Dedham is a town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 census.
Norfolk County is located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 725,981. Its county seat is Dedham. It is the fourth most populous county in the United States whose county seat is neither a city nor a borough, and it is the second most populous county that has a county seat at a town. The county was named after the English county of the same name. Two towns, Cohasset and Brookline, are exclaves.
The Suffolk Resolves was a declaration made on September 9, 1774, by the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. The Resolves were recognized by statesman Edmund Burke as a major development in colonial animosity leading to adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776, and he urged British conciliation with the American colonies, to little effect. The First Continental Congress endorsed the Resolves on September 17, 1774, and passed the similarly themed Continental Association on October 20, 1774.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.
Nathaniel Ames was a colonial American physician who published a popular series of annual almanacs. He was the son of Nathaniel Ames first (1677–1736) and the father of Nathaniel and Fisher Ames. The family was descended from William Ames of Bruton, Somerset, England, whose son William emigrated to Massachusetts and settled at Braintree as early as 1640.
The Norfolk County Courthouse, also known as the William D. Delahunt Courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark at 650 High Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It currently houses the Norfolk County Superior Court. It is significant as a well-preserved Greek Revival courthouse of the 1820s, and as the site a century later of the famous Sacco-Vanzetti trial. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It replaced an earlier courthouse, built in 1795.
The Dedham Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic center of Dedham, Massachusetts. Its principal focus is a stretch of High Street between Bridge and Ames Streets; it extends south along Bridge Street to Haven Street, as well as along Ames and Court Streets, and small streets adjacent. The area has been associated with the growth and development of Dedham since the community was established in 1636. Its most notable structure is the Norfolk County Courthouse, a National Historic Landmark. It also includes the Old Village Cemetery. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It is roughly bounded by Village Avenue and High, Court, Washington, School, and Chestnut Streets.
The Norfolk House also known as the Norfolk Hotel, was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts originally built in 1801 and located at 19 Court Street. It hosted John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Samuel Dexter (1726—1810) was an early American politician from Dedham, Massachusetts.
Eliphalet Pond (1704-1795) represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court.
Nathaniel Ames was an American doctor, politician, and teacher. He represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Massachusetts Great and General Court.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1700 to 1799 saw the town become one of the largest and most influential country towns in Massachusetts. As the population grew and residents moved to outlying areas of the town, battles for political power took place. Similar battles were taking place within the churches, as liberal and conservative factions bristled at paying for ministers with whom they had differences of theological opinion. New parishes and preciencts were formed, and eventually several new towns broke away.
The Ames Tavern was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts. Founded as Fisher's Tavern in 1649 by Joshua Fisher, it eventually passed into the hands of Nathaniel Ames through a complicated lawsuit based on colonial laws of inheritance. It was eventually owned by Richard Woodward, who renamed it the Woodward Tavern by the time the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves met there.
The Norfolk County Jail was a wooden jail located on Highland Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. Following the creation of Norfolk County in 1792, Timothy Gay deeded land to the county for the creation of the jail in October 1794. Construction began that year but it was not complete until 1795. The donated land, next to Gay's tavern on Highland Street, was on the corner of Court Street next to the present day St. Paul's Church.
Samuel Haven was an American judge.
St. Paul's Church is an Episcopal Church in Dedham, Massachusetts
The Phoenix Hotel was one of the most popular social spots in Dedham during the 19th century. It was located on the northwest corner of the High Street-Washington Street intersection in modern-day Dedham Square. Among the distinguished guests of this hotel were Andrew Jackson and James Monroe.
This is a timeline of the history of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.
The town of Dedham, Massachusetts, participated in the American Revolutionary War and the protests and actions that led up to it in a number of ways. The town protested the Stamp Act and then celebrated its repeal by erecting the Pillar of Liberty. Townsmen joined in the boycott of British goods following the Townshend Acts, and they supported the Boston Tea Party. Dedham's Woodward Tavern was the site where the Suffolk Resolves gathering was first convened.
Richard "Dick" Woodward was an American tavern keeper. He was a patriot and soldier in the American Revolution, played host to the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves, and a leader of Dedham, Massachusetts.
