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Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM C − OBJECT
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
22/50 Boston
North
E 912
Town: Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village): East Lexington
Address or Location: 755 Massachusetts Avenue
Name: Charles Follen Marker
Ownership: ____ Public __x__ Private
Type of Object (check one):
___ statue
___ bust
___ group composition
___ religious shrine
___ monument
___ milestone
_x__ marker
___ boundary marker
___other (specify)
Date of Construction: 1915
Source: on marker
Designer/Sculptor: unknown
Materials: granite, bronze
Alterations (with dates):
none
Condition: good
Moved: _x_ no ___ yes Date
Acreage: NA
Setting: front lawn of Follen Community Church
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month / year): Sept. 2009
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 755 Mass. Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
E 912
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.
The Charles Follen Marker consists of a rough granite tablet on which is mounted a bronze tablet with eared corners and raised
letters.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.
Rev. Charles Follen was a German poet and patriot who later moved to the U.S. and became the first professor of German at
Harvard University, a Unitarian minister and a radical abolitionist. Locally, Rev. Follen was a central force in the East Village’s
efforts to build its own church building separate from the main village. He designed what was later known as the Follen
Community Church. He intended the octagonal structure to allow for an open community and on in which the congregation was
closer to the pulpit. The building was completed in 1840. Rev. Follen perished in a steamboat fire on his way to the dedication.
Unaware of his fate, the parishioners dedicated the building without him. This monument was erected in 1915.
ENTIRE INSCRIPTION (if applicable):
CHARLES FOLLEN
BORN IN HESSE – DARMSTADT
SEPTEMBER 4 1796
A FEARLESS ADVOCATE
OF LIBERTY AND JUSTICE
EXILED FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE
HE SOUGHT IN AMERICA THE FREEDOM
DENIED HIM IN THE OLD WORLD
DISTINGUISHED
FOR RICH AND VARIED LEARNING
FOR UNCOMPROMISING DEVOTION TO
THE CAUSE OF THE OPPRESSED
AND ENSLAVED AND FOR THE SIMPLICITY
AND INTEGRITY OF HIS CHARACTER
HE ORGANIZED IN THIS TOWN
THE FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
AND BECAME ITS FIRST PASTOR
DESIGNED THE OCTAGON MEETING HOUSE
HERE ERECTED AND ON HIS WAY TO
ITS DEDICATION WAS LOST IN THE
BURNING OF THE STEAMBOAT
“LEXINGTON”
ON LONG ISLAND SOUND
JANUARY 13 1840
THIS TABLET ERECTED
1915
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 755 Mass. Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
E 912
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington from its first settlement to 1868 (Revised and Continued to 1912 by the
Lexington Historical Society). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, vol. 2, p. 544.
Kollen, Richard. Lexington: From Liberty’s Birthplace to Progressive Suburb. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
Munroe, James P. “Charles Follen”, Read on March 12, 1891 and contained in the Proceedings of the Lexington Historical
Society, vol. III. Lexington: Lexington Historical Scoeity, 1905.