Bolton Town Hall // 1853

The Town Hall building in Bolton, Massachusetts, is significant as the hub of the town’s municipal activities for the past century and a half and architecturally as a mid-19th century town hall built in the transitional Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The structure was completed by the town in 1853 as a replacement for the former 1834 wood-frame town hall, which had burned down in 1851. The original wood-frame building was constructed at the time that municipal functions were being moved out of town meetinghouses across Massachusetts following the desire to separate church and government functions. Like many town halls of its era, the larger 1853 building was designed to accommodate multiple aspects of the community’s institutional and public life. The two-story building included a fireproof vault for town records, with town meetings held in the second floor meeting hall, with selectmen meeting in a room on the first floor. A small room was fitted for a library until the early 20th century when the town’s first purpose-built library was constructed farther down Main Street. The fairly unadorned Town Hall was modernized in around 1916 with the addition of the front portico and a rear addition. The Bolton Town Hall remains as a source of pride for the small, yet charming town of just under 6,000 residents.

Acton Town Hall // 1863

Acton, Massachusetts, was once part of Concord, the first inland colonial town established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. 100 years later in 1735, land that we know today as Acton, separated from Concord to become their own town. Acton’s second Meetinghouse was located here in Acton Center, which was selected for its location more accessible to all houses and farms in the town. The Second Meetinghouse was built in 1806, and burned to the ground in 1862. Immediately after, a town committee was formed to construct a new town hall. Opening in 1863, Acton’s Town Hall stands as a stunning Italianate building with tripartite arched windows, corner quoins, a two-stage cupola with clock, and a bold (and historically appropriate) paint scheme. Acton’s Town Hall remains as one of the finest extant in the state.