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Old Belfry

1762 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts BayBuildings and structures completed in 1762Buildings and structures in Lexington, MassachusettsMassachusetts in the American Revolution
Old Belfry, Lexington, Mass (NYPL b12647398 66606)
Old Belfry, Lexington, Mass (NYPL b12647398 66606)

The Old Belfry is a historic structure on Clarke Street in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It stands on Belfry Hill.The belfry was erected at its current location in 1762, but it was moved a few yards away to Lexington Common in 1768, after Jonas Monroe, on whose land it originally stood, wanted the town to pay him taxes for keeping it there. (Its former location on the Common is now marked by a boulder and a plaque.) The bell that hung in it summoned locals to worship, reminded them at 9:00 pm to "rake up the fires and go to bed", warned them of danger, tolled on their deaths, and rang out the initial alarm of what became the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Today it rings in the beginning of Patriots' Day annually at 5:30 am.The third incarnation of the structure was built, this time with a steeple to house the bell, in 1794. Three years later, the belfry was moved to the Parker Homestead in the southern part of town and used as a wheelwright's shop by the son of John Parker. In 1891, after it had fallen into a much-dilapidated state, it was refurbished and returned to its original location by the Lexington Historical Society after it was gifted to them by James S. Monroe. It was destroyed in a gale on June 20, 1909, and was rebuilt by March the following year. It was moved from the back end of Belfry Hill to its present site in 1913, with an iron fence erected around it.In 1971, the Katharine Harrington House at the corner of Clarke Street and Massachusetts Avenue was torn down to make way for Belfry Hill Park.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Old Belfry (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Old Belfry
Clarke Street,

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Wikipedia: Old BelfryContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.44822 ° E -71.23085 °
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Belfry Hill

Clarke Street
02421
Massachusetts, United States
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Old Belfry, Lexington, Mass (NYPL b12647398 66606)
Old Belfry, Lexington, Mass (NYPL b12647398 66606)
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Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and Concord

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were some of the leading military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies. In late 1774, Colonial leaders adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the alterations made to the Massachusetts colonial government by the British parliament following the Boston Tea Party. The colonial assembly responded by forming a Patriot provisional government known as the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and calling for local militias to train for possible hostilities. The Colonial government effectively controlled the colony outside of British-controlled Boston. In response, the British government in February 1775 declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. About 700 British Army regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot leaders had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. On the night before the battle, warning of the British expedition had been rapidly sent from Boston to militias in the area by several riders, including Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott, with information about British plans. The initial mode of the Army's arrival by water was signaled from the Old North Church in Boston to Charlestown using lanterns to communicate "one if by land, two if by sea". The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. Eight militiamen were killed, including Ensign Robert Munroe, their third in command. The British suffered only one casualty. The militia was outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they broke apart into companies to search for the supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately 400 militiamen engaged 100 regulars from three companies of the King's troops at about 11:00 am, resulting in casualties on both sides. The outnumbered regulars fell back from the bridge and rejoined the main body of British forces in Concord. The British forces began their return march to Boston after completing their search for military supplies, and more militiamen continued to arrive from the neighboring towns. Gunfire erupted again between the two sides and continued throughout the day as the regulars marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington, Lt. Col. Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under Brigadier General Hugh Percy, a future Duke of Northumberland styled at this time by the courtesy title Earl Percy. The combined force of about 1,700 men marched back to Boston under heavy fire in a tactical withdrawal and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated militias then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the siege of Boston. Ralph Waldo Emerson describes the first shot fired by the Patriots at the North Bridge in his "Concord Hymn" as the "shot heard round the world".