The Town House

The Town House stood three rods west of this spot from 1718 until 1785. Governor Burnet convened the General Court there in 1728 and 1729, a town meeting held there in 1765 protested against the Stamp Act, and another in 1769 denounced the tax on tea. In 1774 the last General Assembly of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay met there and, on June 17, in defiance of Governor Gage, chose delegates to the First Continental Congress. The House of Assembly was then dissolved, and an election was held for a new house to meet at Salem as ordered by the governor, but by later proclamation he refused to recognize it. In contempt of his authority, the members met in the town house on October 5, organized, resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress, and adjourned to Concord to act with other delegates as the First Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.

Salem, Massachusetts · United States