For a small village with never more than 2,500 people (and usually fewer), Stockbridge had not one, not two, but three town halls: 1839, 1884, and 1902. They were called the Town House, Town Office, Town Hall, and—with the 1961 renovations—Procter Hall. Contrary to dire reports over the 180-year period, all three are still standing—none of the three from the first hundred years of Stockbridge history (1739 to 1839).
Four of the six were built on the village green. The green is at the intersection of Main and Church Streets where the Children’s Chime Tower, the Congregational Church, and the 1902 Neoclassical Town Hall are located. All six buildings and the ground they stood on are the repository of Stockbridge history, and so much of Stockbridge history represents the story of America.
An Experiment in multi-cultural Democracy
On this village green, in the 1730s, was the earliest experiment in multi-cultural democracy. In the Journal of Public Deliberation, Daniel Mandell reports on his study of “Indigenous People and the New England Town Meeting: Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1730-1775”:
“In the 1730s, Mahicans along the Housatonic River settled the mission town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. They participated in town meetings and elected ‘traditional’ leaders to typical New England offices. Even after a growing population of English settlers began dominating town offices, the Indians remained a strong presence in [town] meetings, which were conducted in the Mahican as well as English languages, and all voting done viva voce … Stockbridge thus provides a case study comparing Indian and colonial New England decision-making.”
From Meeting House to Town House
Did you wonder why the first of the three town office buildings was called the Town House? It probably seemed logical since the first three were each called the Meeting House.
The first Meeting House, dedicated in November 1739, served as both the place for church services and town meetings, as did the next two in 1785 and 1825. This practice was more than just convenient or pecuniary: There was no division between church and state. Membership in the Congregational Church was required by law. Attendance at religious services was enforced by a constable. Church elders and town leaders were often the same.
In its first one-hundred-year history, from 1739 to 1839, Stockbridge voted down building a government building many times. When Stockbridge did finally vote to build a town hall, constructed for the sole purpose of conducting town government functions, the church building was entirely separate. The Town House was the first physical manifestation of the separation of church and state.
Town Hall the Stockbridge way
In 1813, John Hunt offered to sell 3.5 acres to the town of Stockbridge at $70 per acre, but the town was unable to raise the $245. Hunt proclaimed it the perfect spot for the Town House, and so it was. A quarter of a century later, it was the exact spot on which the Greek Revival Town House was built by architect H. Phelps for $1,880. The land, however, was leased from the Congregational Church next door. “So, in 1839,” local historian Richard Wilcox summed up, “the Town House ended up resting on the land that John Hunt offered to sell to the Town 26 years earlier.”
Stockbridge ended up leasing the land for more than 100 years that they could have owned, but that’s not all. On September 17, 1902, Article 2 on the town warrant read: “… the Congregational Society accepted the offer of $2,000 for a perpetual lease of the land now occupied by the Town together with the plot of land in the rear … authorizing the town treasurer to borrow $2,000 for the lease of land and $14,000 for the purpose of erecting a suitable Town Hall.”
The Neoclassical Town Hall, built in 1902, incorporated the Town House in the rear. Sadly, it burned and was rebuilt in 1904, then renovated in 1961. A hundred years later, in 2004, it was abandoned, and town offices were moved to the former Plain School.
This year, old Town Hall was purchased by the Berkshire Waldorf School. So almost 20 years and many millions of dollars later, the school is town offices, and the Old Town Hall will be a school.
Stockbridge Jail Cell #2
The 1839 Greek Revival Town House was not torn down. Thrifty New England did not tear down buildings, they moved them. The old Town House was moved back on the lot and turned sideways to make room to build the 1902 town offices in front. It became the Stockbridge Police Department (SPD). The former front door to the Town House was now the entrance to the SPD.
The SPD had two jail cells. Most days, that was two too many. However, on November 26, 1965, Arlo Guthrie and his friend Rick Robbins were in Cell #2. Eighteen-year-old Guthrie and Robbins were arrested for illegally dumping garbage on private property. The garbage was from the home of teachers Ray and Alice Brock. The event became an 18-minute song, “Alice’s Restaurant.”
Iconic images
What of the one town hall not built on the village green? Many know the 1884 building as Yankee Candle on Main Street. Moreover, it was made familiar to millions of Americans as the centerpiece of Norman Rockwell’s “Christmas on Main Street.” The interior of the Town Office is familiar as the site of Rockwell’s “The Marriage License.” She, in her yellow dress, on her tiptoes, signing a marriage license as her husband-to-be looks on, and the Stockbridge Town Clerk looks away—if not bored then circumspect. That was the Stockbridge Town Office of 1884.
The arch of American history is encapsulated in Stockbridge history—from a laboratory for democracy, to American teens’ adventure with the law, to Rockwell’s images of a town hall and a village green. Stockbridge is America’s hometown.
