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/'d?d?m/ is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 23,464 at the 2000 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by Canton.
Dedham was settled in 1635 by people from Roxbury and Watertown and incorporated in 1636, and is the county seat of Norfolk County.The originally proposed name of the town, was "Contentment". When the Town was incorporated the residents wanted it to be named Contentment, but the Massachusetts General Court overruled them and named the town Dedham, after Dedham, Essex in England. Some of the original inhabitants, including Samuel Morse, were born in Dedham, Essex.
The first public meeting was held on August 15, 1636 in which 18 men signed the town covenant. They swore that they would "in the fear and reverence of our Almighty God, mutually and severally promise amongst ourselves and each to profess and practice one truth according to that most perfect rule, the foundation whereof is ever lasting love."
They also agreed that "we shall by all means labor to keep off from us all such as are contrary minded, and receive only such unto us as may be probably of one heart with us, such as that we either know or may well and truly be informed to walk in a peacable conversation with all meekness of spirit, for the edification of each other in the knowledge and faith of the Lord Jesus..." The covenant also stipulated that if differences were to arise between townsmen that they would submit the issue to between one and four other members of the town for resolution and that they would each pay their fair share for the common good.
Dedham is home to the Fairbanks House, the oldest surviving timber frame house in the United States, scientifically dated to 1637. On January 1, 1643, by unanimous vote, Dedham authorized the first taxpayer-funded public school; "the seed of American education." Its first teacher, Rev. Ralph Wheelock, was paid 20 pounds annually to instruct the youth of the community. Descendants of these students would become presidents of Dartmouth College, Yale University and Harvard University.
Other Dedham firsts include the first man-made canal in North America, Mother Brook, which links the Charles River to the Neponset River. Although they are both slow moving rivers, they are at different elevations. When Mother Brook connected them, the difference in elevation made the current swift enough to power several local mills.
In 1818, though citizens were still at this time taxed for the support of ministers and other "public teachers of religion", Dedham set an important precedent towards the separation of church and state by selecting a different minister than that chosen by the church, a right of selection that was confirmed by the Supreme Judicial Court. The historic Sacco and Vanzetti trial in the 1920s was held in the Dedham Courthouse. Dedham pottery is a cherished class of antiques, characterized by a distinctive crackle glaze, blue-and-white color scheme, and a frequent motif of rabbits and other animals.
Dedham is sometimes called the "mother of towns" because 14 present-day communities were within its original borders.