Arlington Street Church, Boston, MA.

This community was founded in 1729 by Scots-Irish Presbyterians, who were immigrants from the northern part of Ireland. The congregation was first referred to as the Church of the Presbyterian Strangers . Originally, their services were conducted in a converted barn; this structure was converted into a meeting house in 1744, which became known as "the Meeting House in Long Lane ." In 1786, the Massachusetts Convention met in this church, and in honor of this event the name of Long Lane was changed to Federal Street, and the church became known as the Federal Street Church . The congregation moved to a new building in 1862 on Arlington Street in the Back Bay section of Boston, and it became known as the Arlington Street Church . Some of the church's early ministers were: John Moorhead (1729-1773); Robert Annan (1783-1786); Jeremy Belknap (1787-1798); John Snelling Popkin (1799-1802); William Ellery Channing (1803-1842); and Ezra Stiles Gannett (1824-1871).

From the guide to the Arlington Street Church, Boston, MA. Records, 1730-1979, (Andover-Harvard Library, Harvard Divinity School)