Uniquely Medfield: The Burning of Town Hall

A weekly column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher. This week focuses on the burning of town hall 90 years ago this week.

It was exactly 90 years ago, on Jan. 17, 1923, that the Medfield Town Hall burned for the second time in 50 years. That morning dawned bitter cold and all of Medfield was covered in a blanket of white from a recent snowstorm.  It was just before 7 a.m. when the first alarm came in that Medfield’s seat of government was on fire. Before the day was over, the entire inside of Town Hall was gutted, leaving only a partial shell standing. The blankets of snow on the nearby buildings kept the fire from spreading. Hot embers were reported to have fallen up to two miles away. A defective chimney was thought to have been the cause. Luckily the town had installed a fireproof cement vault which saved many of the town records. This was a lesson learned…

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