Historical Timeline

Year(s)
 Event(s)
1633 First settlement at Bare Cove includes former residents from Hingham, England.
1635 Reverend Peter Hobart, along with others from Hingham, England, arrives and is the pastor of the first church in Hingham.
1635 Name of settlement Barecove changed and incorporated as Hingham.
1638 Ship "Diligent" of Ipswich, England brings additional 133 settlers from Hingham and Norfolk, England under the leadership of minister Robert Peck.
1643 First corn mill is established at Hingham Harbor.
1675 Hingham men sent to fight in King Philip's War.
1676 Five Hingham homes burnt down by the Indians.
1680 Old Ordinary Tavern built and is now owned by the Hingham Historical Society.
1681 Old Ship Church built and is the oldest church in continuous use in the United States.
1690 Hingham men participate in Sir William Phip's expedition to Port Royal and Quebec.
1742 Second Parish Church, South Hingham, built.
1744-48 Hingham men participate in the siege of Louisbourg.
1749 Levi Lincoln born in Hingham; later Congressman, Attorney General of United States, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice
1754-63 Hingham men fight in many expeditions and battles in French and Indian War, including Fort William Henry, Fort Frontenae and Quebec.
1770 Cohasset declares "independence from Hingham and incorporates.
1771 First public library in Hingham established, known as first Social Library, in Hingham Centre.
1773 Hingham men participate in Boston Tea Party.
1775 Hingham men answer the call and placed on the "Lexington Alarm Rolls.
1775-81 Hingham men enlist and participate in the War of the Revolution, led by Major General Benjamin Lincoln, who accepts surrender of British forces at Yorktown on behalf of Gen. Washington; Benjamin Lincoln was a delegate to the Provincial Congress, U.S. Secretary of War, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, first President of Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
1778 Gen. Lafayette lodges at the Anchor Tavern on South Street.
1784 Derby Academy established; oldest private coeducational institution in the United States.
1787 First meeting of the Hingham School Committee.
1802 Regular stagecoach service between Boston and Plymouth, stopping in Hingham, begins.
1807 New North Meeting House built.
1815 Hingham becomes known as "Bucket Town as Wilders open their bucket factory.
1818 Present Derby Academy on Main Street built.
1818 First steamboat "Eagle makes regular run between Boston and Hingham.
1826 Hingham Mutual Fire Insurance Company incorporated.
1827 Hingham Gazette, later renamed Hingham Journal, first published.
1834 Hingham Institution for Savings incorporated.
1849 South Shore Railroad Company, a branch of the Old Colony Line, runs through Hingham.
1852 Loring Hall built.
1853-1902 Hingham Cordage Co & Ropework operational.
1855 Clams, Oysters, and Plum Pudding Corporation (C.O.&P.P.) formed in Hingham Centre.
1858 Hingham Agricultural and Horticultural Society formed.
1861-65 520 men serve in the Civil War; Hingham Lincoln Light Infantry under Colonel Stephenson volunteer; 97 Hingham men die, serving in many regiments
1861-65 John A. Andrews, sometime resident of Hingham, is Governor of Massachusetts.
1863 Fearing Burr first publishes Field and Garden Vegetables of America.
1865-1935 Burr, Brown Co. operational, known as "the shoestring factory, also makes tassels, drapery, shades and curtains.
1867 Agricultural Hall built and becomes town's social (and sometimes civic) center.
1869 Hingham Public Library established under the aegis of the Honorable Albert Fearing.
1870 Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument dedicated.
1871 Melville Gardens resort established at Downer Landing, now known as Crow Point.
1872 First Hingham High School built on Central Street.
1880 Nantasket Beach Railroad built.
1880 John Brewer, working with Frederick Law Olmstead, plants over 900 trees on World's End along planned roads.
1880-82 Hingham resident John D. Long is Governor of Massachusetts and, in 1897, Secretary of the Navy.
1896 Hingham Street Railway Company runs from Hingham Square to Queen Anne's Corner, with connections to Melville Gardens, Hull and Weymouth.
1898 On May 11, 1898, while onboard the U.S.S. Marblehead, Seaman Herbert Lewis Foss and his shipmates snared and severed a communications cable while under heavy enemy fire off the coast of northwest Cuba during the Spanish American War.
1899 On July 7, 1899 Seaman Herbert Foss was awarded his country's highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
1909 Naval Magazine or "Depot at Bare Cove opened; also known as Hockley Hollow.
1911 Troop One, Boy Scouts of America, formed and remains as one of the oldest scout troops in America.
1912 Hingham Memorial Bell Tower dedicated.
1914 Hingham Historical Society formed.
1917 Company K, Fifth Regiment, 101st Infantry Battalion (later 26th on Yankee Division) mustered and sent to France (12 Hingham men die in WWI).
1917 Camp Hingham Naval Station established.
1922 Land purchased to form the beginning of the Town Forest.
1924 Hingham Garden Club formed.
1928 Second Hingham High School (now Town Hall) built on Central Street.
1932-37 Hingham Memorial Hospital operational on Fearing Pond.
1935 Hingham Tercentennial "Hingham Pageant celebrated.
1939 Abraham Lincoln statue dedicated.
1941 U.S. Government takes 3744 acres for new Navy Ammunition Depot Annex - later becomes Wompatuck State Park.
1942 Eleanor Roosevelt visits Hingham and This Is America is published.
1942 Bethlehem Steel shipyard, known as "Beth Hingham," builds 100 convoy ships (Destroyer Escorts "DEs") on 16 separate "ways" at Huets Cove; at its peak there are over 24,000 workers; LSTs are later built after VE Day; shipyard is awarded the letter "E by the U.S. Navy.
1944 Seventeen Seamen and Gunnersmates of the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot lose their lives when the USS YF-415 sinks 14 miles off of Boston Harbor during a routine ammunition disposal.
1945 Triphammer Pond conservation area acquired by the town.
1953 Mill Pond is filled in.
1959 Old Colony RR Line discontinues service to Hingham.
1965 Notre Dame Academy opens.
1966 Lincoln Historic District approved.
1966 Old Derby acquired by the Hingham Historical Society.
1967 Naval Ammunition Depot Annex purchased by the State and ultimately becomes Wompatuck State Park in 1973.
1967 Trustees of Reservations acquires World's End for a park.
1967 Hingham Historic District Commission formed.
1970 South Shore Conservatory founded.
1974 Bare Cove Park opens.
1974 Hingham Historic Commission formed.
1978 Selectmen and Advisory Board declare Hingham in a State of Emergency after February 7th blizzard blanketed the Town with forty inches of snow.

First Hingham-to-Boston Commuter Boat begins service.
1980 Town faced with new challenges as the Commonwealth passes Proposition 2 ½.
1985 Town celebrates its 350th Anniversary.

Overpass adjoining the Hingham Shipyard is demolished as a first step toward shipyard improvements.
1988 February 16th fire destroys the Sprague block in Hingham Square destroying 16 shops and businesses.

Town purchases the country club.
1990 Selectmen reject the MBTA's Draft Environmental Impact Report with respect to the Greenbush line.

Over 1,000 residents line Main Street in support of the Massachusetts National Guard's 1058th Transportation Company, many of whom served in the Persian Gulf War.
1995 At one of the largest Town Meetings in history, residents oppose restoration of the Greenbush line and voted funds for Selectmen to pursue protection under federal and state laws.
1998 On October 17th, residents gather to dedicate the new Town Office Building at 210 Central Street.
2000 Selectmen reach settlement agreement with the MBTA obtaining mitigation relief for the Town as a result of the Greenbush Rail Line.

The Leavitt family, descendants of John Leavitt, who came to Hingham in 1636, visit the town.
2001 Renovations of the Hingham Public Library and Hingham High School are completed.

Renovation of historic Whitney Wharf is completed.
2002 Town appoints the first Community Preservation Committee. This group will establish policies and procedures for administering the Community Preservation Act.
2004 New Veteran's Memorial Monument at Town Hall, designed by Hingham resident Stefan Vogelman, dedicated on November 11.
2006 The Hingham School Building Committee is established to implement the Ten-Year School Facility Master Plan. The committee will address the challenges facing school facilities in Hingham.
2007 Greenbush Railroad line service began on October 31.
2009 New Public Works facility on Bare Cove Park Drive opens for business.

New East School opens on the same site as the original.

375th Anniversary of the Town's founding celebrated with gala costume ball, vintage baseball game, tours of historic downtown and Hingham Cemetery, and many other events.
2012 On the 68th anniversary of the explosion and sinking of the USS YF-415, Navy Veteran J. B. Mills leads effort in the dedication of a memorial to the Seamen and Gunnersmates of Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot who lost their lives 14 miles offshore from Boston Harbor.