Category: 20th Century
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99% Sure | Ep 11: The Surprising Origins of Old North’s Gift Shop
First built in 1918, Old North Church’s gift shop has a surprising history. It was once a chapel that ministered to Waldensians, a medieval Christian sect with origins in the 12th century. Learn how this historic building become a pillar of the community for Italian-American Protestants living in the North End. See below for the…
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The Women of Old North, Part II: The House by the Side of the Road
The story of the Women’s Guild founding and function demonstrates the ways in which the organization benefited the institution of the church itself. However, in order to grasp the positive impact that the guild had on the Boston community, one must turn to the story of the House by the Side of the Road, a…
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The Women of Old North: The Women’s Guild
Despite their support of the church throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the Women’s Guild of Old North remains relatively unknown in the modern historical narrative. From behind-the-scenes, the guild maintained the church and accompanying Parish House as a welcoming and homey place, as well as fundraised through various events, having demanded no…
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Police & Protests: Italian Immigrants and North End Buildings That Remain
Walking through Boston’s North End, it’s hard to ignore the beautiful brick tenement buildings that line the crowded streets. Built during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these buildings housed many of Boston’s Jewish, Portuguese, and Italian immigrants. They are not famous landmarks like the Old North Church or the Paul Revere House, but…
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The People in the Pews: Matilda Bibbey, the First Woman of the Vestry
In the rear of the church, there is a modest plaque honoring Matilda F. Bibbey. It is the only plaque in Old North solely dedicated to a woman. Matilda Frances Bibbey was born in the North End in 1868. Her mother, like many other North End residents at the time, was an Irish migrant. Her…
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The Messenger | The 1919 Molasses Flood: Destruction, Immigration, and Active Citizenship in Boston’s North End
At 12:45 pm, on January 15, 1919, a tsunami-like wave swept down Commercial Street in Boston’s North End neighborhood. This giant wave of molasses took the lives of 21 individuals while injuring 150 others. “This was one of the worst catastrophes which has visited the City of Boston in my remembrance … Cold molasses has…
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The People in the Pews: Gertrude Bibbey
Have you heard someone say, “Perhaps I’ll quit my desk job, buy a small farm in the country, and spend my days tending to chickens, gardening, and baking pies”? According to NPR and the Washington Post, this is a twenty-first-century phenomenon: twenty and thirty-something millennials seeking out organic, sustainable food and escaping exorbitant housing costs.…
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Beneath Boston
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Excavating the Past
In preparation for the upcoming Washington Memorial Garden renovation project, city archaeologists are conducting a survey in areas that will be disturbed by new landscaping work. The North End of Boston is a heavily built-up area, and opportunities to explore the city’s past are rare, so this is an exciting opportunity to peer into the…
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A Photo from 1905 Reveals a Very Different Old North
Have you ever had the chance to examine your familiar surroundings in a new light? Several Old North educators recently had this opportunity. Parish Administrator Priscilla Burns received an envelope containing two faded, worn photographs and a note indicating the photos were taken at Old North Church in August 1905. The church in the photograph,…