Town Hall Square Historic District

Town Hall Square in Sandwich, Massachusetts, anchors a district of about forty acres and 54 buildings and structures. The Greek Revival Town Hall of 1834 and the reconstructed Dexter Grist Mill face Shawme Pond at its center, and the streets that radiate from the square hold nine seventeenth century, fourteen eighteenth century and twenty-four nineteenth century buildings, plus a few modern ones. The area is the site of the first settlement on Cape Cod, founded in 1637. It remained farming country until Deming Jarves opened the Sandwich Glass Works in 1825, which brought industrial prosperity until the factory closed in 1888. The First Church of Christ, built in 1847, and the Town Hall reflect that era. Earlier buildings include the 1693 Melatiah Bourne House and the c. 1675 Hoxie House. The district was listed because it survives as a nearly intact early nineteenth century village, with the pond, trees, lawns and compatible buildings of three centuries creating a cohesive historic setting.