown in a city the size of Boston!!
During our Boston year, my mother, Charlotte Johnston, was wonderfully involved with the women of the ward and made many lifelong friends.
Maryann MacMurray, who also lived in Watertown, was our seminary teacher. She was my mentor and, among other things, often let me drive her car when I was just learning. Dean and Cheryl May taught our Sunday School class. Brother ____ Robertson was our Aaronic Priesthood advisor when I blessed the sacrament for my first time. Gordon Williams was bishop, Kent Bowen was a counselor. LuAnne Van Uidert was the cub scout leader and I helped her with a first aid lesson once. Sitting in sacrament meeting Bert and LuAnne often leaned their heads together in an affectionate, tender way.
My home teaching companion was Gordon Walker, a Harvard Business School student. He drove a sporty Pontiac and wanted to make his first million by age 30. We home taught Wilf Gardner (whom I met last night at the reunion), Hyde and Roxanne Merrill, and another couple with a toddler named Jason(?). The wife of that couple made quiet books for children and Gordon had ideas for how to make a big business.
Friends my age included Julie Clay, Lance Bledsoe, Rob Manderino, Clarissa Bushman, Rosalyn Reiser, Domninique Favey, and her older sister (whose name I've forgotten).
Others I remember are Carl and Jeralyn(?) White, the Kohlers, the Hornes, the Manderinos, the Petersons, the Gillilands, and the Romishes.
I was a junior at Watertown High School that year. My brother Jeff was in junior high, Mary was in 4th grade, and Dave was in first grade.
I had a part-time job with Gordon Williams at what was then the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. I often rode my bike all the way there from Watertown, though other times I took the electric trolley into Harvard Square, the red line to Park, and the green line to Huntington Ave.
On our last Sunday in the Cambridge Ward, I stood on the front steps of the chapel and said good-bye to everyone I could. I was sorry to go. It was a great year my life.
I married in 1979, to Mary Hazen. She grew up in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We lived in Indiana for four years and during that time she developed a fascination with Boston. In fact, she had a post card of Boston taped near her desk most of those years. When we got the chance to move to Manchester, NH in 1985, we grabbed it.
In 1992 we moved to Lexington, MA and have lived here ever since. What a great place it has been for us and our children R'el, Peter, Matt, Dave, Annie, and Sam.
Our home at 80 Bedford Street is always welcome to all comers on Patriots Day, starting in the pre-dawn before the annual reenactment of the April 19, 1775 Battle of Lexington.
--Jim Johnston
JimJ@JohnstonCompany.com
I've begun a list of people who attended the reunion. I have posted it at www.spreadsheets.google.com. If you'd like to see it or edit it, please send me an email and I will add you to the list of users.
--Jim Johnston 9/23/07
JimJ@JohnstonCompany.com
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