Building Project Design

The main hallway floor of the Hanover High School building is designed to symbolize the North River, upon which much of the history of Hanover is based.  L. Vernon Briggs, Hanover's preeminent historian, has written:

"Until 1628 the waters of the North River had probably never been disturbed by any navigator excepting the Indian in his canoe, and how we all would like to look back three hundred years and see the same beautiful river with the picturesque Indian and canoe, he disturbing the quiet waters with the silent dipping of his paddle."

Robert Barker navigated up the river in 1628 and settled in Pembroke. William Barstow, who received a grant of land bounded by Third Herring Brook and the North River, is said to have been the first settler in what is now Hanover around 1649.  By 1727, when Hanover separated from Scituate and incorporated as a Town, its population was around 300 persons.

For the next 200 years, the river was exploited and despoiled and shipyards, mills, forges and factories clung to its banks and dumped their wastes into its waters.  In recent years, town and organizations in the North River Valley have worked together to clean our river which once again is picturesque and a symbol of pride for Hanover and its neighbors.

Hanover High School is dedicated to the Hanover students, teachers, and staff, past, present, and future; to the citizens of Hanover whose support made its construction possible; and to the members of the School Committee and Building Committee whose energy and commitment turned a vision into a reality.  It is our hope that Hanover High School will always be a central part of our community.

Funded in part by Massachusetts School Building Authority
Steven Grossman, State Treasurer and Receiver General
Katherine P. Craven, Executive Director

Project Participants
Architect:  HMFH Architects, Inc.
Owner's Project Manager:  PMA Consultants, LLC
General Contractor:  Callahan, Inc.