Old Town Hall is a historic town hall in Athol, Massachusetts. Built in 1828 as a church, it served as town hall from 1847 to 1957, and now houses the local historical society. It is architecturally a good example of Federal period civic/religious architecture of the period. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.[1]
Old Town Hall | |
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| Location | 1307 Main St., Athol, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°35′32″N 72°13′5″W / 42.59222°N 72.21806°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1828 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 87000876[1] |
| Added to NRHP | June 17, 1987 |
Description and history
editThe Old Town Hall is located southwest of Athol's commercial downtown, at the northwest corner of Main Street and Liberty Street. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. The front facade is five bays wide, with the center three projecting with a lower-profile pedimented gable that has an oval window at its center. The building corners are pilastered. A three-stage tower rises to a cupola and weathervane. The interior houses the meeting space on the ground floor.[2]
The hall was built as the town's fourth meeting house in 1828, after the third, which had stood nearby, was destroyed by fire. It was built for a Unitarian splinter of the town's original congregation, and remained in that use until it was turned over to the town in 1847. The building originally had a two-story meeting space, with a gallery on three sides (a typical period meeting house); the gallery was converted into a full second story by the town. It was used exclusively for town functions until 1921. A Women's Club occupied part of the building between 1921 and 1957, which continued to be used occasionally for meetings and as a polling place. The town gave the building to the Athol Historical Society in 1957, which uses it as a museum and storage facility.[2] It remains an important tourist attraction for Athol and is included in their historical trail. The building features a display of local historic artifacts and is open to the public on Sunday afternoons in June and July.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b "NRHP nomination for Old Town Hall". National Archive. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
External links
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