Editing Hamilton, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
In June 1638, [[John Winthrop the Younger]], son of the founder of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], bought most of present-day [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex County]] from [[Chief Masconomet|Masconomet]], chief of the [[Agawam tribe|Agawam Indians]], for the sum of twenty [[English pound]]s.  A memorial stone on Sagamore Hill in southeastern Hamilton marks where Masconomet was buried with his gun and tomahawk around 1658.
 
Hamilton was first settled in 1638 and was originally a section of [[Ipswich, Massachusetts|Ipswich]] known as "The Hamlet". The first recorded land grant in the Hamlet was Matthew Whipple's farm, dated 1638. Three years later the new stagecoach road from [[Boston]] to [[Newburyport, Massachusetts|Newburyport]] (Bay Road) was laid out through the Whipple land.  Other early settlers of the Hamlet, including the Appletons, Winthrops, Lamsons, and Dodges, were attracted by countryside similar to the English farms and estates they had left behind.

The town was incorporated on June 21, 1793,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfUBAAAAYAAJ&dq=Hamilton+was+incorporated+on+June+21%2C+1793&pg=PA284|title=The Massachusetts Register and United States Calendar for the Year of Our Lord ...|date=31 January 1848|publisher=Richardson, Lord & Holbrook, and James Loring|access-date=31 January 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref> and named for [[Alexander Hamilton]], whose portrait became the town seal in 1903. With the arrival of the [[Boston and Maine Railroad]] in 1839, the population center moved gradually southward toward the depot.

The farm village proved to be an attractive location for Boston groups seeking land for recreation and renewal.  A [[Methodist]] ministers' association first held a camp meeting at [[Asbury Grove]] in 1859.  In the 1880s, the [[Myopia Hunt Club]], which had been named in jest for its nearsighted founders, moved from [[Winchester, Massachusetts]], to the Gibney Farm in Hamilton.  Beginning as a lawn tennis and baseball club, it turned to [[polo]], the [[Fox hunting|hunt]], and [[golf]] as members built large summer estates in the area.  Myopia donated the site for the General [[George S. Patton]] Memorial Park to the town of Hamilton.  The park continues to be a recreation center for the town.

In 1921, the Mandell family built the [[Community House (Hamilton, Massachusetts)|Community House]] in memory of the eight men in Hamilton and Wenham who died in military service during [[World War I]], including their son, Sam.  They commissioned [[Guy Lowell]], a respected architect of Boston and New York, to design the building, and gave the Community House in trust for the use of the residents of both towns.  Although in its early days the Community House offered activities such as bowling and a men's smoking room, it now features a wide range of classes and activities for all ages.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Beattie|editor-first=Donald W. |year=1976 |title=Hamilton, Massachusetts: Chronicle of a Country Town |url=https://digitalmaine.com/books/147/ |location=Hamilton, MA |publisher=Town of Hamilton, Massachusetts American Revolution Bicentennial Commission}}</ref><ref>Pulsifer, Janice P., ''Changing Town: Hamilton, Massachusetts 1850–1910''; Hamilton, MA: Hamilton Historical Society, 1976.</ref><ref>Safford, Daniel E., "Hamilton" in ''The History of Essex County, Volume II''; Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Company, 1888.</ref>

The town also has a rich [[Equestrianism|equestrian]] heritage, which remains strong due to the influence of the many horse farms and the [[Myopia Hunt Club]], which holds frequent equestrian events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nephotographyguild.com/2011/11/experience-the-myopia-club-fox-hunt-this-thanksgiving/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304023217/http://www.nephotographyguild.com/2011/11/experience-the-myopia-club-fox-hunt-this-thanksgiving/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 4, 2013 |title=Experience The Myopia Club Fox Hunt This Thanksgiving! |publisher=Nephotographyguild.com |access-date=2015-04-24}}</ref> Motorists in Hamilton often share secondary roads with horse and pony riders.

In 2021, Hamilton became the first town in Massachusetts to mandate composting.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Janelle |last=Nanos |date=February 21, 2021 |title=Hamilton becomes first Mass. town to mandate composting  |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/21/business/hamilton-becomes-first-mass-town-mandate-composting/ |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-10 |title=Here's what local climate action looks like in small-town USA |url=https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/climate-crisis/heres-what-local-climate-action-looks-like-in-small-town-usa |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=Canary Media |language=en}}</ref>

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File:View of First Congregational Church from Hamilton Cemetery.jpg|alt=View of First Congregational Church from Hamilton Cemetery|View of First Congregational Church from Hamilton Cemetery
File:Hamilton-Wenham Public Library.jpg|Hamilton-Wenham Public Library
File:Hamilton Town Hall 1.jpg|Hamilton Town Hall Hamilton, Massachusetts
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