15 favorite historic sites across Boston

Park Street Church Established in 1809 based on the designs of Peter Banner at the insistence of a group of residents that included the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the church has been the site of many firsts. “America” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”) was first sung by the choir on the building’s front steps and Lowell Mason, the church’s inaugural organist, composed a number of famous songs including “Joy to the World.” The building is most known for its work with the abolitionist movement as William Lloyd Garrison delivered one of his earliest anti-slavery speeches from the pulpit and it later served as the birthplace for the Boston chapter of the NAACP.
Steve Dunwell for the Boston Globe
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Park Street Church

Established in 1809 based on the designs of Peter Banner at the insistence of a group of residents that included the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the church has been the site of many firsts. “America” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”) was first sung by the choir on the building’s front steps and Lowell Mason, the church’s inaugural organist, composed a number of famous songs including “Joy to the World.” The building is most known for its work with the abolitionist movement as William Lloyd Garrison delivered one of his earliest anti-slavery speeches from the pulpit and it later served as the birthplace for the Boston chapter of the NAACP.