Arlington Street Church

The congregation was founded in 1729 as the "Church of the Presbyterian Strangers" and became independent in 1787, incorporating under a congregational model of polity. Until the Back Bay location was completed, the congregation was located in the Federal Street Church in downtown Boston, where William Ellery Channing, the first major American Unitarian minister, preached from 1803 to 1842. Two future presidents of the American Unitarian Association—Samuel Eliot and Dana Greeley—served the church during its first hundred years in the Arlington Street building. In 1935, the Second Universalist Church of Boston merged its assets with Arlington Street Church. In so doing, Arlington Street Church inherited the thinking of two great liberal theologians: Channing, called "the father of American Unitarianism," and Hosea Ballou, called "the father of American Universalism." In 1942, the Church of the Disciples united with Arlington Street Church. In the 1960s, the congregation became active in the Civil Rights Movement. James Reeb, a minister active in the congregation, was murdered during a march in Selma, Alabama. Under the ministry of Jack Mendelsohn, the church became a center for protests against the Vietnam War. In the 1980s, the church led AIDS awareness programs and support for the homeless. In 2004, Reverend Kim K. Crawford Harvie officiated the first legal state-sanctioned same-sex marriage in the United States. ==Arlington Street church building==

As the population of Boston grew and land became scarce, landfilled areas were created in the North End, South End, and finally the Back Bay during the 1850s. When the area around Federal Street became commercial, the congregation voted to move to newly filled land in the Back Bay neighborhood. Arlington Street Church was the first public building to be constructed there. Landscaping for the church was designed by Mabel Keyes Babcock. Interior created by Louis Comfort Tiffany depicting John the Baptist The sanctuary, with its Corinthian columns and graceful rounded arches, was modeled after the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa, Italy. The last of 16 Tiffany windows was installed in 1930, just before the Great Depression dried up available funds. The Tiffany windows were designed by Frederick Wilson (1858–1932), Tiffany's chief designer for ecclesiastical windows. There are as many as six or seven layers of glass in a Tiffany window, producing visual textures that would otherwise have to be painted in. The windows on the lower level feature incidents from the early life of Jesus, while the windows for the galleries on the upper level feature his Beatitudes, or blessings. After vandalism destroyed a memorial dedication pane in the 1970s, plexiglas sheets were installed on the exterior side of the Tiffany windows for protection. Over time, the plastic discolored to a bluish tinge and transmitted less light, as an accumulated film of dirt also clouded the stained glass. In the 21st century, the plastic sheets have been replaced, and the glass has been cleaned to restore its original beauty. In 2015, $120,000 in funds was raised to begin restoration of the Tiffany windows. After a 50-year period when the Tiffany windows were only viewed by the congregation, the church is now open to the general public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily from mid-May through the end of October, except Sunday and when special events are scheduled. Guided tours and self-guided tours (with optional smartphone audio) are available, as well as group tours by prearrangement. The fully accessible Arlington station on the MBTA Green Line is immediately adjacent to the church, at the corner of Boylston Street and Arlington Street. ==Governance and association==

Arlington Street Church is a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, a denomination created in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America. The denomination is organized on the basis of congregational church government. Each congregation is self-governing, deciding on its form of worship, professional and lay leadership, programs, and business. Congregations are members of the Unitarian Universalist Association and are united by a statement of Purposes and Principles. Each congregation elects delegates to a yearly General Assembly where the congregational delegates vote on matters of denominational importance and on resolutions of social witness. Congregations are served by programs provided by the Association at the continental and regional levels. Preservation and restoration of the church building and its Tiffany windows are supported by The Foundation for the Preservation of 20 Arlington Street Inc, a separate, non-sectarian 501(c)(3) charity. In 2017, the Tiffany Windows Education Center at Arlington Street Church opened its doors to the public, offering guided tours of the church and the Tiffany windows. ==Gallery==

Image:ArlingtonStChurch byJPSoule Boston.png|Arlington St. Church, 19th-century photo by John P. Soule Image:Aeolian-Skinner.jpg|Æolian-Skinner pipe organ Image:Arlington Street Church Steeple.jpg|Steeple, viewed through autumn foliage of the Public Garden File:USA-Boston-Arlington Street Church0.jpg|Arlington Street Church, 2013 ==See also==