"To the inhabitants of the town of Northborough in town meeting assembled:

"The committee chosen the 2nd day of April last for the purpose of making a plan of a building for a town house, of estimating the expense, of locating a spot on which to place said building, and receive proposals for donations, beg leave to submit the following report:

"1st. Having consulted together, and collected what information they could on the subject, they recommend to the town that a building be erected forty feet in length, thirty-six feet in width, and thirteen feet in height; that the entrance be at one end; that eight feet of the building at that end be partitioned off from the main body of the building, over which at a height of seven feet, there be a floor laid and finished above in form of a gallery for the accommodation of youth, children and strangers. That one end of the entry be partitioned off for the accommodation of gentlemen to transact private business on public days, or for the use of committees who wish to consult and make report at the same meeting; that there be one stack of chimneys erected with two fireplaces, so placed that one fire shall warm the great hall of the building, the other, the smaller room before described; that the garret floor be raised in the center to form an arch; that the inside of the whole building be lathed and plastered; that there be a suitable platform and seats erected for the use of the moderator, town clerk and selectmen; and that there be three ranges of seats on each side of the hall, constructed in the most convenient manner for singing schools, leaving an area in the center for the use of a militia company, if it should be wanted some rainy day.

"2nd. In estimating the expense, your committee attempted to ascertain the difference in the expense of building either with brick or wood, and find the difference according to their estimation to be less than twenty-five dollars-the expense of building with brick somewhat less than $800. The extra expense of building with brick lies principally in the underpinning.

"3rd. The spot which they would recommend on which to erect said building, is the naked ledge of rocks lying between the Meeting-house and the Rev. Mr. Allen's house.

"4th. In order to obtain as much as could be by subscription your committee lost no time in having a subscription paper in circulation directly after town meeting, and has been lodged with the Messrs. Davis for them to solicit subscriptions ever since till this time; and the whole amount subscribed which we think will be collected in cash, materials for building, or in labor, amounts to sixty-two dollars, and two day's work.

"Signed, ASAPH RICE, Chairman."

This business-like report was evidently convincing, for the town forthwith voted to build a Town House, but of wood, and not of brick, as the committee recommended.

The third section of the above report, that relating to the location of the proposed Town House, aroused considerable discussion after the meeting. The "naked ledge of rocks" westerly of the Meeting-house did not seem to be an appropriate place for the new building; so another meeting was called during the following summer to talk about it. The upshot of the meeting was the appointment of a committee to consult Mr. Abraham Monroe relative to purchasing from him a piece of land lying easterly of the Meeting-house, which he owned. The conference with Mr. Monroe was entirely satisfactory, for he very generously offered to give the said land on condition that "the town would build the Town House upon it, and keep it there." This offer was accepted, and the land passed into the hands of the town.*

The Town House was accordingly built in the summer of 1821, and was ready for occupancy in October of that year. The carpentry work was done by Lyman Howe, a contractor from Shrewsbury. The building cost $966. It stood a little east by south of the present high school building, directly on Whitney Street-Whitney Street at that time lying a little farther west than its present location.

So

In 1832, the activities of the Unitarian Church had multiplied to such an extent that they could not be carried on in the Meeting-house as it then was. They needed more room. the parish asked the town to raise the Town House and build a vestry under it, the parish to rent the same. The proposition was also made at this time to move the Town House to the opposite side of the road. Both propositions were favorably received and the town voted to put them into effect, on condition however, that the parish bear the expense, and "that they be done to the acceptance of a town's committee." Both things were done, and to the acceptance of all concerned. And the parish rented the vestry under the Town House until its own Meeting-house was remodeled, in 1848.

When these changes were made the Town House was placed a few feet south of the present high school building, and the road was pushed a few feet to the eastward, where it now is.

We have written at some length concerning this first Town

*The deed of the land says that the town paid $60 for it.

As it is not generally known that the town owns this piece of land, it may be said here that it is a triangular lot lying southeast of the Unitarian Church-bounded on the east by Whitney Street, on the south by Church Street, and on the west by the Unitarian Common. It contains one hundred rods.

House because for half a century it was a landmark in this neighborhood. About the time it was built the town was much interested in the development of the art of singing, making an appropriation from year to year for that purpose; thus in an official way encouraging an art which did not receive adequate recognition in most towns until a much later time. Those singing lessons were carried on in this old Town Hall. Later, private singing schools were held there for many years under the direction of Joseph Addison Allen; and still later, by Jairus Lincoln. Those singing schools were an important institution, and did more for the social and cultural life of the community than can well be computed at this late date.

Then again, that old Town Hall was the home of the "Northborough Lyceum," another helpful institution that flourished in this town for more than half a century. All questions of local and national and international importance were discussed there with a freedom that brought forth results, not the least of which was the ability of citizens to think on their feet in town meeting, and to discuss intelligently all questions pertaining to the welfare of the town. The "Lyceum" also brought to town. many of the best known lecturers of the day, all of whom poured forth their eloquence and enthusiasm in that little old Town Hall. Let us name a few:

JOHN B. GOUGH, the famous temperance lecturer, delivered his first public lecture there.

NATHANIEL P. BANKS, who later became a famous Governor of Massachusetts.

ANSON BURLINGAME, who, as American Minister to China, did such a wonderful work.

ELIZABETH OAK-SMITH, who was one of the first of that large army of women who have employed the public platform for the presentation of their doctrines.

HENRY WILSON, United States Senator and Vice-President of the United States.

EDWARD EVERETT, the greatest orator of his day.

ALEXANDER EVERETT, brother of Edward, who would doubtless have equaled his brother had he lived long enough.

HORACE MANN, one of the country's greatest educators. LOWELL MASON, known and beloved by every lover of music. WENDELL PHILLIPS, the silver-tongued orator, who first made his auditors mad, and afterwards made them think.

WILLIAM WELLES BROWN, and GEORGE and ELLEN CRAFTS,

three fugitive slaves, who stirred the northern people to righteous indignation against the national sin of slavery.

REV. HENRY GILES, an eminent Englishman, who half a century ago was connected with Dr. James Martineau in the great Liverpool Controversy, delivered his first sermon and his first lecture in this country, in Northborough.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, honored and beloved of all colored people, and the first colored man that most Northborough people had ever seen.

These are only a few of the famous public speakers who made the rafters of that old Town Hall ring with their eloquence.

As early as 1837, and for many years thereafter, the question of slavery was denounced in no uncertain terms from the platform of that same old Town Hall, thus making of it Northborough's veritable "cradle of liberty."

And last, but by no means least, the old Town House was the early home of the Northborough High School. For five years it sheltered the youth of the town and gave them instruction in those humanitarian studies which have strengthened and beautified their lives unto this day. A fitting ending this, for a building around which for fifty years were centered so many traditions of our little community. We do well to revere its memory.

The old Town Hall burned down on February 22, 1870. It was a cold day, and the high school was in session. And some of the students are known to have expressed their joy "that the old thing had burned down." But that was because they had asked that the day be a holiday, and their request had been refused. The mind of youth is irreverent. It is safe to say now, however, that the men and women of today who were students then in the old Town Hall, hold that building in tender

reverence.

NOTE. Since writing the above we have come into possession of the address (in manuscript) which Dr. Allen delivered at the dedication of the new Town Hall in 1868. He had seen the Old Town House built, and had been familiar with it throughout its many years of usefulness, and naturally had something to say about it upon the dedication of the new Hall. What he said is such an affectionate tribute that we feel sure our readers will want to hear it. We therefore append it:

"The Old Town House built in 1821, was, if I mistake not, the first building of the kind in all this region round about-the first town hall built expressly for secular uses; and, inferior as it seems today in comparison with this noble structure, it was regarded at the time of its erection as one of the chief ornaments of the village. It was also, I think, the first building with a Grecian front, in imitation (on a very small scale indeed), but after the pattern of the famed Parthenon at Athens-the first, I say, in this style that was

erected in this neighborhood; and in its earlier years strangers of cultivated taste were accustomed to express in strong terms, their admiration of its fair proportions and classical beauty.

"Let not the Old Town House be despised or forgotten. It has a history of which we need not be ashamed, but of which we have reason to be proud. We take leave then, of the Old Town House not without tender and grateful recollections of what it has been to us and what it has done for us, commending it to your favor in the transformation it has undergone in the uses to which it is now applied."