Dedham, town, seat of Norfolk County, eastern Massachusetts, on the Charles River. Dedham was one of the earliest inland settlements of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was incorporated in 1636. The community, named for Dedham, England, is a residential and industrial suburb of Boston; manufactures include electronic equipment, shipping containers, measuring and controlling devices, and printed materials. Among the points of interest in Dedham are Fairbanks House (1636), one of the oldest wooden frame houses still standing in the United States; the site of the colonies' first free tax-supported public school (1649); and Mother Brook Canal (constructed before 1640; no longer in use), believed to be the first canal constructed by colonists in America.
The Norfolk County Courthouse in Dedham was the scene of the famous 1921 murder trial of Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. In what many regarded as political persecution, the two outspoken anarchists were wrongly accused of murder and were electrocuted in 1927. Expressions of popular indignation over the executions, including Upton Sinclair's novel Boston (1928), were the basis for an eventual pardon. In 1977 Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis reviewed the case and affirmed Sacco and Vanzetti's innocence on the 50th anniversary of their death. Population 25,298 (1980); 23,782 (1990); 23,782 (1996 estimate).Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Dedham Information info
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