Town Hall (1894)
40 Center Street, Fairhaven
508-979-4023
Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Town of Fairhaven website: https://www.Fairhaven-MA.gov
Among the services that visitors to Fairhaven might need from the Town Hall are:
• Shellfishing Permits
• Boat Stickers
• Notary
Financed by Henry H. Rogers as a gift to the town from his first wife, Abbie, this French Gothic building was the second of Rogers’ buildings to be designed by Charles Brigham. Originally, it housed all of the town government offices, as well as the Post Office and the police station with three iron-barred jail cells. It is still home to several municipal offices.
The interior features quartered oak paneling, solid brass fixtures and leaded, stained glass windows. The tower houses a four-faced clock. The magnificent auditorium on the second floor, restored in the 1990s, has been the site of many town meetings, dances, concerts, plays and theatrical performances. Humorist Mark Twain, a close friend of Rogers, appeared on stage here on February 22, 1894, as the keynote speaker at the building’s dedication ceremony. The framed, hand-written manuscript of the speech is on display across the street at the Millicent Library.
The Fairhaven Town Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places.
