Arlington Street Church on Boyleston and Arlington Sts.

Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist church located in Boston, Massachusetts. The congregation was founded in 1729 as the "Church of the Presbyterian Strangers", becoming independent in 1787, taking on a Congregational model. The congregation's building on Arlington Street in Back Bay was built in 1861; they were previously located in downtown Boston. On May 17, 2004, the Arlington Street Church was the site of the first state-sanctioned same-sex marriage in the United States.

As the population of Boston grew and land became scarce, landfills 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 adventurously voted to move to the Back Bay. Arlington Street Church was the first public building to be constructed on the newly filled land.

The present building was begun in 1859 and dedicated in 1861. Designed by Arthur Gilman and Gridley James Fox Bryant, architects for the Old Boston City Hall, its exterior was inspired by St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London.

The building is supported by 999 wooden pilings driven into the mud of Back Bay. Brownstone for the exterior was quarried in New Jersey.

The Bell Tower stands 190 feet tall and contains a set of 16 bells, each with a Biblical inscription. It is one of only four sets in the city of Boston still rung by hand.

Photo ar12, July 2001