 Click image for more information Stereoview card showing the First Parish Church and Lyceum Hall on Meeting-House Hill. The photographs were taken prior to 1867--the installation of the Soldiers' Monument which would now obstruct the view of the front of the church. The Church building was built in 1816 and was destroyed in a fire in 1896. The building that replaces it is a near replica. Lyceum Hall was built in 1839 and dedicated in 1840, and served as a public gathering place for many Dorchester activities during its life. Discussions of the abolition of slavery, recruitment for the civil War, discussion of the annexation of Dorchester to Boston, and lectures by traveling speakers from all over the country on the Lyceum circuit took place here. In the 20th century the building was used by the School Department, but its condition deteriorated to the point that in 1955 it was demolished.
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