Built in 1790, the Town Hall started life as a Freewill Baptist Church.  Some years later it was used by both the Baptist and Methodists and was abandoned as a church in 1864 when the Methodists moved to what is now the Westport Community Church just to the north.  The town acquired the abandoned building in 1885 and it has been used as a town hall ever since.

   During this era, this section was a center of town activity with the Post Office , a store, and the Center School close at hand at the junction of the Post Office Road.

   Unofficial mascot of the hall is the stuffed loon on the beam over the stage.  He has presided over many a town meeting, wedding receptions, and dance since 1889 when he was shot at Squam Creek by Everett McCarthy of the Post Office Road.  "Young" Cornelius Tarbox of the West Shore Road mounted the bird and it was presented to the town and has remained in the Town Hall ever since.

                                                                                                                 story by R.M. Metzger

   The social events of the summer season, which unfortunately are no longer held, were the Saturday night dances at the Town Hall.  In the early days contra dances such as "The Quadrille" or "Lady of the Lake" were performed to music by a local orchestra, often members of Colby or Greenleaf family, and "called off" by Jim Knight and later by his brother "Uncle Jose"  These pictures were taken in 1946 when the "Virginia Reel" or "Haymaker's Jig" were more popular with waltzes and foxtrots in between.