Wednesday, December 17, 2025 marks the date of Stoneham’s 300th anniversary as a town. The first town meeting was held a week later on Christmas Eve.
Join the 300th Anniversary Committee and Stoneham Historical Society & Museum as we part the occasion and the end of our 300th year with a reading of the Town Charter. A small delegation will march from Stoneham Town Hall to the Museum at 36 William Street on December 17th at about 12:15, ending up the Museum around 12:30 pm to read the charter. All are welcome to join to mark the occasion and enjoy some coffee.
Some details on some of the part of the process of becoming a town are below.
Dec. 17, 1725 Massachusetts General Court sets off Charlestown End from Charlestown and incorporating it as the separate Town of Stoneham. Towns in colonial Massachusetts had to provide a burial ground, a school and school master, and a meeting house and a ‘learned and orthodox’ minister (that is – a good Puritan).
Dec 24, 1725 First Town Meeting; Timothy Baldwin elected Moderator and Daniel Gould, Jr. the Town Clerk. First Selectman are Capt. Benjamin Geary, Capt. John Vinton, Mr. Peter Hay, Sr, Mr. Timothy Baldwin, Sr. and Lt. Timothy Wright.
Note the date: No Christmas celebrations for those Puritans! Christmas was banned in Massachusetts Bay colony from 1659-1681, a law eventually repealed under pressure from the British government. But while it was no longer officially banned, good ‘orthodox’ Puritans would still not have celebrated the day. Christmas only became a holiday in Massachusetts in 1856.
Only freeholders were allowed to vote in the first town meeting – which was held in the school-house. A freeholder had to own property (land) within the Province worth taxes of 40 shillings a year, or other estate to the value of 40 pounds sterling.
1726 Town buys a quarter acre from James Hay to serve as a Burying Ground and an acre for a Meeting House. It was voted ‘that the meeting-house’ shall stand between the black oak tree and the red oak tree, upon the hill near the east end of the school-house.”
1726 First Meeting House Built. Along with a good amount of cider, the builders consumed over 5 gallons of rum during the building process. The building was 36 x 40 feet by 20 high. It had 3 doors and galleries, but no pulpit, only benches, no pews, no heat nor any paint inside or out. Men sat on the left (west) and women on the east side, with “negros” on the last benches.
1726 Militia Company formed. All men 16 to 60 were liable for militia duty. They were almost always summoned to meet at the tavern of James Hay.