Middleborough Historical Museum

 

In case you didn’t notice, we here in Middleborough have a beautiful town hall, and this year marks its 150th anniversary! Here is a brief history of our great historic landmark.

For a while after the town was resettled following King Philip's War, town meetings were held either in private homes or local meeting houses--such as that of Isaac Howland--or at the First Church (of the Green). A building said to be 36x30 was erected near the Church at the Green about 1700. Another similar building was built about 1745, and was known as the Easterly Precinct Meeting House. Beginning in the years after the end of the American Revolution, a number of votes were put forward as to whether or not the town should raise money for the construction of a purpose-built, dedicated structure for the use of the town’s business.

As the center of town moved away from the Green and closer to what was once known as Mortontown, there was a desire to see the town’s offices relocated there as well. Consequently, a simple wooden building was built there in the final decade of the 18th century, unassuming and very plain in nature. Clad in shingles, at least in later years, it had two large wooden doors on the front side, facing (South) Main Street, and six tall windows. Either end was adorned with three windows of the same dimensions. It seems that the interior of the building may have been one large, open hall, perhaps with a small subdivision of space within for different functions. The building was erected over 1797, and was accepted by the town on January 2, 1798.

The building must have presided over many important meetings and town functions over the next seventy-five years. Such illustrious Middleboro personalities as Levi Peirce, J.W.P. Jenks, Cephas Thompson, Charles “Tom Thumb” Stratton and Peter H. Peirce all surely would have been very familiar with the building.

The town voted to replace the old, simple structure with the current building, which was completed in 1873. Some of the timber from the old building, which was disassembled, was salvaged and used in the building of another domicile in town.

The building was designed by Solomon K. Eaton, who was also overseeing its elaborate construction. Work began in the summer of 1872. However, Eaton suddenly died that October, at the age of 55, leaving the project unexpectedly in the hands of the town committee, especially chairman Horatio Barrows. They hurriedly pushed to have the boarding completed, lest the cold snows of winter should get inside and ruin the frame and structure. The framing incorporated $4,700 of lumber provided by A.T Stearns and Son, as well as Pratt and Company The roof was built by Middleborough carpenter James Sparrow, who also built four of our local schools--those at Thomastown, the Green, Fall Brook and Waterville. A night watchman stood guard over the construction site in November, to keep the rogues away. It was estimated that he probably saved some lumber from being stolen.

The work continued all throughout 1873, and was completed that December. There was rightfully a lot of buzz concerning the new town house as the exciting day drew near. Two brass bands were commissioned to celebrate the event, and a procession marched through town, proclaiming with great fanfare that this town hall had been completed. The procession included several bands, plus a number of chaplains, the building committee, selectmen and town officers, police and firefighters, and other honored guests. The keys to the building were handed over by the chairman, Horatio Barrows, to the town selectmen, after which time the public was allowed to tour the building. There was quite a reception held in the upstairs hall, where the American Brass Band of Providence, Rhode Island, entertained the gathered parties with a selection of music by Strauss, Wagner and others. Afterwards, the local post of the GAR provided refreshments for the public in the basement, and dinner in the high school room. Clam chowder, meats, vegetables, hot tea and coffee made up the bill of fare. At ten o’clock, a dance was held---the first of many, enduring until 2:00am the next morning.

The grand ballroom today features hardwood floors, a Steinway grand piano, and a stage for performances. In a Gazette article from 1999, it was said that during construction in 1873, “plastermen working in the second floor auditorium were hampered by little girls who play hide and seek in the attic, and whose feet occasionally pierced the ceiling plaster, all of which was described as, quote, “naughty.” As the author noted, it was also quite dangerous, as the drop to the floor below was something like 30 feet.

The total cost is recorded as $48,984.36 in 1873 dollars, which translates to $1,256,000 in 2023. In 1896, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument was added to the front lawn, facing South Main Street, and after World War I, an honor roll was dedicated inside the first floor vestibule area facing onto Union Street.

Since 1873, the upstairs ballroom/auditorium has served in many capacities. It has been used as a concert hall, gymnasium, movie theater, roller skating rink, dance hall, political forum, town meeting space, health clinic, as well as the location of dozens of graduations from Middleborough High School. As for the basement, it still holds three brick jail cells, which were used by the town's police force into the early part of the 20th century. Interestingly, at one time, this space was also used as a shooting range!

From the beginning, the town hall served a variety of functions for the bustling, growing town. Besides furnishing space for town offices and meetings, the building was also the home of Middleborough’s first semi-modern high school, between 1873 and 1886, when that role was filled by the Bates School (1886-1954). Furthermore, the town’s first library was housed here, prior to the building of our beautiful library building in 1904. Finally, some of the building’s abundant square footage also housed a succession of local banks, as well as the Fourth District Court, until 1914. It has survived a number of fires, including notable ones in 1917 and 1944, and even vandals: in 1964, the town’s safe was raided by criminals who made off with money and assets, and then in 1971, the town’s Christmas manger scene was also vandalized.

During the 20th century, the town hall’s exterior was replaced with white vinyl siding, which many of us may yet well recall. Shortly after the turn of the century, however, this was stripped off, and the exterior was painted in two-tone shades of brown. Presumably, this new color scheme more closely matches the original paint of the building when it was first built.

The building’s distinctive eight-sided tower housed a bell from 1893 to 1917 when it was replaced by an air whistle used to sound school cancellations and other signals. Many years later, the 13 foot upper cupola was seen to be noticeably tilting in 2011. It was determined to be unstable and a threat to public safety, and was removed and restored off site. Over the course of the following year, a new system of reinforcement was engineered, shoring up the structure. It involved stiffening portions of the supporting attic framing supporting the cupola, replacing rot damaged framing, and adding tension rod bracing and a compression ring in a pattern that provided torsional restraint. Computer modeling guided the construction crew in executing the repairs and the cupola was returned to its rightful place in 2012 with a new connection to the main structure and a reinforced load path down to the attic level of the building. Today, the main level of the tower is rented out to a major telecommunications company, whose equipment takes up much of the space there.

The town hall that we all know today sits on 2.55 acres of town-owned land at 10 Nickerson Avenue. According to the town assessor’s office, the building and land together are evaluated as being worth $3.3 million dollars as of 2023. Its ‘living area’ is just under 20,000 square feet---pinned at 19,973 to be exact. The cupola is capped with a flagpole, whose top reaches up about 120 feet--though nobody could provide me with a precise measurement.

Today, we commemorate the 150th anniversary of our beautiful town hall building. Its role has changed a lot over the years--notably in that many municipal office functions are currently housed in the Bank Building at Four Corners--but it still serves aptly as the center of the town’s governance, and as an enduring symbol of our community.

B.C.

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