Formerly, a wooden Methodist church stood on this lot across from the Irons and Russell Building from 1820–1954. A major restoration project added a spire in 1836 (like many in New England, based on designs from a pattern book by British architect James Gibbs of 1728), but it fell victim to a storm in 1869. The congregation shrunk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the area became less residential and the church was torn down to make way for the I-195 highway.