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The Town Hall before renovations.
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The Town Hall during renovations.
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The Town Hall after renovations.
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The Middleborough Town
Hall underwent a three million dollar renovation. It was done with a Federal Grant of $600,000 from the Federal Office of DHCD
(Department of Housing and Community Development). The Town received a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Historical Department,
and an appropriation of $2,600,000 from the Town Meeting. This was the first full renovation the building has undergone since it was
built in 1871.
Here is a rundown of what was done during the
renovation:
The basement was stripped and redone with one new office, a new
mechanical, electrical, boiler, sprinkler system, bathrooms, and a
communications room was added. The main floor had all its non structural
support walls removed, all paint was stripped and redone in its original
color schemes, all wood work was redone in its original black walnut
finish, the floor was redone to its original maple, and all the windows
were replaced with matching original style thermal pane windows. The
second floor, or Grand Hall, was redone just like the main floor but the
ceiling and walls had decorative gold leafing added. The exterior of the
building had the lead
paint removed through a chemical process and was repainted in its
original brownstone brown, on
the bottom half, and tan cream, on the upper half. The asphalt roof of a
forty to fifty year vintage, the copper dome of the cupola, and the
slate roof were all replaced. Handicapped accessible bathrooms and an
elevator were installed in the building.
Members of the Town Hall Building Committee are as follows:
Donald Atkins - Chairman, Robert Desrosiers, Jack Kulian, Nathaniel
Hailey, Richard Wilmot, Jane Lopes, Bruce Atwood, Roger Brunelle, Kevin
Murphy. The Architect of Record is Meyer & Meyer of Boston,
and the site architect is Andrew Reck. The construction company
of BBC of Rockland Massachusetts is the General Contractor. The
Town engages their own project manager Michael Josefek for this project.
The project was completed in March of 2000.
History
The first Town House in Middleborough was located
on the corner of South Main Street and West Grove Street from 1798 until
1873 when the Town Hall was built. The site of the Town Hall, Nickerson
Avenue (once Temple Place, when it was a dirt road to the Baptist
Church, then later Town House Avenue), was donated to the Town by Edward
A. and William R.O. Washburn. The building committee elected to handle
the building of the Town Hall was made up of prominent Middleborough
residents who were involved and committed to the development of our
community. They were: Horatio Barrows of Leonard and Barrows Shoe
Manufacturing, Albert Alden of the Bay State Straw Works, Zebulon Pratt
of North Middleboro, instrumental in establishing the endowment for the
Pratt Free School and I.H. Harlow.
The building sustained a major fire in 1916, and
suffered major damage to the cupola in the 1934 & 1954 hurricanes.
The Town Hall was built at an original cost of $50,000. Besides the 1934
& 1954 storm damage the building has required less than $250,000 in
repairs and upkeep throughout it's 128 years. The building was
found in as structurally sound condition now as it was when it was built.
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