Construction Begins On Old Dedham Town Hall

DEDHAM, MA — Dedham started demolition and construction on the Old Town Hall site on Monday. All town departments are now in the Ames Building at 450 Washington Street and the town moved the Veterans Memorial that was on the Old Town Hall site to avoid damage.

The sidewalk on the south side of Bryant Street, in front of the old Town Hall, will be closed for the duration of the project. Because of the pandemic, the new Town Hall isn't open to the public, but staff members are working on site and can be reached by phone during operating hours.

Dedham's Old Town Hall was built in 1950 and served as Dedham's civic center for nearly 70 years. In recent history, the building's 15,000 square feet housed most of the Town's 20+ departments, not including the Council on Aging, Engineering, Facilities, GIS, Parks & Recreation, Public Works, or the Youth Commission.

Plans to demolish and reconstruct the Old Town Hall were put in place when construction began on the new Dedham Town Hall in 2015.

Town officials reminded residents that the veterans memorial was safely removed, as planned, and carefully moved to the Brookdale Cemetery last Friday where it will be temporarily stored until it is ready to be moved back to an appropriate location near Dedham Square.

If additional funding is approved at Fall Town Meeting next month, the Town will move forward with its plans to build a new joint public safety building (police and fire) where the old town hall was located. If the plan succeeds, the memorial will be placed on the green space between the new town hall and public safety building. Officials plan to have a ceremony for the memorial at that time as well.

"It should be made clear that this was the plan that was established and agreed upon several years ago, with input from local veterans, and the plan has not changed in that time," said Town Manager Leon Goodwin and Dedham Veterans Service Officer Joseph Hamilton about the memorial's move, "We look forward to a time when the memorial is placed in its new home where it can be viewed and visited by veterans, residents and visitors of the town."