Old Town Halls

AFTER THE FAILURE OF THE "PRACTICAL TOWN HALL", the Selectmen were careful to retain a competent professional to draw up new plans and specifications. They engaged Thomas W. Silloway a highly regarded Boston architect who had designed the Vermont State House in Montpelier, the Medfield Town Hall and more than a hundred other churches and public buildings.

This 1879 architectural drawing by
Silloway in shows some of the
handsome iron grillework and
detailing of the new design
Dover Historical Society

The new Town Hall was a one story building forty feet by sixty with front ante rooms and a large main hall to seat four hundred. Herbert Moseley, who had had the unfortunate experience of building from the "practical" plans of the prior attempt, was selected again as contractor for the new design. Work started in September 1879 and the building was dedicated with elaborate ceremonies on June 17, 1880.
Total cost including furnishings - $4,499.04.

THE OLD TOWN HALL AS originally built
before it was raised to add another story. The
schoolchildren attended the old Center District
Schoolhouse just to the right outside the picture.
Photograph taken between 1880 and 1893.
Dover Historical Society Photo

BY 1893 THE TOWN HAD GROWN and needed more space in the town hall for expansion and to house a public library as well.

After considering various alternatives the town decided to lift the whole building, to raise it up off the ground eleven feet and build in a new first floor. Plans and specifications were drawn up by H. W. Corson, Architect, and the whole project was completed for $3,594.28.

The Old Town Hall shortly after it was raised
Frank Smith HISTORY OF DOVER

Besides space for the new library the added story provided room for a large banquet hall with kitchen facilities, rooms for town officers and a fireproof vault. It served the town for forty-two years and finally was sold at auction and taken down when the present townhouse replaced it in 1922.