By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
As part of the Town of Sherborn’s 350th anniversary and the Town of Holliston’s 300th anniversary, the Sherborn Historical Society and the Holliston Historical Society co-hosted a special program. “The Big Split” was presented at the Sherborn Library to a large in-person crowd and to an online audience. The program focused on how Sherborn split into two towns—Sherborn and Holliston—in 1724.
Sherborn’s town historian, Betsy Johnson, and Holliston’s town historian, Joanne Hulbert, told the story of the division of their towns through early maps of Sherborn, town records, town meeting minutes, and their own compelling narratives. They also included interesting historical anecdotes along the way.
According to Betsy Johnson, the Town of Sherborn had one meetinghouse in 1721 that had been in service for 61 years. It was near the site of the present Unitarian Universalist church, on the town’s common. Having outgrown the present building, the town resolved to build a new one. But the question of where to build the new meetinghouse was a stickler that would be discussed in contentious town meetings for four years before being resolved.
Townsfolk on the eastern side of Dopping Brook wanted to build the new meetinghouse on the site of the original one. Those living west of Dopping Brook preferred a more accessible site or the establishment of a second parish with a separate meetinghouse on their side of the brook, as it was difficult to make the journey to the town common for a good part of the year.
In the 1720-1721 fall town meeting, two articles were presented. The first proposed that the new meetinghouse be built on a hillside near Dirty Meadow Bridge. The second article proposed drawing a line from the southeast corner of the Framingham line, along Dopping Brook to Boggestowe Brook to the Medway line to divide the town into two parishes, each with its own meetinghouse.
In the March 1722 town meeting, the two articles were defeated. There was no consensus on where the new meetinghouse should be built, but the voters did register a desire to hold the town together. Eventually, they did vote to establish a tax to fund the new building on the site of the old one.
In the November 1722 meeting, voters decided to reconsider the previous vote. Seven men objected to the result, since the voice vote was very close. A roll-call vote was taken, and the previous decision-to go ahead with a new meetinghouse on the town common-failed.
In the March 1723 meeting, the voters decided to build a new meetinghouse near Dirty Meadow Bridge. After an in-person review of the site, it was marked with a heap of stones.
In November 1723, having given up hope of a compromise, the meeting voted to establish two meeting houses, one in the east and one in the west. Then, a final vote reversed this decision. It was decided that a new meetinghouse would be built on the town common, and a committee was established to hire a builder. The town would remain united, but it would have two parishes.
The Great and General Court of Massachusetts reviewed the town’s decision and, after all the town’s discussions and votes, proceeded to divide the Town of Sherborn into two separate towns, rather than two parishes. The court charged the new town in the west to build a meetinghouse and hire a minister.
According to Holliston Town Historian, Joanne Hulbert, a man names Thomas Hollis had donated a large sum of money to Harvard College in 1721. His annual gift of 1,500 pounds would fun two professorships, one for a divinity professor and one for a professor of mathematics (or natural philosophy). He also donated a 24-foot telescope.
Hulbert said it was most likely that the Great and General Court had a plan in place to honor Thomas Hollis in some way. Upon the separation of Sherborn into two towns, the Court named the western town Holliston.
If you would like to hear the interesting details and anecdotes that surrounded the separation of Sherborn and Holliston, a second program will be offered in Holliston on December 3, 2024, Holliston’s 300th anniversary, at 6:30 pm on 547 Washington Street.
