Rev. Mather Byles is dismissed by his congregation for being a loyalist.

The minister at the Hollis Street Church, he and his family live in the parsonage of the church at the corner of today’s Washington Street and what was then Nassau Street near today’s 704 Washington Street. Byles is banished to England, but he refuses to leave. Asked by a member of his congregation how he could remain a Tory, Byles responds, “Tell me, which is better, to be ruled by one tyrant 3,000 miles away, or by 3,000 tyrants a mile away?” Placed under house arrest, he occupies the house until his death in 1788. To implement the extension of Tremont Street, the city is forced to purchase the house from his daughters, Mary and Catherine, in June 1833. The building is demolished in approximately 1839.