History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1767.] FIRST SCHOOL-COMMITTEE— NEW COURT-HOUSE, 319
Trouble about the
Soiiie difficulty seems to have developed in
Site of the Build- reference to tlie location of the new build-
^^^'
ing, the court ordering two changes before
it was definitely settled. No one seems to have suggested
placing it on the site of the old Court-House, which was
the most central and convenient position, and as it proved
quite near the point finally adopted. It stood in the highway,
at the intersection of Main and King Streets, south-
east of the present Court-House. When the decision to
place the-building in front of Capt. William Lyman's*
house was made known, the location was deemed so unsatisfactory
that certain citizens of Northampton endeavored
to procure the Elisha Alvord homestead, on Meeting-House
Hill, for that purpose. In March, the town refused to aid
in the purchase, but a committee, consisting of Ebenezer
Hunt, Joseph Hawley, and Timothy Dwight Jr., proceeded
to raise the needed sum of money by subscription. In the
meantime the court changed the location. During the
summer the committee succeeded in obtaining the funds
with which to purchase the Alvord place. One hundred
thirty pounds were contributed by fifty-five persons from
Northampton, and one from Hatfield, and the land was
deeded to the county " for the purpose of a Green or Common
and for erecting a Court House, or Court Houses
thereon." At the November term the court approved the
purchase, accepted the deed, and ordered the committee to
construct and finish the Court-House at that place.
Site of the New The land on which the new Court-House
Court-House. ^^s built, was first granted in 1675 to Sam-
uel Allen, when his house on King Street
was burned by the Indians. It afterwards came into the
possession of Saul Alvord. He sold it in 1762 or 1763 to
Elisha Alvord, and removed to Bolton. The committee of
1 It is somewhat uncertain where Capt. William Lyman lived at this time, but
probably it was on Main Street, on what was afterwards the property of Judge
Joseph Lyman, just west of the present Mansion House block (whpre now are the
stores of F. W. Roberts, P. H. Dewey, E. H. Banister, aud Bon Marche). Yet nothing
now indicates that any special " Rise of Ground '" ever existed there, unless it may
be that the top of the hill at the head of South Street, was so designated. Col. William
Lyman bought the homestead in 175". Lieut. William Lyman lived on Pleasant
Street, in 1743, but the topography of that street would conform still less than the
other to the description in the court records.