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Sandown Meeting House
1773 - 1774
Sandown was settled in 1736 by Moses Tucker, Israel and James Huse, Mr. Pressey and Samuel Sleeper who built the first house. It was incorporated as a separate town (from Kingston) in 1756. Names on town records also include Clough, Eaton, Wells, Colby and Sanborn. the congregational society was formed with 57 members in 1759, ten being transferred from the Kingston church. Benjamin Tucker and Samuel sleeper were the first Deacons and the first parish meeting occurred in Jethro Sunburn's house, 1761. the treasurer is a Sanborn descendent.
The erection of the meeting House on the land of John Colby in the geographical center of town was begun in 1773 and completed in 1774, there being a dedication each year. here the congregational society held its service until it was dissolved in 1834. here the town meetings were held from 1778 to 1929. It is reported to be the only comparable edifice in New Hampshire preserved as originally designed. The tulip pulpit, the canopy of which is 30 feet above the floor, is a particularly fine ecclesiastical exhibit.
To many architectural historians, this is the first meeting house of its type in America. The belief is confirmed by the fact that during the 1920s, auto maker Henry Ford tried to buy the building to move to one of his museums. During our nation's bicentennial, the federal government featured this building in their widely distributed movie on the country's history. The government also made two replica of the meeting house main door for the entrance to an exhibit that toured throughout the world. The building is almost completely unchanged since it was built before the Revolutionary War. Even a 1/3 of its 1080 pains of glass are original to it's 1773-4 construction.
During the colonial times the designation "Meeting House" meant a structure that assumed many functions in the daily life of the town. It was a chapel for worship as well as the setting for the annual town meeting. Inside this building our citizens have voted for every president from George Washington to Herbert Hoover. Frequently dances and celebrations enlivened the old building during the 19th century. In this building itinerant lectures on women's rights, antislavery and temperance would try to convince the local citizens of the righteousness of their cause. From this pulpit in 1776, Josiah Bartlett read the newly written Declaration of Independence. It was here in 1788 that man came to debate and vote on the new federal constitution( we voted against it). It was also to this meeting house the town's people gathered and prayed before sending it's youth to fight in a half dozen wars.
The Old Meeting House was built in 1773-1774 on a site that was claimed to be the geographic center of the town. During the construction, the supply of rum was exhausted. According to legend, the worker's put down their tools and refused to do any more work until a fresh barrel was hauled from Newburyport. This has been claimed by some historians to possibly be America's first sit down strike.
This building functioned as a congregational church until1800. It's pastors were Josiah Cotton (1759-1780), Samuel Collins (1780-1788) and John Webber (1795-1800). Because of legal irregularities, in 1800 Webber was paid $ 100 to break his contract and leave town. In the years that followed, many Protestant denominations were allowed to use the meeting house occasionally for it's religious services. These included the Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptist, Quakers, Unitarians, and Presbyterians.
The last town meeting was held here in 1928. The next year the Old Meeting House Historical association was formed to preserve and maintain the building.
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