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Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by English colonists in 1635 and incorporated in 1636, Dedham established the first public school in America in 1643. Dedham is home to the Fairbanks House (Dedham, Massachusetts), Fairbanks House, the oldest surviving timber-frame house in the United States. On January 1, 1643, by unanimous vote, Dedham authorized the first taxpayer-funded Public school (government funded), public school, "the seed of American education." The first man-made canal in North America, Mother Brook, was created in Dedham in 1639. The town took an Dedham, Massachusetts in the American Revolution, active part in the American Revolution and was home to the Dedham Liberty Pole in the late 18th century. When a split occurred at the First Church and Parish in Dedham, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Church And Parish In Dedham
The First Church and Parish in Dedham is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was the 14th church established in Massachusetts. The current minister, Rev. Rali M. Weaver, was called in March 2007, settled in July, and is the first female minister to this congregation. History Dedham was History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699, first settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1636. On July 18, 1637, the Town voted to admit a group of very religious men that would radically change the course of the town's history. Led by John Allin (puritan), John Allin, they included Michael Metcalf (puritan), Michael Metcalf, Thomas Wight, Robert Hinsdale, Eleazer Lusher, Timothy Dalton, and Allin's brother-in-law, Thomas Fisher. Dalton was invited to settle in "civil condition," but it was made clear he was not going to be made the town's minister over Allin. He and Thomas Carter (minister), Thomas Carter quickly sold their land holdings and left town, Dalton to become ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ames Schoolhouse
The Ames Schoolhouse is a historic school building at 450 Washington Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was originally part of the Dedham Public Schools. It currently serves as the town hall and senior center for the Town of Dedham. Description The Colonial Revival structure was built in 1897. It was named in honor of American Revolution-era politician Fisher Ames. It is a large H-shaped building, with a central section flanked by symmetrical projecting bays on either side. It has a hip roof with a deep dentillated eave, and pilastered corners. The main entrance is set under broad arch at the center, with a Palladian window above. Above the front door is the following inscription: 1644 AMES SCHOOL 1897 Named in honor of Fisher Ames. A native of Dedham, a wise statesman. And a friend of Washington. "With a united government well administered, we have nothing to fear and without it nothing to hope." The building was dedicated in June 1898. On the first floor, in addition to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk County Courthouse
The Norfolk County Courthouse, also known as the William D. Delahunt Courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark at 650 High Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It currently houses the Norfolk County Superior Court. It is significant as a well-preserved Greek Revival courthouse of the 1820s, and as the site a century later of the famous Sacco-Vanzetti trial. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It replaced an earlier courthouse, built in 1795. Building Original construction When it became apparent that the old County Courthouse was out of date, the Norfolk County Commissioners ordered a new one to be built. They originally were seeking a utilitarian building that would be fireproof and safe to store important documents. Local boosters, however, wanted a building that aligned with the town's rapidly improving self-image. The commissioners were persuaded that something more was required... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New England Town
The town is the basic unit of Local government in the United States, local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to the New England town. New England towns overlie the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning Incorporation (municipal government), municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to city, cities and county, counties in other states. Local government in New Jersey, New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting, an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a Place (United States Census Bureau), compact populated place are uncommon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Select Board
The select board or board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three is the most common number, historically. History In most New England towns, the adult voting population gathered annually in a town meeting to act as the local legislature, approving budgets and laws. Day-to-day operations were originally left to individual oversight, but when towns became too large for individuals to handle such work loads, they would elect an executive board of selected men (hence the name) to run things for them. These men had charge of the day-to-day operations; selectmen were important in legislating policies central to a community's police force, highway supervisors, poundkeepers, field drivers, and other officials. However, the larger towns grew, the more power would be distributed among other elected boards, such as fire wardens and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Representative Town Meeting
A representative town meeting, also called "limited town meeting", is a form of municipal legislature particularly common in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and permitted in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Representative town meetings function largely the same as open town meetings, except that not all registered voters can participate or vote. The townspeople instead elect town meeting members by precinct to represent them and to vote on the issues for them. Connecticut Representative town meetings (RTMs) vary from town to town, and can vary widely in terms of rules and bylaws. The town of Westport, Connecticut has non-partisan RTMs, where while a member may belong to a party, it may not be advertised as such, and the First Selectman may veto any legislation passed excepting for appropriations. Wethersfield, Connecticut, however, requires "minority representation" so that no one party can control the RTM. Groton, Connecticut, specifically allows for a valid meeting to tak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacco And Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison. After a few hours' deliberation on July 14, 1921, the jury convicted Sacco and Vanzetti of first-degree murder and they were sentenced to death by the trial judge. Anti-Italianism, anti-immigrant, and anti-anarchist bias were suspected as having heavily influenced the verdict. A series of appeals followed, funded largely by the private Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee. The appeals were based on recanted testimony, conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pretrial statement by the jury fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Separation Of Church And State In The United States
"Separation of church and state" is a metaphor paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in discussions of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The principle is paraphrased from Jefferson's "separation between Church & State". It has been used to express the understanding of the intent and function of this amendment, which allows freedom of religion. It is generally traced to a s: Letter to the Danbury Baptists - January 1, 1802, January 1, 1802, letter by Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptists, Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote: Jefferson reflects other thinkers, including Roger Williams, a Baptist Dissenter and founder of Providence, Rhode Island. He wrote: In keeping with the lack of an establis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dedham Case
''Baker v. Fales'', also known as The Dedham Case, was a seminal case of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It involved the First Church and Parish in Dedham rejecting the minister the Town of Dedham selected for it and its split into the Allin Congregational Church. It was a major case on the road to the separation of church and state and led to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts formally disestablishing the Congregational Church in 1833. Background The preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield helped to revive the churches of Dedham during the Great Awakening. The theological debates that arose as a result, however, helped bring about a split in the churches into different denominations. A distinction was made between the church and the parish. The parish was composed all of the residents of a geographic territory who had not joined another religious group such as the Episcopal Church. The church included only those members of the parish who had been admitted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dedham Liberty Pole
The Dedham Liberty Pole was a liberty pole erected in 1798 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Several of those involved with the pole were arrested, resulting in both the harshest, and the lightest, sentences ever imposed under the Sedition Act of 1798. Erection Residents awoke one October morning in 1798 to find a large wooden pole had been erected on the Hartford Road in Clapboard Trees parish. At the top was a Phrygian cap and a hand painted sign declaring No Stamp act; no sedition; no alien bill; no land tax. Downfall to the tyrants of America; peace and retirement to the President; long live the vice President and the minority; May moral government be the basis of civil government. This liberty pole was erected by David Brown, an itinerant veteran of the American Revolution who traveled from town to town in Massachusetts, drumming up subscribers for a series of political pamphlets he had written. The minister in the third parish had been preaching Democratic-Republican prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dedham, Massachusetts In The American Revolution
The town of Dedham, Massachusetts, participated in the American Revolutionary War and the protests and actions that led up to it in a number of ways. The town protested the Stamp Act and then celebrated its repeal by erecting the Pillar of Liberty. Townsmen joined in the boycott of British goods following the Townshend Acts, and they supported the Boston Tea Party. Dedham's Woodward Tavern was the site where the Suffolk Resolves gathering was first convened. At the outset of the war, nearly every man in town went off when the alarm was sounded following the Battles of Lexington and Concord. There were several Tories in the community, notably Rev. William Clark, but they were largely ostracized and even arrested for being traitors. Many soldiers passed through the town during the war, including George Washington. There was also an encampment of French troops under the command of Count Rochambeau. In May 1776, several months before Congress acted, Town Meeting voted that "if the Hon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother Brook
Mother Brook is an artificial waterway in Dedham, and Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and the first man-made canal in the present-day United States. Constructed in 1639 by settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset River and was originally designed to power water mills. Its creation helped establish Dedham’s early economy and laid the foundation for over 300 years of continuous industrial use. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Mother Brook powered a succession of grist, saw, paper, textile, and woolen mills, fueling the rise of East Dedham as a densely populated mill village. The brook was central to legal disputes over water rights and served as a key industrial corridor well into the 20th century. As the textile industry declined after World War I, the mills closed or were repurposed, and parts of the brook were redirected or covered. By the mid-20th century, decades of industrial waste had severely polluted the brook. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
