The Pelham Police Department is responsible for policing a small, pleasant town with residences along 21 miles of road and is perched on the ridge that divides the Connecticut River's Pioneer Valley from Quabbin Reservoir and central Massachusetts. Settled in 1739 by Scottish Immigrants, Pelham was incorporated as a town in 1743. Its most famous citizen was Capt. Daniel Shays, who led a year-long
rebellion against the courts and state officials who were seizing farms for payment of debts of families made poor after the Revolution. Pelham's Old Meeting House, built in 1743, is the oldest town hall in continuous use in the nation and is still the site of the Fall Town Meeting, often referred to as the purest form of democracy practiced widely in New England communities. A tradition of pride and independence are exemplified even today.
