Town Edition
Plymouth County
Hanson, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On the shore of Maquan Pond, Hanson owns a 68-acre camp built around a lodge raised for a Gilded Age industrialist, and it is public property for exactly one reason: in 1979 the town’s own voters decided at Town Meeting to buy the whole place from the Camp Fire Girls. Camp Kiwanee is what it looks like when residents sit in a room and vote on what their town will own. Hanson still runs that way. In May 2026, Hanson voters approved a tax override to add a firefighter-paramedic, cleared a new highway building by 11 votes, and turned down a 33 million dollar library expansion, all on the same day. This guide shows you how to get into the room where those calls are made.
Hanson at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Hanson.
- County: Plymouth. Hanson is an inland South Shore town of about 15 square miles, set among cranberry bogs and ponds, with Maquan Pond near its center. It shares the regional high school and a border with Whitman, and it is bounded by Halifax, Pembroke, Hanover, Rockland and East Bridgewater.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Lisa Green.
- Schools: the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, about 3,423 students across both towns, led by Superintendent Dr. John Marcus.
How Hanson’s Government Works
Hanson runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Hanson is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Hanson is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
10 members, elected by the voters of the Whitman-Hanson district: six from Whitman and four from Hanson. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Hanson, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets most Tuesday evenings at Hanson Town Hall, 542 Liberty Street. Dates and start times vary, and the agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Every registered voter is a member, and the warrant is posted ahead of time.
- Town elections: Hanson votes in the spring across three precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 16, and 1,601 residents cast ballots. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Hanson Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Hanson HistoryCranberry City, Camp Kiwanee, and 1820
- DemographicsWho lives in Hanson
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWhitman-Hanson schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Plymouth County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Hanson. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. The job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Hanson
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets most Tuesday evenings at Hanson Town Hall, 542 Liberty Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 542 Liberty Street, Hanson, MA 02341. Town Administrator’s office 781-293-2131.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-293-2772, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at hanson-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, 781-618-7000, whrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.