18 December 1647 - Earliest date in Walpole area - A Mine Claim.
26 March 1649 - "Mine of Metal" claimed in area.
3 November 1658 - Saw Mill voted by Dedham in our area.
3 January 1659 - Committee to set sawmill in area.
26 February 1659 - Dedham action to lay out waye to Cedar Swampe.
24 April 1660 - Sawmill deadline.
8 September 1669 - Land treaty with King Philip.
13 April 1671 - Zachariah Smith murdered near Stop River.
24 June 1675 - 100 able soldiers impressed out of area by the
General Court.
26 June 1675 - Horse troop under Captain T. Prentiss &
Captain D. Henchman
used old Post Road through area.
14 July 1675 - Mendon under Indian attack.
9 December 1675 - Dedham force mustered against Narragansets - 2
men from
area (W. Robbins & S. Foster)
21 February 1676 - Medfield burned. 32 houses - 17 people killed.
30 March 1676 - Wrentham burned
8 October 1685 - Indians gave up all rights in area.
22 February 1702/3 - Voted road to Cedar Swamp (Spring Street).
1 October 1704 - Madam Sarah Knight passed over Old Post Road on
way to
New York.
2 April 1705 - E. Clapp gave Old Burial Ground (Kendall &
Main Street).
1 January 1708 - William Robbins-First Constable in Walpole.
12 May 1719 - Voted bounty on rattlesnakes.
15 May 1721 - First petition to separate denied.
14 May 1722 - Petition to separate affirmed (from Dedham)
15 May 1724 - Town set off. Separation voted.
10 June 1724 - General Court petitioned to create Walpole.
12 June 1724 - Petition referred to committee.
3 December 1724 - Town petition reported favorably.
7 December 1724 - Petition enacted - WALPOLE named by General
Court.
10 December 1724 - E. Fales ordered to hold meeting by General
Court /
INCORPORATED.
28 December 1724 - First Meeting & Town Election. E. Fales
the first moderator.
8 March 1725 - First annual Town Meeting in Joshua Clap's house.
30 March 1725 - Voted to erect meeting house 35' x 40'.
18 May 1725 - Town Meeting to choose representatives and plan
meeting house.
18 August 1725 - Pioneer William Robbins died.
2 May 1726 - Voted to add 2' to Meeting House.
19 May 1726 - Voted: 50 pounds to build meeting house.
15 September 1726 - First tax list.
16 April 1728 - Rev. J. Belcher called.
17 May 1728 - Rev. J. Belcher accepts call to preach.
5 May 1729 - Rev. J. Belcher resigned.
20 October 1729 - Town called the Rev. Phillips Payson.
2 July 1730 - First Parish Church was "gathered" by
Rev. P. Payson.
16 September 1730 - Rev. Phillips Payson ordained.
25 February 1733 - North Street layed out. 2 rods wide - bubbling
brook to
Wrentham Road (Main Street).
29 May 1734 - Petitions to attend our church from Stoughton
neighbors.
4 April 1739 - T. Clapp gave land for meeting house.
24 March 1744 - Louisburg Expedition.
15 June 1749 - General fast for a great drought.
25 April 1753 - E. Roades got permit for dam (Bird & Son
site).
3 May 1756 - Crown Point Muster 16 Walpole men.
13 October 1756 - Town ordered to take 3 more Acadian families.
1 March 1757 - 30 pounds voted to support the Acadians (Neutral
French).
14 February 1758 - First school accepted. Rev. Payson-Land / Dea,
Robbins-
Built.
26 December 1758 - Ammunition box in meeting house made by S.
Clap for 5
shillings 4 pence.
22 September 1768 - J. Clapp sent to Fanueil Hall for "Peace
and Safety"
meeting.
20 May 1773 - Voted: 5 pounds to build first powder house on
Widow Robbins
high hill.
16 December 1773 - Col. Moore's Lions dumped in Boston Harbor
during "Boston
Tea Party".
23 June 1774 - Supported a committee of Congress.
29 June 1774 - Voted to buy 150 pounds gunpowder, bullets &
flints "As the Law
Directs".
9 August 1774 - Outlawed Town Meeting held in defiance of the
Crown.
6 September 1774 - 3 men sent to Suffolk Resolves Meeting -
Woodward
Tavern, Dedham.
23 September 1774 - Enoch Ellis sent to Mass. Provincial
Congress.
26 September 1774 - Bought two cannon.
19 December 1774 - Accepted articles of the Philadelphia
Congress.
9 January 1775 - Company of Minutemen organized.
19 April 1775 - 157 men march to Concord & Lexington under
Captain Seth
Bullard.
23 April 1775 - Provincial Congress voted to raise a force of
30,000 men.
17 June 1775 - Bunker Hill battle.
21 July 1775 - B. Kingsbury to Great & General Court in
Watertown.
1 August 1775 - 41 Walpole men in Seth Bullard's Company.
25 September 1775 - Captain Nathan Hale and company marched
through town.
4 December 1775 - Captain J. Smith and 64 men marched to Boston.
10 May 1776 - Voted to support Continental Congress.
25 May 1776 - Provincial Army passed through to siege of Boston.
26 May 1776 - Heavy cannon from Providence to Boston in town.
8 December 1776 - Captain Clap's company marched to Warwick, R.I.
2 March 1777 - Voted a bonus for enlistments prior to March 1.
22 May 1777 - Rev. Phillips Payson died.
16 June 1777 - Purchased 4 pound cannon.
22 January 1778 - Reverend Phillips Payson died. Served town 48
years.
3 September 1780 - First vote for governor (John Hancock - 35).
18 November 1782 - Voted New Meeting House on old site.
30 November 1782 - "Peace Ball" at E. Fales House.
12 January 1783 - Publick grievances sent to King.
10 March 1783 - Rev. George Morey died.
12 May 1783 - First meeting house torn down.
19 November 1783 - Rev. George Morey ordained.
20 February 1796 - American currency displaced, English currency
in use.
11 January 1802 - Objected to new Turnpike (Washington Street).
5 July 1802 - Light Infantry Co. organized under Captain Samuel
Fales.
5 April 1803 - Voted bell at funerals to be tolled by a relative
of the deceased.
26 October 1809 - F.W. Bird born.
4 March 1811 - Voted a new brick powder house "Brick, 7 x
8".
10 September 1814 - Captain W. Clap's company of militia called
out.
1 May 1815 - Peach Street accepted.
1 July 1817 - President Monroe stopped at South Walpole.
3 May 1818 - Voted to put up hitching posts near Meeting House.
27 June 1820 - First Postmaster - David Morse, Jr. - Morse's
Tavern, East
Walpole.
2 February 1821 - Warren Colburn's arithmetic book published.
1 May 1826 - First School Committee.
4 October 1826 - First split in parish church.
13 November 1826 - Orthodox Congregational Church organized.
5 February 1827 - Albert G. Boyden born. Educator - President
Bridgewater
Normal.
6 September 1827 - Orthodox Congregational Church dedicated.
12 March 1828 - Rev. A. Bigelow installed - First minister of the
Orthodox
Church.
12 April 1828 - Lewis Farm roof raised.
26 July 1829 - Rev. G. Morey died.
3 April 1841 - T. Clarke - first postmaster South Walpole.
15 November 1845 - Major J.A. Gould perambulated town line.
3 March 1846 - Tithingman office discontinued.
13 September 1846 - Charles D. Blake born - organist &
composer.
14 July 1848 - Laura Hope Fisher, poet & composer born.
9 April 1849 - First railroad service to Boston (freight).
10 May 1849 - R.R. passenger service.
30 May 1853 - School house for North District.
23 December 1853 - North District School House Dedicated.
15 July 1855 - Josiah Hall died - age 101 years, 6 months and 20
days
(Revolutionary War soldier)
17 October 1856 - J. Edward Plimpton born.
25 January 1857 - Bad snowstorm 33 degrees below zero.
18 July 1857 - Bird Dam and Bridge washed out.
30 April 1861 - Voted $5,000.00 to support Civil War volunteers
and their
families.
18 April 1862 - Elbridge B. Piper age 18 died at Newborn, N.C. -
First Civil War
death from town.
17 January 1867 - Snow storm - children at school all night.
7 March 1870 - Voted first High School in Centre School.
25 October 1870 - First Friday "Walpole Standard".
First town paper by J.M.
Stewart.
14 June 1874 - First high school graduation. 15 graduates.
15 February 1876 - Great Gale - much damage.
6 March 1876 - Voted: Free Public Library / First By-Laws
Committee
1 March 1878 - "Walpole Enterprize" - first newspaper.
4 June 1878 - First Mass celebrated in St. Francis Church.
28 June 1880 - Purchased lot for Town Hall from E.D. Clap.
28 January 1881 - Town Hall dedicated.
6 August 1881 - "The Dark Day".
6 September 1881 - "The Yellow Day" (Hens went to
roost).
25 September 1881 - Town Hall dedicated.
17 June 1882 - Walpole Star published.
30 July 1882 - Bucket Brigade saves Town Hall / Other places
struck by lightning.
1 August 1882 - Horse & Wagon struck by train at Walpole
Corners.
10 August 1882 - Mrs. Belle Whitmore killed by train.
19 August 1882 - "Green Apple" warning - Cholera
raging.
11 September 1882 - Harvey Boyden died.
2 January 1883 - Over 6,000 tons of ice harvested by E.F. Lewis
& F.A.
Hartshorn.
29 March 1883 - Granted right to set poles & run telephone
wires.
28 April 1883 - Malaria fever prevalent.
11 May 1883 - 36 telephones in town.
18 May 1883 - Congregational Church of East Walpole dedicated.
22 June 1883 - Scarlet fever raging.
7 July 1883 - 104 Dogs taxed.
4 August 1883 - Billings Ellis built hose carriage for fire
department.
15 February 1884 - Meeting to form a fire department.
3 March 1884 - First fire station.
25 April 1884 - Allen's Twine Shop burned.
12 July 1884 - Dr. Cullis' Cancer House on Powder Hill - Later
truant school.
19 July 1884 - E. Frank Lewis sold his ice crop in Boston.
8 November 1884 - First entertainment in Bird Hall, East Walpole.
19 December 1884 - Centre School burned.
27 December 1884 - 18 degrees below zero - Walpole Star.
1 February 1885 - Artesian well at Color Works spouted 200' high.
2 April 1885 - Fast Day
28 March 1886 - First Episcopal Service.
2 May 1893 - Voted to supply water for town.
3 June 1893 - Lend-A-Hand Club organized.
25 December 1893 - Portrait of Lord Walpole given by Isaac N.
Lewis.
20 December 1894 - First Water Commissioners.
1 January 1895 - Women's Club organized.
13 March 1895 - Col. William Moore died.
7 June 1895 - Contracted to construct Walpole Water Works.
23 May 1898 - Walpole Historical Society, Inc. chartered.
2 November 1901 - French-Indian War Memorial Fountain was
dedicated - Gift of
George Plimpton.
24 April 1902 - Bandstand gift of Joseph Feeley.
14 May 1903 - Walpole Public Library dedicated.
30 November 1904 - Epiphany Church dedicated.
6 January 1914 - Town Seal accepted. Drawn by Edna Buck.
5 May 1916 - Town Forest dedicated.
4 November 1918 - Private Thomas Crowley killed in action - World
War I.
Legion Post named for him.
11 November 1918 - Armistice - World War I
6 December 1918 - Motorized fire engines put into service.
15 August 1919 - Norfolk & Bristol Street Railway
discontinued.
5 October 1924 - Bi-Centennial celebrated. Governor Channing Cox,
speaker.
8 February 1926 - Voted Town Forest a game refuge.
5 March 1929 - Joshua Allen, organist died - age 91 - Civil War
veteran.
11 November 1932 - Blackburn Hall dedicated.
7 August 1934 - Ida Everett - Dean of Wheaton College, died.
20 September 1936 - Stone cross erected to mark first meeting
house on
common.
21 September 1938 - First hurricane in a century.
29 September 1938 - All woodlands closed after hurricane.
10 April 1940 - Julius B. Crosman died - Poet & Craftsman.
14 August 1945 - End of World War II
16 May 1949 - Voted: New Stone School.
31 March 1952 - New Police & Fire station voted.
29 April 1972 - Historical Commission established.