The first town hall of Montague, Massachusetts, was a two-and-a-half story frame building built in 1837, and located on the east side of Main Street in Montague Center. Prior to that town business was conducted, as in many New England towns, in the Congregational meeting house. The 1837 town hall was replaced in 1858, by the tall brick building to the right in this picture. Its original cost was $7,000, a substantial outlay for a relatively small village. That structure housed not only town offices but the public library, a large asembly hall upstairs, and a small office for government business. In 1926, almost all the town functions were transferred to buildings in Turners Falls, on the northern edge of Montague, where they remain today.