Town Edition
Plymouth County
Hingham, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Old Ship Meeting House on Main Street has stood since 1681, and it is the only 17th century Puritan meeting house left in the United States. Deciding where to put it took two heated town meetings. Hingham has been arguing its business out in a room ever since, and in 1893 Town Meeting voted, twice, for the town to buy its own electric company. That is why the power running your bedroom outlet tonight comes from a utility this town owns, run by a Light Board that Hingham voters elect. On May 2, 2026, 1,354 ballots settled every one of those seats across eight precincts, and only one race on the whole sheet was contested. In a town this size, the people who show up are the ones who decide. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Hingham at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Hingham.
- County: Plymouth. Hingham sits 14 miles southeast of Boston on the southwestern corner of Boston Harbor, across 22.2 square miles of land and 2.8 of water. Hingham Harbor cuts a U into its northern shore, and the Weir River separates it from Hull.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Tom Mayo.
- Schools: Hingham Public Schools, about 3,593 students in six schools, led by Superintendent Kathryn Roberts.
How Hingham’s Government Works
Hingham runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Hingham is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 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 Hingham 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
3 members elected town-wide to three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, act as the licensing authority, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The Chief Administrative Officer, appointed by the Select Board. Runs the departments, builds the budget for the non-school side of town, and prepares the Town Meeting warrants.
School Committee
7 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 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 Hingham, 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 on a published calendar at Hingham Town Hall, 210 Central Street. The board supports more than 50 meetings a year, and each agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting ran on April 27 and 28. The town can also call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait, and it has called one for Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 7:00pm at Hingham High School, 17 Union Street.
- Town elections: Hingham votes in the spring, across eight precincts numbered 1 through 7 plus 7A. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 2. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current State Primary and State Election dates.
Explore the Hingham Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Hingham HistoryBare Cove, Old Ship, and 1635
- DemographicsWho lives in Hingham
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHingham 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 Hingham. 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 Hingham
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 on a published calendar at Hingham Town Hall, 210 Central Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three 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 missed pickup to Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 210 Central Street, Hingham, MA 02043. Select Board office 781-741-1451.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-741-1410, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at hingham-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Hingham Public Schools, 220 Central Street, 781-741-1500.
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.