Timeline of History at Emmanuel

We’re interested to learn of significant dates and events involving Emmanuelites past and present. Please email archivist@emmanuelboston.org about the details of your Emmanuel timeline.

See also

Select one of these years to jump to a decade in this chronology and then Previous or Next to move up or down by years:

1860 | 1875 | 1885 | 1895 | 1905 | 1915 | 1925 | 1935 | 1945 |

1955 | 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1995 | 2005 | 2015 | 2020 | History.

1864

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The Rev. Mary Douglass Burnham, 1899, by permission of SUNY Upstate Medical University

Having learned of a recent massacre of Sioux Indians from her friend Evelina Bogart of Albany NY,  parishioner Mary Douglass Saville (Mrs. Wesley) Burnham (1832-1904) founded the Dakota League,  a mission of our diocese (and eventually other Boston-area churches) to support Native Americans in the Dakota Territory.

Isabella Gardner

Isabella Stewart Gardner by John Singer Sargent, courtesy of the Gardner Museum via WikiCommons

April 10.Isabella Stewart Gardner was confirmed at Emmanuel by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Manton Eastburn, Bishop of Massachusetts.  It was the fourth anniversary of her marriage to John Lowell Gardner, Jr., who had purchased Pew 28  in 1862.  Although the Stewarts had been members of Grace Church in New York City, their children were not confirmed until they reached adulthood. Louise Hall Tharp in her biography Mrs. Jack hypothesizes that Isabella’s confirmation “might have been a sort of thank-offering for the child she so much wanted”.  John Lowell 3rd, born on June 18, 1863, unfortunately died on March 15, 1865. His baptism and burial are recorded in our parish register. The Gardners, who lived nearby at 152 Beacon St., later raised their orphaned nephews, sons of Jack’s brother Joseph, also owned a pew until his death in 1875.

Take a visual tour of her museum and its collection at Google’s Cultural Institute.

1861

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March 24. The Rev. Dr. Frederic Dan Huntington (May 28, 1819-July 11, 1904) was ordained and became Emmanuel’s First Rector. See also the chapter on him in Emmanuel Church, 1860-1960: The First Hundred Years.

June 17. Cornerstone laid for the church on Newbury St.  Alexander Esty (18 Oct. 1826 – 2 July 1881) was our architect.

1 Oct. William Reed Huntington, who had studied theology under Dr. Huntington at Harvard, was ordained to the transitional diaconate.  After serving as assistant to Dr. Huntington for a year, he became rector of All Saints Church, Worcester.

Dec 15. First service in the church

 

 

 

 

1860

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  • March 17. The first meeting held at William R. Lawrence’s house, 98 Beacon

    The Rev. Dr. F. Dan Huntington

    Street.  A committee was formed to secure Dr. Frederic Dan Huntington (1819-1904) as rector, although he had yet to be ordained an Episcopalian priest. Richard Sullivan. Fay, Jr. (1833-1882) was chosen as Chairman of the Committee of Subscribers.

  • April 9 (Easter Monday). At their foundation meeting the name Emmanuel Church was formally adopted and these officers elected:
    • Edward Sprague Rand  (1809-84), senior warden until 1864
    • William Richards Lawrence (1812-1885), who had bought the land but declined the honor of being senior warden, served as junior warden until 1863.
    • John B. Alley (1817-1896), clerk
    • Jere E. Bridge, treasurer
  • Sept 12. Dr. Huntington was ordained a deacon at Trinity Church, which was then on Summer Street.
  • Sept 16. The first service was held at Mechanics Association Hall, at the intersection of Bedford and Chauncy streets.
  • Proprietors of the Corporation were:
    • Benjamin Franklin Burgess (1817-1909)
    • Col. John Jeffries, Jr. (1823-1897)
    • William Richards Lawrence (1812-1885)
    • Edward Sprague Rand (1809-84)
    • Henry Sigourney (1831-1873)
    • Henry Timmins (1800-1863)
    • George Phineas Upham (1826-1901)
    • Foster Waterman (1805-1870)
  • Arlington St. (Unitarian) Church, also built in 1860, was the first building in the Back Bay.  Boston’s earlier Episcopal churches were considered to be liturgically different or inconvenient for residents of the newly-filled neighborhood.