Pelham

Pelham is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,321 at the 2010 census. Its ZIP code is shared with Amherst.
Pelham was part of the Equivalent Lands compromise, and was first settled in 1738 by mostly Presbyterian Scotch-Irish immigrants. It was officially incorporated in 1743. The town is named for the Pelham family; Henry Pelham was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time of the town's incorporation, and his father, Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham had been prime minister prior to his term. The town is best known as being home to Daniel Shays, leader of Shays' Rebellion, a series of protests against crushing austerity measures in Massachusetts during 1786 and 1787. The rebellion, planned in Conkey's Tavern in town, drew support from many towns in central and western Massachusetts, but it met its practical end when the angry farmers' force refused to fight Governor Bowdoin's army and they were dispersed in a rout in nearby Petersham. Pelham also holds the distinction of having the oldest town hall in continuous use in the United States. A town meeting is held there for that primary purpose each year.

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