Copley T Station Accessibility Project Grand Opening

On the morning of Friday, October 29, 2010 the MBTA’s General Manager, Mayor Menino, State Representatives and others attended the grand opening of the newly accessible Copley T Station. Old South Church’s Senior Minister, Nancy S. Taylor was asked to speak at the ceremony. The MBTA’s General Manager, Rich Davey, noted the cooperation between the Church and the MBTA despite the damage sustained by the church’s East Wall in December of 2008 as a result of the construction project. The East Wall is scheduled to be restored May-November of 2011.

Words by Nancy S. Taylor, Senior Minister, Old South Church in Boston, on the occasion of the ceremony dedicating the newly restored, accessible Station:

From Noah’s ark to Pharaoh’s chariots…from Hannibal’s elephants to Columbus’ the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria…from the Wright Brothers to Jet Blue…from Mercedes Benz to Toyota …from the Queen Mary to the Carnival Cruise Line…We are a restless, adventurous, industrious species …always on the move … always looking for better ways to get from here to there.

But here’s the thing: we are always reaching to make these conveyances, not the privilege of the few, but the right of the many; not the province of princes, but the possession of the people.

It is a great and overdue achievement, therefore, that this old, venerable 1913 subway line and this most important Copley Station, are now the right of the many …a conveyance for young and the old…the hale and the frail…the able bodied and the differently-abled.

This is what it looks like and feels like to be a great city and a compassionate people.

Say, “Huzzah!” (Huzzah!) Say, “Alleluia!” (Alleluia!) Say “Amen!” (Amen!)