[MassHistPres] Old Town Halls

[Rosa Maggie]

For me this is one of the most interesting series of e-mails so I'll  
add Gloucester first town hall, built in 1844.
Then we had a new town hall built in 1867 to burn down in 1869. Within  
two weeks of the fire the town leaders had decided to build a new town  
hall and it was completed by 1871.
Nothing ever happens that quickly any more!
Maggie

Maggie Rosa
Chair, Gloucester Historical Commission






On Dec 12, 2007, at 7:19 PM, Anne Forbes wrote:

> To follow the message below with another FYI, that great  
> disentanglement of
> church and government that took place in the early 1830s also seems  
> to have
> been responsible for the "raising up" of so many churches and the
> construction of a vestry or meeting hall underneath the sanctuary.   
> The
> double impact of the proliferation of denominations within a  
> community and
> the ending of tax support for the "town" church meant that many
> congregations had to raise more money than their members could  
> provide.
> While it was frowned upon to rent out the worship space for secular
> purposes, the vestries were leased for gatherings and meetings by  
> all manner
> of groups and private citizens, and at times (in the towns that  
> hadn't yet
> built town houses with meeting rooms) by the town for town  
> meetings.  Church
> account books of the time make fascinating reading on the subject!
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sarah Zimmerman" <szimmerman at historicnewengland.org>
> To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>; "McArdle, Alan H."  
> <ahmcardle at gmail.com>;
> "'Tucker, Jonathan'" <TuckerJ at amherstma.gov>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 4:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Old Town Halls
>
>
>> Just fyi, when the Congregational church was officially  
>> disestablished
>> in Massachusetts in 1833, lots of towns whose town meetings had taken
>> place in the meeting house required new public spaces in which
>> governmental functions could take place.  I think this is one  
>> reason for
>> a rash of town halls, or houses, being built in the 1830s and 1840s.
>> Sally Zimmerman
>> Historic New England
>>
>>>>> "Alan H. McArdle" <ahmcardle at gmail.com> 12/12/2007 3:51 pm >>>
>> Thanks to everyone who responded to my query. The MACRIS link worked
>> very
>> nicely. I had thought of that but hadn't got to the point of figuring
>> out
>> the query.
>>
>> It looks like the 1830's and 1840's saw a big boom in building things
>> labeled town halls. Whately seems to have built its town hall about
>> midway
>> through the period. It looks like there are about 40 or 45 towns with
>> older
>> buildings than ours but most are at only about 10 years older. Pelham
>> looks
>> like it has the oldest.
>>
>> Alan McArdle, Chair
>> Whately Historic Commission
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Tucker, Jonathan [mailto:TuckerJ at amherstma.gov]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:06 PM
>>> To: Alan H. McArdle; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
>>> Subject: RE: [MassHistPres] Old Town Halls
>>>
>>> Pelham's Old Meeting House is still used and dates from 1743.
>>>
>>
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>> Preservation of New England Antiquities, is the oldest and largest
>> regional preservation organization in the country.
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>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO  
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> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sarah Zimmerman" <szimmerman at historicnewengland.org>
> To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>; "McArdle, Alan H."  
> <ahmcardle at gmail.com>;
> "'Tucker, Jonathan'" <TuckerJ at amherstma.gov>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 4:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Old Town Halls
>
>
>> Just fyi, when the Congregational church was officially  
>> disestablished
>> in Massachusetts in 1833, lots of towns whose town meetings had taken
>> place in the meeting house required new public spaces in which
>> governmental functions could take place.  I think this is one  
>> reason for
>> a rash of town halls, or houses, being built in the 1830s and 1840s.
>> Sally Zimmerman
>> Historic New England
>>
>>>>> "Alan H. McArdle" <ahmcardle at gmail.com> 12/12/2007 3:51 pm >>>
>> Thanks to everyone who responded to my query. The MACRIS link worked
>> very
>> nicely. I had thought of that but hadn't got to the point of figuring
>> out
>> the query.
>>
>> It looks like the 1830's and 1840's saw a big boom in building things
>> labeled town halls. Whately seems to have built its town hall about
>> midway
>> through the period. It looks like there are about 40 or 45 towns with
>> older
>> buildings than ours but most are at only about 10 years older. Pelham
>> looks
>> like it has the oldest.
>>
>> Alan McArdle, Chair
>> Whately Historic Commission
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Tucker, Jonathan [mailto:TuckerJ at amherstma.gov]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:06 PM
>>> To: Alan H. McArdle; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
>>> Subject: RE: [MassHistPres] Old Town Halls
>>>
>>> Pelham's Old Meeting House is still used and dates from 1743.
>>>
>>
>> ******************************
>> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO  
>> THE
>> WHOLE LIST.
>> MassHistPres mailing list
>> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
>> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
>> ********************************
>>
>> Bid now at Historic New England's online auction! You'll find many
>> wonderful items, and support one important cause. Visit
>> http://www.historicnewengland.org
>> Historic New England, founded in 1910 as the Society for the
>> Preservation of New England Antiquities, is the oldest and largest
>> regional preservation organization in the country.
>> ******************************
>> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO  
>> THE
>> WHOLE LIST.
>> MassHistPres mailing list
>> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
>> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
>> ********************************
>>
>
>
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us 
>  directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
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