Stoughton-The Town Hall - Stoughton, MA - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The American Guide Series book for Massachusetts has the following about the Stoughton Town Hall:

The Town Hall, corner of Pearl and Porter Sts., contains the rooms of the Stoughton Musical Society, which in 1790 competed with singers of the first Parish of Dorchester, winning the contest by singing the 'Hallelujah Chorus' without books.

--American Guide Series: Massachusetts - Guide to Its People and Places, p. 615.

Just before this passage, the guide has the following about the town:

STOUGHTON, 14.4 m. (town, alt. 239, pop. 8472, sett. about 1713, incorp. 1743), was named for William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts (1694-1791), whose father, Colonel Israel Stoughton, commander of the Colonial forces during the Pequot War of 1636, was a large landholder in Dorchester, of which Stoughton was originally a part. During the American Revolution, Stoughton was the supply center for Colonial forces in the area, though there was little industrial development before 1800. By 1830, shoe manufacturing had begun; but the Civil War, depriving the town of its large Southern markets, threatened the prosperity of the factories for a time.

--American Guide Series: Massachusetts - Guide to Its People and Places, p. 615.

In 1921 the town adopted the city-manager form of government, the manager performing all executive functions and advising the board of selectmen who have legislative powers.

The Guide has an additional passage about the Stoughton Musical Society. In the historical narrative pages is the following:

Perhaps the opening of theaters, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, did much to stimulate the public interest in music, and to improve its taste...Obviously, the Puritan terror of music had at last broken down, music was beginning to come out of the church, and all that now was needed was organization - a creative discipline and direction.
For this, some of the spade-work had already been done by the gradual formation and training of the church choirs, the founding of singing schools, partlyto the same end, and the development of musical societies. Among the latter may be mentioned one of the earliest, still in existence, the Stoughton Musical Society, 1786, founded by America's first native composer, William Billings. Billing's 'New England Psalm Singer' (1770), and subsequent collections, may be said to be the beginning of American composition; and his spirited 'fuguing' style did much to free church music from the everlasting Puritan drone.

But, these were modest beginning at best, and it was really with the nineteenth century that things began to happen...

--American Guide Series: Massachusetts - A Guide to Its People and Places, pp. 114-115.

Today, Stoughton is mid-sized suburb of Boston, with major areas of commerce. According to Wikipedia, the population is now 26,962 (2010 Census). The music society, now known as the Old Stoughton Music Society, still exists, though it now holds its concerts in the Stoughton Historical Society, also known as the Lucius Clapp Memorial Hall, located neaby on Park and Pleasant Streets. There is a plaque on this building that states the following:

Old Stoughton Musical Society
[Logo] On November 7, 1786, America's oldest musical society was organized near this spot. This plaque placed on the occasion of the 200th Anniversary in 1986.

the Old Stoughton Musical Society still exists. They have a web site, listed below. They hold their concerts now in the Clapp Memorial Hall, which is about where where they were first organized. They hold about two concerts a year - one in December and one in the spring.

Sources:

Old Stoughton Musical Society:
Visit Link

Wikipedia (Stoughton, MA):
Visit Link

Book: Massachusetts Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 615, 114-115 Year Originally Published: 1937

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