15. Balls at the New Hotel

Elaborate balls were held at the Middlesex Hotel both before and after the 1845 fire and reconstruction, as surviving invitations and tickets attest.

The opening of Thomas Wesson’s rebuilt hotel was celebrated with a gala ball on April 20, 1846, with music provided by Flagg’s Band. (Late in life, John Shepard Keyes recalled that the opening ball took place on April 19, 1847, but the formal invitation shows that his memory was off by a year.) On November 24, 1847, one of a number of Thanksgiving balls held at the hotel over the years featured Kittredges’ Quadrille Band. (The price of tickets was $2.50.) On December 20, 1850, the Concord Artillery (which used the Middlesex as its armory) hosted one of its many military balls there (ticket price a steep $3.00, including supper).

The Middlesex Hotel was also the venue for festivities hosted by political parties (for example, the “Democratic Jubilee” of January 8, 1845), for balls associated with the Middlesex Agricultural Society’s annual Cattle Show, for social gatherings forming part of local celebrations of anniversaries of the Concord Fight, and for meetings of all types. From 1851, however, Concord’s Town Hall provided an alternative location for dances and meetings (see the Town House pages).