Talk:Old North Church

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Old North Church article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Architecture Low‑importance

	Architecture portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Christianity: Anglicanism Low‑importance

	Christianity portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Christianity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Christianity on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChristianityWikipedia:WikiProject ChristianityTemplate:WikiProject ChristianityChristianity articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Anglicanism (assessed as Low-importance).

Military history: North America / United States / Early Modern / American Revolution C‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

C

This article has been rated as C-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
	American Revolutionary War task force

National Register of Historic Places High‑importance

	National Register of Historic Places portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject National Register of Historic Places, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of U.S. historic sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.National Register of Historic PlacesWikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic PlacesTemplate:WikiProject National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

United States: Massachusetts / Boston High‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Massachusetts portal This article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts.
	Massachusetts portal This article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts - Boston (assessed as High-importance).

Names

There was actually no confusion in the colonial period between Second Church, (the true "Old North," where Revere hung his lanterns) and the Anglican Christ Church, Boston, which is never so called in the maps of the period, or in Revere's deposition.

The "sexton," to whom Revere gave the lanterns is never named as Robert Newman, and the standard punishment for a signal site was to reduce it for firewood.

Someday I'll get around to writing the article correcting this; it's one of the "three lies" of Boston. Dellaroux (talk) 22:54, 5 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Right on, Dellaroux, you're absolutely right. The question is how to handle it. Create a separate article for Old North Church (colonial period) or simply make the necessary corrections here. I have been wanting to do this as well, but I haven't thought of a good way of handling it. Can you? Pasquale (talk) 00:15, 6 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Better line up your references well, folks. I call your attention to

Robbins, Chandler (1852). A History of the Second Church, or Old North, in Boston. A Committee of the Society. p. 129.

Which makes specific mention of both April 19, 1775 and the tearing down of the church, but no mention of lanterns in the steeple. It's hard to believe that the Minister in charge of the church, writing after the fact, would not have taken credit for his institution for such an important event.

"'From the memorable 19th of April, 1775', writes Dr. Lathrop [the Minister] in our church records, 'the day on which the British troops began hostilities in America...'"
"At this time, most of the churches in the town were broken up..."

. . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 12:15, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Clock?

Did the tower originally have a clock? The old illustration in the article shows what appears to be a clock. --76.115.67.114 (talk) 09:55, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]