Christ Church (Old North)

In One April in Boston, on April 15, 1775, 10-year-old Ben Edwards climbed to the top of the steeple of Christ Church. At 191 feet, it was the tallest steeple in Boston. Twenty-nine years later, in 1804, Ben still lived in the community when the church steeple was blown down by a hurricane. It crashed onto the roof of a nearby building. By 1807, a new steeple was built. It was about 16 feet shorter than the original, and a clock was added.

If Ben had looked through his spyglass, 160 years into the future, he would have seen the original 191-foot steeple back in place. The shorter steeple with the clock would be nowhere in sight. It would have looked just like it did on the day he climbed it in 1775, and spotted a sailing ship from one of its highest windows. He might have rubbed his eyes, peered through his spyglass again, and asked, "how could this be?" The answer is quite simple. A second hurricane had toppled the steeple 150 years after the first one did. This hurricane hit the northeast in 1954. When the steeple was rebuilt, it faithfully copied the original design.

There was, however, one difference that Ben would have noticed. This item wasn't on the original church when he lived in Boston. It was a plaque that had been added to the face of the brick belfry tower on October 17, 1878 to commemorate an event that took place in Christ Church when Ben was 10 years old. The stone tablet reads: "The signal lanterns of Paul Revere displayed in the steeple of this church April 18, 1775 warned the country of the march of the British troops to Lexington and Concord."

1723 to 1804	1807 - 1954
Christ Church (Old North) as it appears today.