Interesting Facts

First Randolph, Massachusetts Town Meeting

1793

Suffolk, s. s.

Whereas by an Act of the General Court of this Commonwealth, that incorporated the fourth Precinct of Braintree in the County of Suffolk, into a Town by the name of Randolph, I the subscriber am authorized to issue a Warrant to one of the principal inhabitants of the said Town of Randolph for the purpose of calling a Town Meeting in the said Town of Randolph.

To Samuel Hays, Esq., you Sir, pursuant to the said Act are hereby requested to warn and give notice to all the inhabitants of the said Town of Randolph, who are qualified by law to vote in Town affairs, to assemble and meet at the meeting house in the said Town of Randolph on the first day of April next at ten o'clock in the forenoon, to choose all such Officers as Towns in this Commonwealth are required to choose at their Annual Town Meeting in the Month of March or April annually.

Given under my hand at Braintree aforesaid this Eighteenth day of March in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Three.

Samuel Niles,

Justice of the Peace

Did You Know

  • That Randolph's birth date is March 9, 1793?
  • That the Cochato and Ponkapoag Indian tribes lived in Randolph?
  • That the Spotless Town is North Randolph?
  • That New Dublin runs from Silver to Fowler Streets on Warren Street?
  • That Goose Corner is located at the junction of West and Cross Streets?
  • That the Gibson property on West Street is known as Grand Canyon?
  • That Horse Heaven is down on Mill Street?
  • That King's Hill is in back of the transformers in the rear of the cemeteries?
  • That the Cochato River runs through Broad Meadows to South Braintree?
  • That the correct name is Sister Nadi Road…not Cincinnati?
  • That Dr. Ebenezer Alden owned the land where the present Stetson High School stands?
  • That the old Boston and Taunton turnpike stagecoaches stopped at the Mansion House on Tower Hill, near the junction of High and Lafayette, opposite the Chapel?

Randolph, How Many?

Scattered throughout the United States there are seven municipalities named Randolph:

  1. On the east bank of the Kennebec River, is Randolph, Maine.
  2. Northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, is the city of Randolph, with a population of less than 2000 persons.
  3. The village of Randolph, New York, is located south of Buffalo.
  4. Randolph, Vermont, in the central part of that state is famous for the manufacture of reproductions of early American furniture.
  5. Northeast of Madison, Wisconsin, the village of Randolph, Wisconsin, is located near the Beaverdam Lane.
  6. Randolph, New Hampshire is a heavily forested town located in Coos County in the White Mountains. Population 339 (2000 census).
  7. Randolph, Massachusetts, is the most populated of all towns with that name.

Remember When

  • The old Howard House, one of Randolph's landmarks, which for many years stood on the site of the present Whitehouse Jenney Gas Station was known at one time as Jacob's Tavern and was situated on Tripe Hill, now Crawford Square.
  • In the old days, travelers from Bridgewater and places south would make the famous old hostelry, their first stop en route to Boston, to procure "refreshments for man and beast".
  • The brothers, Brad and Joe Hathaway, were "mine hosts" of the Howard House for years and many famous guests spent enjoyable times in the historic thirty-room hotel.
  • Frank Connors was the last proprietor of the Howard House, before it was demolished in 1925.