The Steeple & Bell Chamber

For Old North’s first 17 years (1723-1740), there was no wooden spire on top of the brick tower.  Imagine how different it must have looked! In 1737, church leaders began a subscription campaign to collect money to fund the construction of the spire. A large early gift came from a group known as “The Gentlemen of the Bay of Honduras” who donated a ship’s entire cargo load of logwood, a valuable commodity grown in the tropics. The church sold the logwood and put the proceeds in the fund. Other supporters and congregants made gifts—some larger, some smaller—as well. In the summer of 1740, the wooden spire was built in a nearby field. Workers hoisted it onto the tower and then celebrated with a feast. The finished steeple, topped with a golden weathervane, made Old North the tallest structure in Boston. Its impressive height and elegance were a statement by the young congregation.   

Topping the Old North steeple(s) for almost 300 years is the golden weathervane created by Shem Drowne. Drowne made some of the most iconic weathervanes of the colonial era, including the grasshopper that graces Faneuil Hall. 

In the 1700s, Old North’s steeple was the tallest point in Boston and could be seen from quite a distance — and that turned out to be very important. If we could go back in time to April 1775, we would be in a very divided city. There was a huge military presence — British troops were everywhere. There was tension building. Some residents were Loyalists, some were neutral, and some were resisting British laws and policies until they had representation. That last group, whom we call ‘Patriots’ included a group known as the Sons of Liberty whose members were men like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere. Back in April of 1775, the Sons of Liberty were very concerned about reports that British General Thomas Gage was planning to send troops to seize munitions stockpiled in the town of Concord. The Sons of Liberty needed a plan for how to spread the word quickly and widely as soon as the troops went on the move. Equally importantly–the message needed to include whether the troops were taking the land route or the shorter, but more complicated, water route. Paul Revere’s ability to problem solve came to the rescue. He suggested that they use Old North’s steeple–specifically, use a lantern signal shining from the steeple, to alert a network of riders waiting across the river. A simple signal: “one if by land and two if by sea”.

And that’s what happened on April 18, 1775. Spies learned that the British were taking the water route. Revere passed the word on to activate the plan – with his own ride to do, and so many towns and villages to alert, Revere could not do it all on his own; it would require a lot of teamwork for the plan to be successful. So, Old North’s sexton, Robert Newman and vestryman John Pulling, Jr. broke curfew and entered the church late in the evening. They climbed up the tower to the top of the steeple where they held two lanterns for about one minute. Those two signal lanterns set a complex alarm system into motion, a system that included many people fanning out across Massachusetts that night. Once Revere got across the river, he began his own famous ride as part of this system.

Ultimately, when the British arrived in Lexington the next morning they were met by local militia members and the shots fired that morning ignited the American Revolutionary War.

In October of 1804, Boston was struck by a ‘very violent gale’ that blew the wooden spire from Old North’s tower, destroying a house below. There was no salvaging it. Once again, church leaders appealed to members of the congregation and to community members throughout Boston and neighboring towns.  By 1806, enough money had been raised to build a second wooden spire. This one was fifteen feet shorter than the original, and while it had similar windows and was topped by the original weathervane, other decorative elements were altered. This same year, Old North underwent a interior redesign as well, changing the location of the pulpit and the layout (and design) of the pews. Do these changes suggest that the early 19th century congregation thought of Old North not as a historic icon but simply as their church, which could and would be changed to reflect their time and taste? 

The second spire lasted until August 1954 when Hurricane Carol pummeled Boston.  Spectators anxiously watched the spire teeter and sway until finally it fell across Salem Street and into Hull Street. The only damage was a small chunk dislodged from the masonry of a building on the corner of Salem and Hull.  

Once again, only the weathervane survived. 

“As the family story goes, while some of the locals took bits and pieces of the steeple as souvenirs, my uncle absconded with [a piece of ] the weathervane and convinced my dad to hide it in our apartment. Supposedly they stashed it in my bedroom. I was just a week away from turning eight months old at the time. For days the media put out the call for its return. My dad finally convinced my uncle that it was too hot to handle and should be returned. Late one night they carried it down to the waterfront, then made an ‘anonymous’ call to the police for its recovery. Every time I look up at the steeple I smile knowing that for a short while I slept in the same room with the weathervane.”

– Rep. Peter Petrigno, NH State Representative, former North End resident

Rebuilding Old North’s steeple became a national project, reflecting Old North’s national prominence as a symbol of freedom and of the American Revolution. Funds flowed in from across the country and from people of all ages.

“While in the 4th grade, and living in Morocco, I collected money to support the Old North. I remember my father who also loved history, talking about the Old North, the battle at Lexington, the USS Constitution, and the values they represented… risk, teamwork, vision of a better country. Not long after, there was a drive to support the Old North and the USS Constitution. I volunteered to go door to door among the Americans to collect money. While I thought I did great, even if many others collected more than I did, it was the values my father expressed and how the role of the Old North built on those values that never left me.” 

– Anne Bailey Berman, former Old North Foundation Board Chair

In October 1955, the third steeple, topped by Shem Drowne’s weathervane, was hoisted into place and secured with steel reinforcements. This time, the steeple was a deliberate replica of the original, consciously recalling the colonial identity and prominence of the structure. Old North’s steeple has become a visual evocation of the nation’s values, struggles, and transformation.

The transport of the bells to Boston and their subsequent installation in Old North’s belfry tower were exceptional feats at a time when few churches even in England had peal bells. Completion of the steeple in 1740 with the addition of the peal of bells in 1745 concluded the initial two- decade long construction of Christ Church. By its size and its visual prominence, the church asserted imperial authority in Puritan Boston, then the largest urban center and the largest port in British North America. Subscribers contributing to the cost of the bells included British naval officers, nobility in England, and wealthy plantation owners in the Caribbean.

The bells were restored in 1894 and then mostly idle. They were restored (again) in 1975 with the help of Geoffrey Davies, of Simon W. Robinson Lodge in Lexington, for the Boston Bicentennial celebration. They have been rung regularly ever since.

Each bell is cast with an inscription. See the eight bells of Old North Church in the section below.

Old North Church is home to the oldest set of change ringing bells in the United States. They were cast in Gloucester, England and installed in the steeple of Old North in 1744. In 1750, the first Guild of Bell Ringers for the Old North was established by a group of young men from the North End and included fifteen-year-old Paul Revere. These young men wrote up a contract with the minister of the church, Rev. Timothy Cutler, in which they agreed to ring the bells once a week for two hours and in exchange would be paid three shillings for each service.

Today, Old North’s ringing group is made up of Boston area residents and students in connection with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called the MIT Guild of Bellringers. The same ringers are responsible for ringing at the Church of the Advent in Beacon Hill. The bells at Old North are rung every Sunday after the 11 am service, as well as after special occasions and holidays like the 4th of July. Watch the video embedded in this section for a Q&A with the Guild of Bellringers!

Special thanks to Dale Winter and the MIT Guild of Bellringers for contributing to the bell ringing content on this page. If you are interested in learning more about the bellringers, visit their website. If you are interested in joining the Guild and learning the art of change-ringing at Old North, email bellringers@mit.edu.