18

646 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

the riotous events that overwhelmed the meeting at Boston Tremont Temple on 3
December 1860 to commemorate the first anniversary of John Brown's execution.
Organized by James Redpath on behalf of "John Brown's Anniversary Committee,"
the meeting announced its goal as not only to honor Brown but also to discuss the
question "How can American Slavery be Abolished?" With strong commercial ties
with the South, Boston's business elite denounced the holding of such a gathering so
soon after Abraham Lincoln's presidential election had frightened slaveholders. After
three hours of heckling, skirmishing, and acrimonious debate between a proslavery
mob and the abolitionists, the Boston police cleared the hall on the order of the mayor.
Douglass, Redpath, and other abolitionists reconvened at a nearby black church and
completed their commemoration of Brown. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 3:387-88; New
York Daily Tribune, 4 December 1860; Boston Post, 4 December 1860; Boston Semi-
Weekly Courier, 6 December 1860; NASS, 8 December 1860; Lib., 14, 21 December
1860.
9.7 Tremont Temple] The foundation for the Tremont Theater and for what later
became known as Tremont Temple was laid in May 1827 on Tremont Street in Boston,
Massachusetts. The "Proprietors of Tremont Theater," a group of investors, chartered
by the state legislature, owned the theater. Architect Isaiah Rogers designed the building
to resemble a church with its heavy granite facade. On 24 September 1827,
Tremont Theater opened under the management of local actor William Phelby. When
he failed to turn a profit, investors replaced Phelby with a succession of managers. The
Tremont ultimately could not compete against the long-established Boston Theater and
closed its doors in May 1843. The Free Church, organized by antislavery activist
Timothy Gilbert, bought the theater for $12,500 and converted it into a church, the
Tremont Temple. Gilbert was determined that Tremont Temple be a church where
individuals could worship according to their own dictates regardless of race or wealth.
Consequently, the Free Church refused to extend membership to slave owners or anyone
who did not share its views on temperance. In order to sustain the Temple, Gilbert
leased out the large hall for political caucuses, concerts, and lectures given by such
notables as Rufus Choate and the remaining portions of the building were leased as
stores and offices. On 30 March 1852, the Tremont Temple was destroyed by fire. Its
congregation quickly rebuilt the structure with the help of local Baptists who formed
the Evangelical Baptist Benevolent and Missionary Society. The Temple was rebuilt
two more times following fires in 1879 and 1892. In 1863 the Free Church was still
having financial difficulties and joined forces with the neighboring Union Baptist
Church to form the Union Temple Baptist Church under the direction of Justin Dewey
Fulton. Tremont Temple was never identified with purely religious fervor, since its
halls were rented out to various performers throughout the week regardless of whether
they followed the dictates of the congregation that worshipped there on Sundays. In the
twentieth century, church membership declined as conservative Protestant religious
practices replaced popular revivalism. Margaret Lamberts Bendroth, Fundamentalists
in the City: Conflict and Division in Boston's Churches, 1885-1950 (New York, 2003),