The Francestown Town Hall and Academy and Town Common Historic District encompasses a collection of historic 18th and 19th-century civic resources in the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Francestown, New Hampshire Francestown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,610 at the 2020 census. The village of Francestown, population 201 in 2020, is in the center of the town. History Incorporated in 1772, Francestow ...

. Located at the junction of New Boston and Greenfield Roads are the town's 1846

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

town hall and academy building, a former academic dormitory building, and the town's historic

common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

, which includes a rare example of an early 20th-century platform scale. The district was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2016.

Description and history

The town of Francestown was settled in the late 1740s, and was incorporated in 1772. In that year John Fisher gave the town of land for use as a town common and civic center. The northern part of this land was dedicated for the town cemetery and for its first meetinghouse, which was used for both civic and religious functions. The southern portion remained open land until 1846, when the town hall and academy building was built. This structure has seen a wide variety of civic uses over the years, including as town hall, school (these functions overlapping for many years), and post office, but has retained a great many original features despite its varied uses. Adjacent to this building is one known locally as "The Beehive", which was built as a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

for students at the academy. The open area of the common between the meetinghouse and town hall has been somewhat encroached upon by road widening projects, and a small triangular section has been isolated from its bulk. On this section are found a granite watering trough, installed in 1889, and the surviving elements of a public platform scale, installed in 1908. The scales, whose working elements were provided by the Fairbanks Company, were installed by the town in collaboration with a local hotelier, who probably also acted as a hay merchant. The town purchased the scales outright in 1923.

References

{{NRHP in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Francestown, New Hampshire Historic districts in New Hampshire

Description and history

See also

References